Open Call for Applications
The Oberhausen Seminar 2024: 1 May - 5 May 2024
The Seminar is an experimental course exploring contemporary artists’ moving image practice in the context of a renowned international film festival.
The Seminar is addressing primarily young and upcoming professionals. It is open to international artists, filmmakers, curators and researchers who work with moving images and in particular with artist films. Efforts will be made to create a diverse grouping of participants from different geographic regions, and to create a balanced mix of artists, curators and critics. All Seminar activities will take place in English. Only 25 applications will be selected.
Curriculum: To prepare for the Seminar, a syllabus with recommended readings will be sent out in advance. This document will also include logistical details about how the festival operates, and the Seminar’s place within it. A set of screenings for all Seminar attendees to attend will be set by the seminar leader, which will correspond to the Seminar conversations and guests. In advance of the Festival, all participants will be invited to submit a short bio, and/or a video work which will be shared with others in the cohort through a Seminar blog.
For five days of the festival, the participants will meet daily to engage in in-depth conversations. Meetings will alternate between two approaches: a) group conversation (responding to a specific programme or topic); b) guest conversation (dialogue with curators, filmmakers, artists, distributors). Following the festival, participants will be asked to write a short critical analysis on a particular aspect of the festival of their choosing (max. 1000 words). Oberhausen will reserve the right to make some of these available on its website or other outlets.
The Oberhausen Seminar 2024 will be lead by Leon Kahane
.Artist and author.
Born in Berlin in 1985, he first trained as a photographer and
then studied fine art at the Berlin University of the Arts.
Central points of reference in his video works, photographs and
installations are themes such as migration and identity and the
examination of majorities and minorities in a globalised
society. He is often interested in the cultural and artistic
representation of political developments in the recent past.
Time and again, he draws attention to events and institutions in
which the contradictions inherent in history are expressed. They
reflect historical, political and economic, but also
biographical aspects, which he takes up and processes in his
works. Above all, the socio-cultural localisation of current
political discourses and dynamics is of central importance to
his artistic approach, which represents a form of cultural
criticism. Most recently, his works were on display at the
Kunsthalle Wien and at the 6th Moscow Biennale. In 2015 he won
the Future of Europe Art Prize and in 2016 the ars viva Prize.
His work is represented by Galerie Nagel Draxler.
Seminar Fees: The Seminar fee of Euro 200 (excl. transaction fees) covers all Seminar sessions plus a festival pass, providing access to all screenings, events and talks during the Festival, as well as refreshments and lunch for the festival period (five days). Participants will be responsible for their own travel and accommodation (rooms at affordable rates can be provided).
Please include a description of your work, your motivation to apply for participation and examples of previous projects if relevant.
For additional questions, please contact
seminar@kurzfilmtage.de