The DIALOG CITY ART FOR PUBLIC RESIDENCY PROGRAMME invites artists from all disciplines —ranging from painting, photography, and sculpture to design and architecture— to apply for the residency in Aschaffenburg. The residency takes place under the theme Society in Transition. We particularly welcome project proposals that highlight aspects of sustainability and/or cultural heritage. Aschaffenburg is a city with a rich and diverse cultural heritage. For years, conscious sustainability has been a focus of the city, alongside a human-centred and dialogue-oriented digital transformation with DIALOG CITY as the digital strategy of the City of Aschaffenburg.

Notably, the city has a diverse and influential history in the paper industry: since the mid-19th century, Aschaffenburg has been known as the “City of Coloured Papers” due to its many paper factories. Entrepreneurs like Alois Dessauer have pioneered efforts that have made paper production inseparable from the economic prosperity, technological change, and ultimately the cultural identity of the city. Curiosity, courage, and inventiveness exemplify an open and inclusive society.

The project proposal —whether digital or analogue approach— should address various aspects of this theme in a participatory manner and express it artistically. The selected artist will have the opportunity to work in a public FUTURE PAVILION to realize their creative ideas. There are no limits to imagination!

The artist residency begins on May 2, 2025, and ends on July 15, 2025.

TIMELINE FOR APPLICANTS

• Application deadline: December 10, 2024
• Online interviews: December 16-19, 2024
• Announcement of decision: December 20, 2024
• Start of artist residency: May 2, 2025
• Final presentation at the FUTURE FESTIVAL in Aschaffenburg: July 3-5, 2025
• End of artist residency: July 15, 2025

HOW TO APPLY

Applications can only be submitted via the online form here.

For your application you will need:

• A project proposal (max. 3000 characters)
• A brief description of what digital transformation means to you and how your project proposal aligns with the DIALOG CITY project (max. 1500 characters)
• A short explanation of how citizens and political decision-makers can be involved in your project (max. 1500 characters)
• A brief CV (max. 250 words written in third person)
• A short resume detailing education, professional experience, awards, and recognitions (no longer than two pages)
• Up to 10 digital work samples that can include any combination of images, videos, audio files, and written texts (for videos or audio files, a PDF document with relevant links is sufficient).

WHO CAN APPLY

The DIALOG CITY ART FOR PUBLIC RESIDENCY PROGRAMME is open to all artistic disciplines. We strongly encourage applicants who pursue an interdisciplinary and socially participatory approach in their work. Our artist residency is available to both emerging and established artists who possess professional demeanour, relevant experience, and innovative ideas. Artists wishing to apply must reside in an EU member state or one of the EU candidate countries.

ACCOMMODATION

The selected artist will be accommodated at Cáfe Krèm’s Art Residency. The apartment is in the centre of Aschaffenburg and is just a few minutes’ walk from the City Archives of Aschaffenburg. It features a private bedroom, kitchen, and bathroom. Café Krèm serves as a meeting point for people from various backgrounds; it functions as a café, restaurant, gallery, and event venue all in one. The costs for the artist residency will be covered by the City Archives of Aschaffenburg; however, expenses for food and beverages are not included.

ARTIST FEE

The honorarium for the artist amounts to €3,500, which includes preparation for the residency following selection as well as presentation of results during the FUTURE FESTIVAL in Aschaffenburg. Daily allowances are included within this honorarium.

MATERIAL COSTS

Material costs up to €2,000 will be reimbursed but must be listed in the application.

TRAVEL COSTS

Travel expenses will be reimbursed up to a total amount of €1,300 including round-trip flights from/to origin location as well as local transportation tickets within Aschaffenburg. In accordance with the Memorandum of Understanding “Green Deal,” we ask artists to refrain from air travel when possible and instead use alternative modes of transport such as train or bus.

CONTACT

Anna Hein-Schwesinger M.A., Stadt- und Stiftsarchiv Aschaffenburg, EU Project Dialog City anna.hein@aschaffenburg.de

Dr. Vaios Kalogrias, Stadt- und Stiftsarchiv Aschaffenburg, EU Project Dialog City
vaios.kalogrias@aschaffenburg.de

FURTHER INFORMATION

The artist’s honorarium along with travel and material costs can only be transferred via invoice. The artist must possess a tax identification number for proper billing purposes. Payment terms: Upon arrival in Aschaffenburg, the artist will receive half (50%) of their designated honorarium; the remaining balance will be paid after completion of the residency (within 60 days). Proficiency in English and/or German is required.

THE DIALOG CITY PROJECT

The EU co-funded DIALOG CITY project represents an innovative approach to shaping the digital-cultural future of European cities. It involves seven European partners organizing various activities aimed at developing ideas that enable all citizens to actively participate in our society’s digital transformation while implementing their own visions. Citizen participation is therefore an essential aspect of this project; an example being the concept of a transnational digital citizen archive called CITIZEN ARCHIVE PLATFORM (CAP), jointly developed by the City Archives of Aschaffenburg and Graz City Archives.

Our DIALOG CITY ART FOR PUBLIC RESIDENCY PROGRAMME invites professional artists to develop ideas for urban interventions dealing with local or global topics that are of great significance for the respective urban society based on participatory approach. By developing new practices on how to connect digital innovation directly to citizens’ physical participation, the European cooperation project DIALOG CITY aims at contributing to increasing access to culture through a dialogical approach. Co-creation is at the core, encompassing a CITIZEN ARCHIVE PLATFORM for the cultural heritage sector and an innovative design thinking toolkit on FUTURE LITERACY.

Annual FUTURE FESTIVALS serve as physical and digital cultural platforms to reach diverse audiences. Participating European cities are Mondoví (IT) in 2023, Graz (AT) in 2024, Aschaffenburg (DE) and Montpellier (FR) in 2025. The resulting art works of the respective residencies will be shown locally during the FUTURE FESTIVAL as well as online.

The Call for 2025 is now open for the art residency in Montpellier (France).

For the Montpellier residency we aim to question how human identities and bodies are increasingly shaped by the digital data we produce and consume. Being fed by data, our online profiles reflect analog humans and are continuously constructed through micro-targeting and digital profiling, where personal data is used to tailor content and experiences. In return, this blending of the digital and analog worlds creates new opportunities for self-expression and understanding, yet also raises concerns around identities and self-development. With an uncanny feeling, this flow of information can both expand and limit how we perceive the analog world and ourselves, depending on how we engage with it.

DIALOG CITY GUIDING PRINCIPLES

For approaching the future, it is crucial enabling people to process memory, collect cultural heritage and to create future literacy skills. Dialog City aims at empowering citizens to imagine, design and deal with their own analogue and digital future before others do it for them. To embrace all these aspects, the artistic residency project may approach four categories. The artist shall target one or more of the topics below:

LIVING CITY

Focusing on minimising environmental impact while promoting social equity and economic viability, incorporating renewable energy, efficient resource use, green spaces, and resilient infrastructure to ensure long-term well-being for both residents and the environment. Sustainability is at the core of the Living City which intends to take care of all living beings in the past, present and future. How may digital infrastructure enable humans to (re)connect with all sorts of living beings within cities?

EDIBLE CITY

Data is food for thought and humans seem hungry for data. Yet, our bodies and human condition remain. Questioning our relation to our own self and to nature, the edible city calls for reclaiming a bodily experience within urban spaces. By questioning food production into the city’s infrastructure, public and private spaces, it emphasises on sustainability and greater self-sufficiency. The edible city supports citizens to engage in food-growing activities within their own neighbourhoods thus attempting to promote greener, more resilient cities in an era of predation toward natural resources. Microbiotes prove that our body is an ecosystem, the digestion process is collective. How do humans as body and digital twin process the ongoing data deluge they live in?

HUMAN & NON-HUMAN CITY

Gathering bodies existing here and there in the physical space as well as digital twins within the web, the human / non-human cities question the day-to-day experience of intertwined beings and our modes of existence as Bruno Latour proposes. Living beings, objects, technologies, material and immaterial artefacts such as institutions have their own agency, shaped by its own will and infinite connections to other beings, humans or not. Challenging the traditional human-centred standpoint, the human and non-human city assumes that connections play a crucial role in shaping social and political life. Between free will and unconsciousness, how can we shape the ongoing digital memories?

COLLABORATIVE CITY

Originally, the web was intended to be a collaborative space as Tim Berners-Lee states it. Enrooted in the city making, nowadays, the internet plays a crucial role in the possibility of creating collaborative cities where citizens, local governments, and stakeholders work together, co-create and manage public spaces, services and infrastructure. Embracing participatory governance and decision-making, as well as collective action, how may the collaborative city build more inclusive, resilient, and socially connected urban environments?

BASIC TIMELINE FOR APPLICANTS

• Application open – November 8, 2024
• Application due – 20:00 (GMT+1) December 8, 2024
• Shortlisting – December 12, 2024
• Interviews – December 16 to 19, 2024
• Announcement of final selection – December 20, 2024
• Residency start – April 21, 2025
• Final Presentation during the FUTURE FESTIVAL Montpellier
  in close connection with the Festival des Architectures Vives – June 10 to 15 2025
• Residency end – June 20, 2025

HOW TO APPLY

Applications are only accepted via online form, please see here.

For your application process you will need:

• a project proposal (3000 characters max.),
• a short text on what digital transformation means to you and how your project fits to the guiding principles of DIALOG CITY (1500 characters max.),
• a short text on how your artistic work activates citizens and policymakers to imagine the future of their cities (1500 characters max.),
• a short biography (250 words, written in third person),
• Two-page resume, highlighting education, work experience, awards, and exhibition/ performance history.
• Up to 10 digital work samples, which may be any combination of still images, video, audio, and writing (for video or audio we prefer a pdf or document providing us with the links).

WHO CAN APPLY

DIALOG CITY ART FOR PUBLIC RESIDENCY PROGRAMME is open to all artistic disciplines (e.g., visual arts, writing, performance, new media, etc.) and other creative practices including, but not limited to, design, architecture, gardening, food design and education. We strongly encourage applicants with interdisciplinary and participatory / socially engaged art practices.

Education and Training: We do not require any particular level of education or training to apply. Our residency programme is open to emerging, mid-career, and established artists and creative practitioners who have a dedicated studio practice and professional demeanour. Artists of all nationalities can apply, but they must reside in the European Union or in one of the accession countries.

ACCOMMODATION

Free accommodation in a single room with a private bathroom and kitchen. It does not provide canteen or food service. Meals are not included.

ARTIST FEE

3.500 € including profound preparation of the residency after the final selection and presentation of the result during the HYBRID FESTIVAL in Montpellier. Per diems are included in the fee.

MATERIAL COSTS

Up to 2.000 €, proposal subject to be reviewed by the internal commission according to the value given in terms of scenography and visibility during the Hybrid Festival. This must be specified in the application.

TRAVEL COSTS

Will be covered up to the amount of 1.300 €, including return ticket from the origin and local transport in Montpellier. According to the Memorandum of Understanding “Green Deal” we urge project participants to avoid air travel. Train, bus or car are preferred.

FURTHER INFORMATION

Artist Fee and Artistic Material Costs can be paid only through invoice process. The artist must have a VAT number or an institution it relies on, for invoicing correctly.

Payment details: at the arrival in Montpellier, the artist will be given an initial instalment of 50% of the artist fee, while the balance will be paid at the end of the residency (within 60 days).

English speaking and preferably basic knowledge of French language (non-compulsory, please note that no professional translation services will be provided).

Specific questions may arise during the decision-making process, which the DIALOG CITY consortium will then clarify directly with the applicants.

CONTACT

adele.azavant@quatorze.cc

contact@quatorze.cc

Mondovi (Italy)

The project NEWS FROM HOME by Anne Fehres and Luke Conroy, an artist duo specializing in socially engaged art practice, was selected for the first residency in Mondoví, Italy. During their four-week stay, they immersed themselves in the community, conducting research, collaborating with locals, and observing diverse community stories. Their focus was on capturing both objective and subjective narratives that blend global and local perspectives.

The artist duo Anne Fehres and Luke Conroy

The culmination of their residency was a mural depicting these stories, created using large format photographic composition on billboard paper affixed to an old wall in Mondoví’s medieval centre. The artwork was unveiled on July 20, 2023, as part of the HYBRID FESTIVAL and will remain in public space until time naturally fades it away.

Their project exemplified a successful blend of artistic vision with community engagement, contributing significantly to the cultural landscape of Mondoví while fostering dialogue and participation among its residents.

Publication available here.

Graz (Austria)

The second DIALOG CITY ART FOR PUBLIC RESIDENCY, titled LONGINGS, featured visual artist Lenka Holíková, who has lived and worked between Europe and Mexico. Her art focuses on migration and borders, reflecting her upbringing in a border region near Germany during the East-West division. Lenka’s recent work addresses the broader issue of forced migration, particularly relevant in Central Europe and Austria, which serves as a transit hub for migrants fleeing conflict and hardship.

Austria’s historical context, shaped by its past and recent conflicts, influences current attitudes toward migration, often exacerbated by populist movements that foster anti-immigrant sentiment. Media portrayals frequently highlight negative aspects of migration, affecting public perception.

Holíková’s project connects research with artistic expression, emphasizing migrant narratives linked to Graz through collaboration with the Graz Museum and individuals who have sought refuge there. Visitors were invited to witness this at the Graz Museum from 6 June to 1 September 2024.

The artist Lenka Holíková, in Graz