Fellowship Program for Art and Theory 2023–24

With its Fellowship Program for Art and Theory, Büchsenhausen promotes internationally relevant artistic production, research, and discussion in the region of Tyrol. The program is based on the idea of generating and maintaining a context for production and exchange, in which artists and theorists can connect and reflect on international art and societal discourses in relation to local topics and issues. At the same time, it provides the opportunity for an artistic laboratory of experimentation, where new artistic practices and strategies may be tried out.

The program’s aims are:

• to promote and relay a critical, socially relevant production of knowledge in art and art theory;
• to produce, through the fellowship projects, qualified discourses on art and society within the local and global contexts;
• to enable the transfer of knowledge between the field of art and other public spheres outside the art context;
• to facilitate exchange between cultural producers in the visual arts and beyond (creating a network of experts).

The program combines the advantages of a residency with the possibilities of a postgraduate, non-academic research and production fellowship on the basis of an open, non-formalized structure. Content-wise, the program addresses a worldwide public made up of professionals in the fields of contemporary art, architecture, art and media theory, as well as criticism.

The Fellows are selected by a jury of experts following an open call for applications. They come to Büchsenhausen for a minimum of five months to work on the realization of their proposed undertaking and accompany this process with public events. For this purpose, Büchsenhausen assigns a monetary award and provides a production budget, a budget to facilitate the exchange with other experts and to (at least partially) cover the Fellows‘ own travel costs, free access to the working space, free lodging, as well as artistic, art-theoretical, and technical advice.

The conveyance and discussion of the Fellows’ own work occur parallel to the development of the individual proposals. The focus of the public events is determined by the respective emphases of the various Fellows‘ works. Within the framework of these discursive formats, the Fellows and/or their guests can present various points in their investigations, open up their works-in-progress to critical discussion, interact with experts who they invite, work through content with the public, and/or try out new ways of working.

The Fellowship Year starts with the Orientation Weeks at the beginning of October. The Orientation Weeks ends with the Start Up Lectures and the opening of the autumn/fall exhibition by the Fellows. During the First Focus Weeks in January and the Second Focus Weeks in March/April, the Fellows and/or their guests publicly discuss issues related to their ongoing work, enjoy an intense exchange with their colleagues in the program, and carry out cooperation activities with other university and non-university partners and institutions. The Fellowship Year ends with a group exhibition curated by the artistic director of the Fellowship Program. The opening of the show usually takes place in mid-May.

The applicants are requested to take note that the time period of the Fellowship, as well as the duration of the Fellowship, may vary due to changing restrictions and measurements related to the COVID-19 pandemic which are beyond the control of Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen.

In the past, Fellows occasionally collaborated with other artists/professionals based in the greater Innsbruck region. Cooperation activities have been carried out, among others with the University of Innsbruck (Institute for Comparative Literary Studies, Institute for Architectural Theory, the Research Group ‘Cultural Encounters—Cultural Conflicts’, the Research Center ‘Migration and Globalization’, Institute for Pedagogy, the Italy Center, the Russia Center, etc.), the Working Group ‘Global Learning’ of Südwind Tyrol (in which Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen is an active member), etc. Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen encourages the candidates for a fellowship to take the opportunity for a collaboration of such type into consideration.

Information about former and current fellows as well as about their realized and current work can be found here.

Fellowship

• a money award of EUR 4,000
• an individual studio for working and living, furnished with a large shared kitchen
• a production budget for the realization of the submitted proposal;
• a budget for inviting experts to Büchsenhausen for the purpose of professional exchange
• a budget for (at least partially) covering the own travel costs (in relation to the Fellowship Program)
• the opportunity to present the produced work in a curated group exhibition at the end of the fellowship

Facilities

• free access to the ‚Lab‘, the project/gallery space
• free use of the available multimedia production equipment in the ‚Lab‘
• free Highspeed-DSL/WLAN Internet access
• professional artistic and art-theoretical advice
• technical advice if required

Eligibility

Professional visual/media artists, art theorists, art critics, and curators from all over the world are eligible for the fellowship.

Requirements

The application must include a concrete work proposition. Work on the submitted proposal forms the core of each Fellow’s activities during his/her/their stay in Büchsenhausen. A description of a series of public events intended to accompany the individual work during the duration of the fellowship (up to three events) is also an integral part of the working proposal. If the application is successful, the Fellows are required to specify the details of the presentation series and carry out the proposed program.
The Fellows commit themselves to be present at Büchsenhausen for the duration of the fellowship. Working knowledge of English is required.

Selection

The selection of Fellows is made by a jury of experts and based on the quality, originality, and relevance of the proposed undertaking as well as the work samples submitted by the applicants. The jury consists of the director of Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen, a member of the advisory board at Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen, and one external expert.

The selection procedure has two stages:

First, the submitted applications are evaluated and the jury makes a shortlist of candidates who will be invited to Büchsenhausen for personal interviews.

Second, the applicants have to present their working plans and aims during the fellowship personally via interview in Innsbruck, or via video conference (for instance via Zoom or Skype).

For a personal interview in Innsbruck, Büchsenhausen will pay for accommodation for one night, however, will not cover the travel costs to Innsbruck.

There is no legal right to be awarded a fellowship at Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen. For this reason, the jury is under no obligation to justify decisions. The jury’s decision will presumably be communicated in written form in March 2023 (first stage) and April 2023 (second stage).

Applications are to be written in English. The jury acknowledges submissions by non-native English speakers and will take issues of spelling, punctuation, and sentence structure into consideration.

Applications for artists must include the following printed documents:

• the working proposal (max 1,500 words, in printed form, 3 copies)
• visual portfolio/documentation of recent work. The portfolio can be submitted in paper form (max. 2 catalogs/portfolios), on DVD, CD or USB stick (max. 1 DVD/CD/USB stick), or digitally via a permanent link (no time-limited download links like WeTransfer!)
• curriculum vitae (in printed form, 3 copies)
• completed and signed application form (in printed form, 1 copy)

for theorists/art critics:

• the working proposal (max 1,500 words, in printed form, 3 copies)
• 1 recent writing sample (in printed form, 3 copies)
• curriculum vitae (in printed form, 3 copies)
• completed and signed application form (in printed form, 1 copy)

The electronic application form can be found here.

The address to which the applications must be sent is:

Künstlerhaus Büchsenhausen
Ref.: „Fellowship 2023-24“
Weiherburggasse 13
6020 Innsbruck
Austria

Deadline: January 29, 2023.