Residency for process-based artistic research
As ecological destruction progresses and environmental issues are currently becoming less important both politically and socially, the question is becoming more pressing: what can still be done today? The artistic research residency AUENLand what now? examines this question in the Thuringian floodplain on the River Nesse. In a collaboration between Deutsche Umwelthilfe, Stockwerk e.V. and Studio Wägetechnik e.V., it accompanies the renaturation of an endangered wetland habitat.
The Nesse appears here as a multi-layered landscape: a living, ecological structure that has been thrown out of balance by human intervention and is now being regenerated step by step, accompanied by site-specific, process-based research. Through artistic practice, this development not only becomes visible, but also sensually comprehensible: it opens up new approaches to ecological contexts and reveals how closely nature, industrial use, responsibility and local knowledge are interwoven.
Perspectives from art, science, nature conservation and the local community are brought together.
The residency includes four workshops to develop tools to explore the site: sensory, physical, acoustic and documentary. With the tools developed, participants will have the opportunity to work independently for four weeks and present their project on site, as well as in a joint print publication. Both forms of presentation are intended to document processes, pass on findings and open up new perspectives on the site.
Application schedule:
Application period: May 7 – 25, 2026
Feedback: End of May
Attendance weekends: July 2 – 5 and July 9 – 12 (workshops), August 14 – 16 (project presentation)
Residency period: July 2 – August 16, 2026
Participants receive a budget of 750,00€ for material costs for their research project, participation in four artistic-research workshops, meals on three attendance weekends and accommodation during the entire residency period.
Location: Nessetal Thuringia, district of Gotha.
If you have any questions, please contact:
Application deadline: May 25, 2026