Call for applications 2026

Applications are invited for the 2026 Maumaus Independent Study Programme, which will run from January 8 until July 30, 2026.

The intense Programme runs for 26 weeks (312 contact hours) and is devised and organised by the art theorist and curator Jürgen Bock (director of the Maumaus School and Residency Programme and its associated exhibition space Lumiar Cité).

The Programme is open to a maximum of twenty two participants (artists or art-related researchers or other professionals). The Programme is designed to encourage the participants to analyse and develop their art practice in a stimulating, intellectually rigorous, yet informal environment. The Programme creates a context for the internalisation of comprehension and knowledge through discussion and critical thinking. Besides regular classes of critical studies and group discussions, seminars, workshops and lectures will offer insights and multiple perspectives on current thinking inside and outside—but always in relation to—the field of art and are devised by a range of internationally renowned artists/film-makers such as Ed Atkins, Gerry Bibby, Manthia Diawara, Jihan El-Tahri, Loretta Fahrenholz, Renée Green, Florian Hecker, Tonio Kröner, João Enxuto/Erica Love, Uriel Orlow, Christodoulos Panayiotou, João Penalva, Simon Thompson and Fredrik Værslev; curators N’Goné Fall and Milan Ther, art historians Sabeth Buchmann, Helmut Draxler, Toni Hildebrandt, Gertrud Sandqvist and Kerstin Stakemeier; philosophers Stefanie Baumann, Bojana Cvejić, Alexander García Düttmann, Esther Leslie, Michael Marder, Alberto Toscano, Sjoerd van Tuinen and Giovanbattista Tusa; sociologist Avery F. Gordon; anthropologist Filip De Boeck; writer Anne Boyer; dramaturge Sarah Lewis-Cappellari; and social theorists Brenna Bhandar, Ruth Wilson Gilmore, Jules Gleeson and Manuela Ribeiro Sanches. Studio visits will allow the practitioners to develop their work through discussions with Jürgen Bock, N’Goné Fall, Uriel Orlow, Gertrud Sandqvist, Milan Ther, João Penalva and Simon Thompson.

Applicants should take into consideration:
–Applications should be sent via email to maumaus@maumaus.org (submissions accepted until August 31, 2025).
–Applications should include a motivation letter, a CV and a portfolio documenting examples of work the applicants consider most relevant to their current practice. An interview at the Maumaus office in Lisbon (online for international applicants) will follow and will determine the final selection for acceptance on the Programme.
–The language of the ISP Maumaus is English.
–The next edition of the ISP Maumaus starts on January 8, running until July 30, 2026, with a one-week break at Carnival and a two-week spring break.
–Changes may occur during the course of the programme.

For further information about the programme and tuition fees, please contact the ISP office at maumaus@maumaus.org.