Rundgang 50Hertz

The Rundgang 50Hertz is a project to support arts academy graduates in the fine arts. It is based on a cooperation initiated in 2017 between the Nationalgalerie im Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin and the transmission system operator 50Hertz. Young artists will be promoted with a documentary film and a book about their working processes—both will be presented at the Hamburger Bahnhof, and, additionally, accessible digitally via the project’s website.

We are inviting you to participate in the following limited call for participation in 2021–22 in the scope of this cooperation enabled by 50Hertz.

Limited call: art and knowledge
Students who, in the sense of a crossover approach, incorporate insights from scientific disciplines (for instance, ethnology, physics, ecology, mathematics, anthropology, archaeology, biology, history, geophysics, etc.), but also artisanal traditions and techniques into their interrogations and research, and translate them into an artistic work, are invited to apply. It remains up to the artist whether he or she has acquired knowledge of the sciences and processes by collaborating with persons from other fields of knowledge, through experimental forms of work, by reading specialist or technical literature, or by visiting archives and attending seminars. In each case, the results of the research should be a central theme of the artistic work and visible.

To what new forms of cognition in aesthetics does linking the arts with sciences or artisanal practices lead? What is the relationship between analytical reflection and practical action? Questions of this type have been dominating the discussion conducted at various arts academies in Europe since the 1990s with varying intensity under the terms “artistic research” or “art and epistemology.” In the debate, the question always resonates about the recognition or denial of the epistemological content of the arts, as well as the possibility to prove it. With the call, we would like to broach the necessity in this discussion arising from the current situation of the arts.

This competition addresses final projects by graduates, master students and graduands of Berlin’s art academies (University of the Arts and Weißensee Academy of Art Berlin) and the Academy of Fine Arts in Leipzig and the University of Fine Arts in Hamburg who have completed their studies in a specialised area of the fine arts in the summer of 2021. All media are welcome.

The Rundgang 50Hertz project promoting young talent stands for diversity, equal opportunity and inclusion; we encourage people with disabilities to apply.

Please submit the following documents electronically: CV (maximum 1 page). (b) Concept (maximum 1 page). (c) Photos of the artistic works (maximum 5 pages).

You will find the electronic application form and the possibility to upload the required documents at
rundgang50hertz.de.

Your data may not exceed 10MB. Please upload your data some time before the deadline expires (please not on the last day).

We would appreciate your understanding that this year there is no possibility for the competition to answer queries. You will find all information necessary for the application on the website.

Curated by Melanie Franke, Professor for Art History & Research, Academy of Art and Design, Basel