Deadline: 1 September 2025
Duration: 3 months (starting 1 October 2025)
Remuneration: €7,500
Call for proposals
V2_ Lab for the Unstable Media cordially invites upcoming curators, community organisers and cultural practitioners to apply for the newly conceived Alex Adriaansens Residency!
Context
With the Alex Adriaanses Residency, the V2_ team wishes to honour the legacy of co-founder Alex Adriaansens, who, alongside his artistic work, created a new type of cultural institution with V2_. Over its more than 40-year history, V2_ has grown and developed solid structures, first in Den Bosch and, since 1994, in Rotterdam. However, the organisation has always maintained its independence as a place for artistic experimentation with digital media, the debate about the influence of technological change on society, the political engagement with its consequences, and encounters between different communities at local, regional and international levels. In his curatorial work, Alex has always created spaces for this exchange, tested new formats and worked to ensure that V2_ remains a playground for new art forms that have not yet found broad recognition in the canon of contemporary art.
Focus
Starting with a new focus in 2025, the Alex Adriaansens Residency will provide an opportunity to ask questions such as: How do independent art and cultural institutions offer a playground for new art forms today, and create spaces for different communities and unexpected encounters? Which curatorial practices are currently opening up the boundaries between art, social space and activism? What are the continuities, and what breaks have there been in the history of self-managed art organisations operating in DIY mode since the 1980s? We are convinced that today, in times of multiple crises, it is more important than ever to preserve and promote places of encounter, emerging artistic practices and critical thinking. Within the framework of the programme, upcoming curators, community organisers and cultural practitioners can explore these and many other questions while further developing their own practice. They will have access to V2_’s extensive archive for research.
Who can apply?
The residency is primarily aimed at curators, initiators of festivals, art programmes and events, and community organisers in the fields of media art, digital cultures and related art and cultural fields, who are starting their professional careers. Duos or teams can apply together, but will share the grant.
We understand media art as a historic term with a relevant dimension for our present, and as a cross-disciplinary artistic field – applicants from, for example, the visual arts, film, music, performance, theatre and cultural education are very welcome! There is no thematic requirement for the residency. The focus of the research can be freely chosen.
Application & procedure
Interested parties are invited to apply with a letter of motivation (max. 2 pages), a short CV (max. 1 page) and (important) a specific research question to be pursued during the residency (max. 1 page).
Applications can be submitted via the linked Google form:
https://forms.gle/supHk2zPWQZicv9P7
The deadline for applications is: 1 September 2025
– A jury consisting of members of the V2_ team will decide on the award of the residency.
– The residency is remunerated with 7,500 €, will begin on 1 October 2025 and lasts three months in total.
– The residency and research are organised and structured independently by the resident.
– If desired, guidance and feedback talks on the research process can be provided by V2_’s archivist and others in the V2_ team.
Presentation of the results of the residency
At the end of the residency, the research results will be presented to the interested public in Rotterdam at an event organised jointly with the V2_ team. The team will endeavour to facilitate connections to the broader V2_ programme. The event may for instance take the form of an expert meeting. Other event formats are also possible. Alternatively or in addition, an essay on the progress of the research and the research results may be written. Furthermore applicants are welcome to make their own suggestions for presenting the results in the submitted concept.
Questions can be sent by email to: v2@v2.nl
