Image courtesy Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral
Residential Fellowships for international visual artists
at Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral
in Bad Ems, Germany
Deadline: Saturday 28 June 2014 (postmark)
Artists’ residence Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral in Bad Ems was founded in 1995 and is a place of reflection, artistic production, discussion and meeting. It supports visual artists from all over the world by awarding artists-in-residence fellowships.
The Künstlerhaus is publicly presented through lectures, concerts and exhibitions. Works by the fellows are regularly shown in ‘Made in Balmoral’, the Künstlerhaus’ exhibition space in the Bad Ems city centre. Schloss Balmoral sees itself as an interface between artistic work and theoretical reflection and as a point of contact between former and present fellows. Balmoral intends to build a bridge between the artists’ present and their future.
The theme for the residential fellowships for 2015 is Dada. Since 2013, fellowships are offered in one artistic genre or one theme each year. This offering, which is unique in Germany, is intended to enable deeper mutual creative cross-fertilisation among the resident artists. It will also lead to a more intensive specialist exchange of ideas with external artists, speakers, teachers, curators, etc. For 2015, the Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral is awarding two 3-month residential fellowships and four 9-month residential fellowships.
Eligibility
For the residencies for 2015, applicants’ artistic work should focus on or have some connection with or make reference to Dada, the artistic movement which will have its centenary in the following year 2016. The federal state of Rhineland-Palatinate is especially well placed to celebrate this centenary, as it is home to two of the historical initiators of Dada, Hugo Ball, born in Pirmasens, and Hans Arp, to whom a museum in Rolandseck is dedicated. As well as in RLP, “Dada 100” will also be celebrated throughout Germany and the rest of Europe. Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral is looking forward to joining in with this celebration and will be integrating its fellows into larger contexts, including the final exhibition by the 2015 fellows, which will be shown in early 2016 in the historic rooms of the Bahnhof Rolandseck Arp Museum and should attract a great deal of Dada attention.
Dada was the impulse behind a great many developments, and has a great many facets. Methods of expression such as photo-montage, collage, material pictures, assemblage, object art and room installation all owe their origins to the Dadaists. In the years after Dada, the boundaries between painting, performance, literature and music came to be more and more blurred and overcome. The far-reaching influence of Dada can be seen from the Pop Art and Fluxus art of the 1960s to 80s through to Ready Mades and Multiples, performance, happening and Concrete Poetry. This makes it all the more exciting to be able to invite young contemporary artists to get involved with Dada or examine their relationship with Dada. What role does Dada play today? Are the questions dealt with then not the same as those being dealt with now? Where is the boundary between art and life? Where is the point of separation between everyday object and artwork, between object and process, between art and politics, between joking and seriousness? These questions, as well as the question as to the relationship between art and the market, are more pressing than ever.
The preconditions for applicants for the residential fellowships for visual artists are a completed course of study in art (M.F.A. or comparable) and three years of continuous artistic work after the conclusion of studies until the beginning of the fellowship. Applications are also possible for autodidacts distinguished by special artistic achievements, as documented by exhibitions and prizes.
Knowledge of German or English is expected.
Image courtesy resartis.org
Benefits and requirements
– Balmoral fellowships are residential fellowships; continuous presence is obligatory.
– The fellowships are endowed with 1,400 € a month.
– Two fellowships are awarded for the period of three months. Four fellowships are awarded for the period of nine months. All residential fellowships run from June each year.
– All artists invited will have their registered secondary residence in Bad Ems for the time of their stay (compulsory registration). Artists must be free of all professional commitments for the period of their fellowships.
– The fellowship holders are provided with a furnished living/bedroom with shower/WC and a studio including electricity, water and heating. Running costs (electricity, water and heating) will be paid by the Künstlerhaus.
– Each apartment is equipped with an individual telephone and internet access. If required, the room is also wired up for radio and television. The lounge, the dining room and the kitchen are for joint use.
– Due to the historic nature of the building, the apartments and studios in terms of their size and equipment are normally only suitable for one single person. Pets are not admitted.
– The fellows may use free of charge the in-house wood workshop and a library containing approx. 5,500 books, mainly on modern and contemporary art, and the major art magazines.
– Tiles for world-famous artist Friedensreich Hundertwasser were developed and produced in the company Baukeramik Ebinger in Bad Ems. The fellows have the opportunity to use the local workshop and the kiln for a fee. Personal support and guidance is also possible. For more information please visit www.ebinger-schnass-keramik.de.
– After the fellowship acceptance, the applicant will receive an agreement concluded with the Künstlerhaus and the house rules. Once the contract has been signed by the fellowship holder, the award of the fellowship is legally binding.
– Fellows are required to write a report about their stay in the Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral afterwards.
Application
An application form is available for download during the application period for each fellowship and must be completed and submitted with the application. Applications without a filled application form will not be accepted. Click here for more information.
Application form
– 3-month residential fellowship
– 9-month residential fellowship
Selection procedure
The decision on the award of the fellowships is made by a jury of experts taking into special consideration the potential of the artistic work for development. The members of the jury make their choice according to the quality of the work samples applicants have to hand in together with their application.
The selection committee normally consists of one chairperson and seven members of the jury who are expert representatives of the following professional groups:
• an art critic
• a museum director or curator
• a representative of the studies of Fine Arts from a university or an art academy
• a member of the artists associations in the Federal State of Rhineland-Palatinate
• a visual artist
• the artistic director of the Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral
• a former fellow
• the desk officer of the Ministry of Education, Science, Further Education and Culture of Rhineland-Palatinate, Mainz
New members of the jury are nominated on a rotational basis at a two-year-interval.
Künstlerhaus Schloss Balmoral
Stiftung Rheinland-Pfalz für Kultur
Villenpromenade 11
56130 Bad Ems
Germany
Tel: +49 (0) 2603 9419-0
info@balmoral.de
www.balmoral.de