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 the Arts Council Korea (ARKO).
Title & Description
transmediale x ARKO Residency 2027
This is the third edition of transmediale's residency programme in collaboration with the Arts Council Korea (ARKO). It will be awarded to one person of Korean nationality, based in Korea or elsewhere, working in digital art and moving image practices, design, sound, or media theory. 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
- Video/Film
- Design
- Technology
- Interdisciplinary Arts
- Research
Eligibility
- Open to one person of Korean nationality, based in Korea or elsewhere
- Working in the fields of digital art and moving image practices, design, sound, or media theory
- Open to artists, researchers, practitioners, designers, and sound artists, including all formats
- Applications from duos or collectives are welcome; the fee remains the same and must be shared accordingly
Program Benefits & Awards
- Artist fee of €1,500 per month for the two-month residency
- Additional support for production
- Travel and accommodation support 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 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 (recommended attendance)
- 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
Location
Berlin, 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.
- Residents will be selected by a jury of Hyunjoo Byeon, curator, co-founder of The Floorplan, and artist; YoungEun Kim, artist and recipient of the 2026 ACC Future Prize; and Anna-Lena Panter, Head of Programme at transmediale.
- For further information and questions, applicants can contact submit[at]transmediale.de.