For the fourth time, the International Photoszene Köln is organizing the Artist Meets Archive program in cooperation with the photographic collections and archives of the City of Cologne. International artists are invited for a residency at the institutions and develop an exhibition based on their exploration of the photographic collections, which is shown as part of the Photoszene Festival in Cologne.

2024: Residency
The artists’ research stays are planned for a maximum of one month at a time or can take place in several shorter visits to the houses. The residency will take place in summer 2024 and will be scheduled according to the living and logistical situation of the participating artists. During the residency, the artist will be supervised by the host institution, which will also grant access to the archive. Photoszene Köln organizes travel and accommodation and creates a network among the participants and in the city through artist talks, archive visits and excursions.

2025: Exhibition
The artists can present and showcase the results of their work in the form of an exhibition as part of the Photoszene Festival from May 2025. The exhibition projects will be shown at the institutions themselves and/or at associated locations and will be on display for at least 6 weeks. The Artist Meets Archive program will be accompanied by public event formats such as talks or symposia on the festival and will thus receive broad attention.

TIMELINE
Announcement of the participating institutions: December 15, 2023

Submissions: January 5 to 31, 2024 after registration via online form on our website.

Jury meetings: February 15 to 23, 2024

Decision: The nominated artists will be notified if they have been selected by email until February 23, 2024

Public announcement of the nominated artists: March 1, 2024

Residency period: max. 4 weeks in the period July-August 2024

Exhibition period: at least 6 weeks in May-June 2025

APPLICATION
Applications can be submitted until January 31 using the following form: Apply here!
The following documents are required (in English or German):

• Name of the institution you would like to work at
• Letter of motivation explaining your interest in the selected institution and its collection (one individual letter of motivation per institution with approx. 500-1,000 characters).
• Curriculum vitae (CV) with details of place of birth, residence and education
• Artistic statement with portfolio of past work and/or an expressive website
• Catalogs, brochures, etc. can be submitted by mail to Internationale Photoszene Köln gUG, Im Mediapark 7, 50670 Cologne (not obligatory).

Postal submissions can NOT be returned.

PARTICIPATING INSTITUTIONS
Kölnisches Stadtmuseum
Museum Ludwig*
Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur
Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum
Dombauarchiv

* The Museum Ludwig issues the invitation directly to the artist; it is therefore not possible to apply to the Open Call for Museum Ludwig.

TERMS AND CONDITIONS
Who can take part?

• The AMA#4 Open Call is open to all professional artists, photographers and artist collectives who are of legal age.
• The AMA#4 Open Call is primarily aimed at artists who are dealing with photography and archives in their work.
• The AMA#4 Open Call is open internationally.
• The artist should be willing to research and work temporarily in Cologne.

What will the artist receive?

• Travel and accommodation costs will be covered or reimbursed by Photoszene.
• The artist will receive an artist fee of €1,500 for the residency, €1,500 for the conception of a project and €1,500 for the realisation of an exhibition. This makes a total of €4,500. (Collectives consisting of several people must share the fee)
• The artist receives basic funding for the exhibition.
• The participating institutions grant the artists access to the archive or to selected parts of the archive/collection.
• An exhibition during Photoszene-Festival 2025.

Do you have questions? Please send an email to: opencall@photoszene.de
We ask you to refrain from direct inquiries to the participating institutions.

photoszene.de