Weltmuseum Wien announces an open call for an artist in residence who will stay in Vienna for two months within the frame of the European project SWICH – Sharing a World of Inclusion, Creativity and Heritage.

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Duration: January - February 2016

Deadline: 13 September 2015

Residency Co-Creation Labs at Weltmuseum Wien

Thematic Focus
Weltmuseum Wien is searching for a project that comments on contemporary issues the museum is dealing with such as migration, colonial past of museum collections, cultural diversity and transnational identities in Vienna or new forms of collecting in a post-migrant society. What are – in this context – the missing pieces and untold stories at the museum? Weltmuseum Wien aims at working with an artist who researches similar questions in his or her art practice and can thus engage into a fruitful artistic dialogue with the institution.

Together with an expert Jury, Weltmuseum Wien will choose one artist. During the residency, the artist will create a context specific installation/object/media piece, which will be exhibited at the time of the museum’s reopening in autumn 2017.

In Vienna, the artist will work on the implementation of his/her project and collaborate closely with the scientific staff of the museum. The developed project should be a site and context specific work of art, which results from a creative exchange between the artist and the museum.

The research, development and creation of the project should be completed during the period of the residency, the final presentation of the work will be at the time of the reopening of the museum.

Deadline for applications
Sunday, September 13, 2015
The decision of the jury will be communicated until mid October 2015

Activities and outcome of the residency
- development and creation of a work of art which will be exhibited at Weltmuseum Wien at the time of the museum’s reopening.
- participation in one Lab-Meeting in Marseille (FR)
- public presentation in Vienna during residency
- provision of graphic and text material for a publication.

Conditions
Weltmuseum Wien offers the selected artist a project budget of max. 11.000 € including artist honorarium and production costs. Additionally, the museum makes available accommodation, travel costs and per diem.

Requirements for application
The museum is searching for a professional artist (no student) who has experience in dealing with complex and sensitive issues such as colonialism, migration or the reinterpretation of ethnographic collections.

ABOUT the museum and SWICH project

The Weltmuseum Wien, created as Museum of Ethnology (Museum für Völkerkunde) in 1928, has its origin in the Ethnographic Collection of the Natural History Museum founded in 1876. It is the only Austrian museum focusing with its collection and program on the worlds’ cultural diversity while at the same time documenting Austria’s historical relations with the world through its global collections.  The museum is currently closed while it undergoes a total renovation and will re-open in autumn 2017.

For SWICH – Sharing a World of Inclusion, Creativity and Heritage, ten European partner museums reflect current issues concerning the role of ethnographic museums within an increasingly differentiated European society. The focus of this EU-cooperation project, funded by the Creative Europe programme, lies on central concerns of visionary ethnographic museum practice within the context of a post-migrant society.