With the support of the Liebelt Foundation, Hamburg , Klub Solitaer e.V. is offering a curatorial residency including a research and travel budget. The curatorial residency will in turn prepare the artistic residency programme Dialogfelder (Fields of Dialogue ) for the following year. We see curators as active designers: researching, mediating and organising. The focus is on the supra-regional networking of art spaces in East and West in order to jointly test strategies for dealing with transformation. Young curators are given the opportunity to apply their practice in a real urban context, promote cooperation and develop concepts for site-specific works that have an impact on urban society.

PROGRAMME

During an 8–10-week work phase, the selected curator will combine local research in Chemnitz with a travel grant to eight partner locations (four in the east, four in the west). These trips serve to explore different strategies in urban and peripheral contexts. There, he or she will examine how other art spaces respond to situations of transformation, which strategies are successful, and how these can be adapted to the Chemnitz context.

The result will be a network of art spaces in various regions of eastern and western Germany that will jointly test and further develop their strategies.

The results will be presented at a symposium in Chemnitz in June 2026, in which the partner institutions visited will participate. Together, the experiences will be evaluated, a long list of artists will be compiled, and funding will be sought for the implementation of the dialogue fields in the following year.

A publication will document the results and will be supplemented by digital formats such as travel diaries and podcasts.

PROCESS

14 February 2026 | Information and discussion session
2:00 p.m. – 8:00 p.m. LOKOMOV Chemnitz
All interested parties are invited to get to know the organisers and their environment and to discuss current moments of transformation with each other.

1 March 2026, midnight | Application deadline
Followed by selection by a jury.

1 April 2026 | Start of the work and research period.
A central element is the travel grant, which provides for visits to eight art spaces (4 in the east, 4 in the west – urban and peripheral). A publication and dissemination strategy will be developed in advance, which may be based on field notes, photographs, interviews or digital formats such as travel diaries or podcasts. This will be implemented alongside the project.

June 2026 | Presentation of the curatorial concept
The participating art spaces from East and West will be invited to discuss and refine the concept together. The overarching theme for the 2027 dialogue fields will be defined. The consortium will jointly develop a longlist of artists, establish work plans and begin a joint application and fundraising process.

March to September 2027 |Implementation
Implementation of the artistic residencies of the dialogue fields in Chemnitz in accordance with the funds acquired.

October 2027 |Publication
A publication brings together spaces, methods, interventions and discussions and relates them to the overarching theme.

CONDITIONS

Fee for curatorial residency: €10,000 gross

Travel budget for research: up to €4,000 gross

The fee will be paid in four instalments against invoices:

• • after commencement and agreement of individual objectives
  • after the trip
  • upon presentation of the concept and implementation of the symposium
  • upon submission of detailed documentation

APPLICATION

Young curators who deal with artistic and creative spatial practices are invited to submit their proposals. The application should include the following information:

• • CV
  • Work samples (portfolio or links)
  • Letter of motivation or concept outline on thematic approaches, curatorial questions, research goals, potential partner locations

Applications should be sent exclusively by email to

info@klub-solitaer.de

More information here.