Past open calls
CoMuse-Fellowship-Programm
The fellowship program is one of the central components of the project “The Collaborative Museum” (CoMuse) and addresses international artists, researchers, community representatives, and cultural workers.
The program 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 program is particularly interested in supporting early-career academics and emerging artists in their professional development.
OPEN CALL: CoMuse Fellowships 2025
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.
Application open until 15.11.2024
International Open Call
We invite applications for two CoMuse Fellowships in 2025, beginning in July and October 2025. The CoMuse Fellowships focus on addressing specific issues related to the museum collections and practices, such as:
- Strategies of sharing knowledge and generating new forms of access
- Provenance research around specific cultural belongings from the collections
- Critical re-evaluation of historical narratives and language in the collections from a decolonial perspective
- Conservation
- Analysis of cultural techniques
- Community-centred approaches and outreach strategies
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 program 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 program 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.
More information and application here [offline]
Open Call: Berlin
We are announcing an additional six-month fellowship (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:
- Decolonising museum practices and narratives
- Promoting and amplifying marginalised or underrepresented voices and histories
- Challenging Western-centric perspectives
- Fostering collaborative and community-centred approaches
- Creating spaces for dialogue and multiperspectivity
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.
More information and application here [offline]
Open Call: Nominated fellows for CoMuse Fellowships 2025
We are delighted to announce the selection of fellows for the CoMuse Fellowships 2025.
In autumn 2024, the project “CoMuse – The Collaborative Museum” published its first open call. It was aimed at emerging scientists, artisans, mediators, museologists, and cultural practitioners from a wide range of disciplines from all parts of the world who are interested in collaborative research on and with the collections of the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst.
A total of three scholarships with two different specialisations were awarded. The international call was aimed at applicants worldwide whose project proposals were to focus on strategies of transdisciplinary knowledge exchange, aspects of decentralised provenance research and conservation, and propose reciprocal forms of accessibility. The second call was aimed at applicants living in Berlin and focused on decolonising museum practices and narratives. It aimed at amplifying underrepresented voices, community-centred approaches and creating spaces for dialogue and multiperspectivity.
The fellowships enable the realisation of research projects and offer CoMuse fellows the opportunity to critically examine the collections and their contexts of meaning, to test innovative research approaches and to boost transcultural museum work. They are process-orientated, with a focus on collaboration and exchange, and do not require a concrete result or exhibition concept. They provide the fellows with the necessary space and resources to advance their own research and the opportunity to engage with the Berlin public about their ideas and collaboration with the museums in various formats such as workshop discussions, guided tours, or workshops.
The final selection of the scholarship holders was made by an international jury of experts in December 2024. The nominated candidates impressed with their collaborative, artistic, and knowledge-building approach, as well as with the prospect of reciprocity. Their work will be an exciting addition to the CoMuse initiatives of the Ethnologisches Museum and the Museum für Asiatische Kunst.