Organizer Information
transmediale is an annual festival and year-round cultural platform for art, digital culture, and media theory in Berlin, founded in 1988 as VideoFilmFest, a video and media art programme connected to the Berlin International Film Festival, which later expanded into multimedia, internet culture, software art, theory, performance, exhibitions, and research-based formats. The festival relocated to Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in 2002, and in 2004 the Kulturstiftung des Bundes (German Federal Cultural Foundation) included transmediale in its funding programme for "beacons of contemporary culture," a status it continues to hold. Beyond its annual January festival, transmediale operates as a transversal platform facilitating year-round activities including publications, commissions, and a residency programme run with different partner institutions, and since 2021 has run its own studio space at silent green Kulturquartier in Berlin. This open call is issued for the 2027 edition, which marks transmediale's 40th anniversary, and is run in cooperation with Pro Helvetia, the Swiss Arts Council.
Title & Description
Digital Art Residency 2027 (in cooperation with Pro Helvetia)
This is the fifth iteration of transmediale's Digital Art Residency, run in cooperation with the Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia. It will be awarded to one individual or collective working in digital art practices, at the intersection of media arts, performance, sound, and moving image. The residency is structured as a hybrid programme, combining remote work with an on-site month in Berlin at transmediale studio, and is framed by transmediale's 2027 thematic focus, "RFC 40" — an inquiry into how technical paradigms and cultural protocols might be reconfigured beyond extractive logics, moving from critique toward construction.
Theme
The residency is framed by transmediale's 40th-anniversary thematic focus, RFC 40, which takes its name from "Request for Comments," an early internet-history document series. The open call seeks proposals offering alternatives to how we understand, respond to, and shape the technological conditions we inhabit — asking how a network can remain legible to itself while the structures surrounding it break down, and how technical paradigms might be reconfigured toward new cultural protocols outside extractive logics, moving from critique to construction.
Categories
- Digital
- New Media
- Sound/Music
- Performance
- Video/Film
- Technology
- Interdisciplinary Arts
- Research
Eligibility
- Open to one individual or one collective working in the field of digital art practices, at the intersection of media arts, performance, sound, and moving image
- Applicants must hold Swiss nationality or have permanent residence in Switzerland
- Applicants must be firmly established in the Swiss cultural scene, following Pro Helvetia's general requirements
- Applications from duos or collectives are welcome; the fee and production grant remain the same and must be shared accordingly
Program Benefits & Awards
- Artist fee of CHF 2,000 per month for the two-month residency
- Additional production grant of CHF 15,000 for the selected project, supporting the development of a new work or continuation of an existing project, open to all formats
- Travel and accommodation covered for both the festival and the residency
- Presentation opportunity: residents present their work in a public event as part of transmediale's year-round studio programme
- Possibility of an online publication through transmediale's journal
- Residents are connected with institutions and stakeholders in Berlin's cultural scene during their stay
- Residency kicks off with a presentation of residency projects during the transmediale festival in January 2027
Application Fee
None
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 28 August 2026
- Announcement of selected residents: October 2026
- Residency kick-off during transmediale festival: 26–31 January 2027
- Onboarding and first hybrid part of the residency: May 2027
- Residency month in Berlin at transmediale studio (on-site presence mandatory): June 2027
- Second hybrid part of the residency, including reporting: July 2027
- Project completion deadline: by December 2027 at the latest
Location
Hybrid — remote work combined with an on-site month at transmediale studio, located in silent green Kulturquartier, Berlin-Wedding, Germany.
Additional Details
- transmediale studio is a shared working space with modular working stations, used for events, presentations, gatherings, and the production of small-scale works and rehearsals.
- The residency will be selected by a jury of Nina Liechti, curator at ENTER HERE Kunstmuseum Bern; Anan Fries, artist and 2025 resident; and Anna-Lena Panter, Head of Programme at transmediale
- For further information and questions, applicants can contact submit[at]transmediale.de.