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steirischer herbst is an annual festival for contemporary art, situated in Graz and the province of Styria, Austria. Since 1968, the festival has been setting standards in contemporary art and curating. Following the launch of a research residency program in 2021, the steirischer herbst Research Residency Fellowship 2023 continues to make the festival’s archival resources accessible as part of its mission to place its history in dialogue with contemporary artistic and academic practice. The fellowship supports and encourages innovative scholarly, creative, and interdisciplinary inquiries into steirischer herbst’s practice and history.

Festival archive
The archive includes a press archive, a media archive with over 1,300 items, a file archive, and a reference library holding over 3,000 publications from the 1960s to the present. The majority of items are not digitized and in German.

Fellowship start and duration
September 2023 for one month

Support
Fellows receive a stipend of 1,500 euros plus an accommodation allowance of up to 500 euros. Travel to and from Graz for the residency is also covered. Fellows able to commute receive a commuting compensation instead. The festival collaborates with a network of institutions in the city that the fellow is introduced to throughout their stay.

Thematic angle
Due to the festival’s extensive history and interdisciplinary character, the archive provides insight into a wide range of topics:
–Cultural politics of postwar Austria
–Art and politics in Austria and Central Europe from the 1960s to today
–Art in public space
–Politics of media and technology in art
–History of contemporary curating in the visual arts, performance, and theater

Research proposals should address one of these topics.
A historical overview of the festival is provided on its retrospective website.

Application criteria
The fellowship is open to individuals from all countries. Applicants are not required to speak German, but German-language skills will likely prove advantageous when working with the archival material.
Applicants must submit a short proposal in English or German of up to 500 characters as well as a more extensive 750-word project description outlining why research in the archive benefits their work and how the festival’s history relates to their scholarly or artistic pursuits. They should also include thoughts about how the research might manifest in future projects and provide a CV with publications and links to relevant websites or digital projects.

Application evaluation
Applications are evaluated based on how clearly the case for research in the archive is made, including how this will enhance the applicant’s practice. Applicants are encouraged to explore lesser-known facets of the festival’s history. Research that pays attention to contemporary art’s embeddedness in broad political and social contexts is given preference.

Expectations
Fellows are required to produce a work for presentation in the festival’s spaces and on its website. It can take the form of a text, image, audio, or video work (or combination thereof) that offers insights into their initial findings and/or the direction of their research.
Fellows are asked to credit steirischer herbst in work resulting from the Research Residency Fellowship.

Submission guidelines
Please email all application materials as a single PDF to Barbara Seyerl with the subject line “Research Residency Fellowship” by July 1, 2023. For further information or questions, please also contact Barbara Seyerl.

We particularly encourage people from underrepresented groups to apply.
In 2022, fellowships were awarded to Lisa Moravec and Eike Wittrock.