East Call Curatorial Residency in Budapest (Hungary)

East Call Curatorial Residency offers a unique opportunity for emerging curators to gain a comprehensive insight into the Hungarian contemporary art scene by examining its characteristics and understanding them in a broader, regional context.

East Call is an intensive 2-week program that focuses on the status and practice of artists, contemporary curatorial conditions, institutional situations and the understanding of issues affecting contemporary art, with a focus on the roles and responsibilities of curators as mediators between audiences and artists, and researchers as theoretical transmitters of knowledge, interpretation and contextualization.

East Call aims to foster dialogue on issues surrounding curation and to interrogate what constitutes “the curatorial” in the Central Eastern European region. The East Call program focuses on open, horizontal and conversation-based transfers of knowledge and experience.

The program is designed for emerging curators and curators to be still involved in their studies and expect to work in the field of contemporary art. It intends to introduce participants to current and relevant practices as well as to the mechanisms of curating in relation to exhibitions, institutions, audiences, aesthetics and cultural-political discourse.

Throughout the two-week program, participants intensively expand their professional knowledge and practice by conducting in-depth investigations of contemporary exhibitions, getting introduced to case studies of leading curators’ engagements, taking part in curatorial workshops, visiting artist studios, and exchanging, and discussing with each other during these meetings. By sharing the experiential and theoretical best practices of leading contemporary art museums, and galleries, the program offers a unique chance for the participants to develop project ideas, conduct research of their particular interests, enrich connections and networks internationally as well as elaborate discussions with contemporary art professionals active in Budapest and Veszprém.

Participation fee: 1200 EUROS

The fee includes the use of office facilities, participation in workshops, guest lectures, entry fees for museums and special events, the use of public transport in Budapest, inland transport for provincial venues and transport to/from Veszprém.

Please fill out the application form online.

Application deadline: 15 August 2023.

Selection process: 30 August 2023.

For additional information, please contact us at: [email protected].

Fee includes:

• Classes and tuition
• Study files and materials
• Tickets to museums and exhibitions that are part of the schedule
• Welcome coffee, beverages and snacks during the classes
• Goodie bag with a map of Budapest, notebook and a pen
• Personalised graduation certificate
• A list of recommended hotels and restaurants.

Not included: flights, accommodation and food

About the programme's structure and stakes:

Since 2019, Easttopics organizes curatorial residency programs that are among the first ones to focus on the contemporary art scene of the Central Eastern European region. Our curatorial residency programs offer a unique opportunity for emerging curators to gain a comprehensive insight into the CEE contemporary art scene by examining its characteristics and understanding them in a broader, regional context.

Core topics:

• The contemporary art scene and its player in Budapest and other CEE countries (2021: focus on Slovakia)
• Emerging and established contemporary curatorial practices and the issues, topics they address
• Cultural, historical and political backgrounds that allow a better understanding of contemporary issues addressed by art
• The region’s art market and collecting practices
• Networking with artists, curators, art critics and directors