The fellowship programme is one of the central components of the project “The Collaborative Museum” (CoMuse) and addresses international artists, researchers, community representatives, and cultural workers.
The programme offers grants for academic or artistic research projects that allow fellows the opportunity to critically examine the collections and their contexts of meaning through their work, to experiment with new research approaches, to develop interventions in the field of contemporary art, or to work together with curators and museums’ staff to inspire new impulses in transcultural museum work. Transparency and opening up new forms of access are key focuses of this work, as is ensuring the participation of a diversity of disciplines, individuals, cultural perspectives, and voices. The CoMuse Fellowship programme is particularly interested in supporting early-career academics and emerging artists in their professional development.
The Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst award grants for fellowships in the framework of the project CoMuse – The Collaborative Museum for 2025.
The application deadline expired on 15 November 2024. No further applications will be accepted.
CoMuse Fellowships emphasise process, collaboration, and exchange and do not require a finalised outcome. Fellows will have the opportunity, space, and resources to advance their research and engage with the Berlin public about their ideas and collaboration with the museum through various formats such as round tables, tours, or workshops.
About the cooperation partner Künstlerhaus Bethanien
The international CoMuse Fellowship programme is realised in cooperation with Künstlerhaus Bethanien, an international cultural centre with a focus on contemporary visual arts in Berlin Kreuzberg. It hosts an artist-in-residence programme with exhibition rooms and workspaces for professional artists and cultural practitioners and aims to establish a lively dialogue between cultural actors from various backgrounds, disciplines, and the public at large. The bright and spacious studios are furnished in a minimalist style and offer enough space for research and artistic practice. They are equipped with a small kitchen unit; bathrooms and showers are available as shared amenities. CoMuse Fellows are invited to take part in the regular exhibition format “Open Studios” to present their research process and enter into an exchange with an interested audience.
An additional six-month fellowship is announced (starting in June 2025) specifically aimed at early-career researchers or cultural practitioners based in Berlin. They should have a scholarly interest in the decolonial museum discourse and be familiar with the current debates in Germany’s cultural landscape. We especially encourage applications from cultural practitioners and researchers with expertise in museum studies, postcolonial or curatorial studies, education, or related fields. Applicants should have a deep understanding of contemporary museum discourses surrounding intersectionality and demonstrate a strong sensitivity to the use of non-discriminatory language.
Project proposals should engage with the collections of the Ethnologisches Museum or the Museum für Asiatische Kunst and address one or more of the following topics: