Call for applications: 2023 fellowships

Preconditions
The conditions for all fellowships with the exception of the curator fellowship are a completed course of study in art (MFA or comparable degree) and two to three years (depending on the respective fellowship) of continuous artistic work after the conclusion of the studies until the beginning of the fellowship. Applications are also possible for autodidacts distinguished by special artistic achievements, as documented by exhibitions and prizes.

To foster artistic dialog and interdisciplinary collaboration, knowledge of English is expected.

Since 2013, fellowships are offered in one artistic genre or one theme each year. This offering, which is unique in Germany, is intended to intensify the content-related artistic exchange among the artists present. It will also lead to a more intensive specialist exchange of ideas with external artists, speakers, teachers, curators, etc.

International residential fellowships
Six residential fellowships will be awarded to international visual artists.

The annual theme for the Balmoral residential fellowships 2023 is “Coexist.”

The annual theme “Coexist” deals with processes of making differences and spaces-in-between in art and society visible. Our current society is shaped by debates, movements and protests, in which an increased awareness of certain values as well as social and structural grievances is expressed. Advanced forms of digital communication and networking are having the effect of making an enormous diversity of opinions, attitudes, messages and experiences simultaneously visible as they are exchanged and shared. The current discussion of identity-political issues is not only accompanied by a revision of social values, prejudices and norms, but also by the search for new and “correct” forms of expression.

The question of who is telling what story and in what way is becoming increasingly more urgent, including in relation to the art and culture industry. In a climate of debate about art works that are perceived as being discriminatory, a parallel discourse has grown up around the freedom and essence of art. What is art allowed to show? What are museums allowed to show? Who makes these decisions? Can and should artists and their work be considered separately from each other? How is the articulation and investigation of the interests of individual and collective identities changing the creation of art? What emancipatory aspirations are conflicting and interacting here?

With this annual theme “Coexist,” the Kuenstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral together with its fellowship holders is shedding light on where the possibilities and boundaries of artistic action are located. The focus here will be both on aesthetic and artistic questions and on social issues. This is about questioning categories assumed to be fixed and investigating the interstices between different poles, between what already exists and what is new, between dominance and inferiority, between what is our own and what belongs to the Other. What role do vulnerability, dissent and empathy play in artistic creative processes? How do we deal with the Other? This year’s annual theme puts the artistic focus on the interstices, the spaces-in-between. It enquires about what holds a society together and what role art can play in that.

Expanded invitation for international residential fellows:
Call for applications for teaching position at the Mainz Academy of Fine Arts

The partnership with the Mainz Academy of Fine Arts (Kunsthochschule Mainz) includes the opportunity to apply for a separately-remunerated teaching position for the 2023 Summer Semester at the Mainz Academy of Fine Arts. This would involve two semester periods (of 45 minutes each) per week during the semester.

In this way, the Academy of Fine Arts wishes to foster close contacts between the selected fellow and its students, and it also offers the opportunity for becoming a teaching professional within the scope of an internationally-active art academy.

The successful applicant will be able to structure his or her teaching as he or she wishes, perhaps covering for instance communication of his or her own experience as an artist to the students, theme-related work, interdisciplinary projects, workshops, etc. The professors at the Academy of Fine Arts will be available as needed for advice, etc. The time allocation is at the successful applicant’s own free discretion, and it will be possible to hold block seminars. If you are interested, please submit your teaching concept of no more than one A4 page as the basis of your application, attaching your application documents for a Balmoral residential fellowship as an appendix.

Please note that the teaching position will only be awarded in conjunction with an international residential fellowship in the Kuenstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral. The teaching appointment will be carried out at the Mainz Academy of Fine Arts during the period of the residency.

Three fellowships last four month and three fellowships last eight month. All residential fellowships run from April 2023.

The residential fellowships are endowed with 1,400 EUR a month plus subsidy to the travel costs for arrival and include free accommodation in the Kuenstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral.

International curator fellowship
To foster dialog between artistic work and theoretical reflection, Balmoral awards a residential curator fellowship to a fellow in the humanities (preferably art history). The curator fellowship is awarded to persons whose university degree (at least MA) was completed not more than 5 years ago. For the curator fellowship, mastery of the German language spoken and in writing as well as good knowledge of English is essential.

The fellowship lasts eight month and begins in April 2023. It is endowed with 1,400 EUR per month plus subsidy to the travel costs for arrival and includes free accommodation in the Kuenstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral.

Additional fellowships offered
For visual artist with relation to Rhineland-Palatinate

Relation to Rhineland-Palatinate means (and/or): is born here, studied Fine Arts with graduation here or works as an artist here (except fellowship stays in RLP).

Awarding of fellowships
A jury of specialists will award all fellowships, taking into consideration the developmental potential of the applicant’s artistic or theoretical work.

Additional information and application forms are available on our homepage. Applications must be made with these application forms. Other applications will not be taken into consideration.