Het Nieuwe Instituut announces annual Call for Fellows

Since its foundation in 2013, Het Nieuwe Instituut has carried out and supported research in architecture, design and digital culture. Exhibitions, lectures, archival investigations and publications have served as outputs of research, but more importantly as active platforms for its development. Het Nieuwe Instituut’s Fellowship Programme has a fundamental role in these platforms. Intended to support and learn from a variety of research initiatives and methodologies, the fellowship is ultimately a time for rehearsing other modes of thinking and doing. 

Following the calls of recent years on the body’s burn-out (2018), planetary exhaustion (2019), and “regeneration” through new institutional practices (2020), the 2021 iteration of the Open Call for Fellows doesn’t propose a theme to which applicants have to respond. Instead, it offers a channel through which to attune with and amplify the applicant’s issues of concern.

With the 2021 Open Call, Het Nieuwe Instituut turns the gaze outwards, to accommodate something that we don’t yet know. In recognising the perils of institutions not having a finger on the pulse of society, as well as the many blind spots of institutions and the peoples who work in them, the 2021 call leaves the theme open, allowing applicants to decide what is relevant for them and the world today. 

Applications 
Het Nieuwe Instituut publicly advocates for research and design practices that exceed the notion of individual authorship and include multiple perspectives, activate multiple channels for dissemination of research outcomes, and construct a network of collaborators and other institutional contacts, both within the Netherlands and abroad. With this call, Het Nieuwe Instituut continues supporting collaborative practices within design, architecture and digital culture. The call, however, does not impose ideas on what collaboration implies, nor does it provide guidelines on the relationships that it involves. 

Applicants are encouraged to submit a proposal that addresses their current investigations, explorations, and obsessions through the lens of architecture, design and digital culture. Proposals should clearly state the main focus, aims, and the socio-economic, nature-cultural, and political context in which they are based. They may incorporate a larger system of reference, schools of critical thought and transdisciplinary practices, and non-academic references, as well as different forms of engagement and co-creation. They may contain the seeds, or ruins, of what is coming next or propose ways to hold space for future generations—while accounting for something that we don’t yet know. 

All applications will be reviewed based on their engagement with contemporary challenges, the depth of investigation, and connection to Het Nieuwe Instituut’s mission. Preference will be given to proposals that demonstrate critical and forward thinking, specificity, situatedness and a distinctive research theme and methodology.

About the Research Fellowships
Het Nieuwe Instituut offers two Research Fellowship positions for six months (from October 2021 to March 2022). Each of these positions includes a maximum budget of 20,000 EUR. Stipends may be subject to a withholding tax.

There is no age limit for applicants. Individuals and collectives from all places of residence are invited to apply. Neither a curriculum vitae nor letters of recommendation are requested. The fellowships are open to all degree levels in all disciplines (design, architecture and digital culture). Equal priority will be given to those without a degree or institutional affiliation who can also demonstrate a high level of creativity, critical thought and other potential in their respective fields. The fellows will be selected by an international jury. More information about the jury members will be announced in the coming weeks. 

For more information about the Call for Fellows, click here. 

Applications are open from June 24 until August 13, 2021.