Call For Entries Kunstförderpreis 2013

„Der Künstler muss als Künstler Anarchist sein.“
(Kurt Eisner)

On November 7, 1918 Kurt Eisner proclaimed the "Freistaat" (republic) of Bavaria in Munich, which thus marked the end of World War I and the monarchist system. It was also the start of the first democratic experiment in Germany based on the principles of peace, social justice, human rights and the sovereignty of the people. The majority of the population welcomed this new beginning. Many artists, writers and philosophers became actively involved in this new development, including Paul Klee, Hans Richter, Rainer Maria Rilke, Heinrich Mann, Oskar Maria Graf, Erich Mühsam, Ernst Toller and Gustav Landauer. The aim of the artists and the "Council of Intellectual Workers" was to promote open dialogue and integrate art and politics into society and in public. Six months later, this experiment in democracy had been cut short by military and nationalist forces: Kurt Eisner was shot (February 21, 1919), Gustav Landauer beaten to death (May 2, 1919) and around 800 other people were also murdered. This was the preliminary stage of the criminal activities of the Nazi regime that ignited and spread the global conflagration of World War II and led to the murder of millions of people. The consequences persist until today, yet the level of historical awareness of these issues remains low.

In 1988 Wolfram Kastner and Gerhard Koitschew founded with 19 other artists the Kurt Eisner Kulturstiftung with the aim of keeping the liberal values of the first German democracy alive and of preserving them for the future. Since its foundation, the Kurt Eisner Kulturstiftung has supported publicly and politically engaged art.

The Coming Rebellion

The revolts of the last years associated forms of disobedience and reasons as different as the revolution in Tunisia and the Arab Spring with protests in Israel and those of the „Indignants“ in Spain, riots in Greece with those in England, or the Occupy movements with the occupations of universities in Latin America.

With reference to the revolutionary actions of Kurt Eisner, the 1st Minister-President of the Bavarian Republic, the Kurt Eisner Kulturstiftung (Cultural Foundation) in 2013 invites artists to develop visions of future rebellions for a fairer world.

Supported will be projects that focus on civil disobedience or protest strategies, reflecting at the same time the role of art in a future uprising. Guidelines Admissible are all techniques of the visual arts and visual communication, photography, performance, action art, installation, conceptual art and video art. Professional artists from all over the world are invited to submit proposals for projects on the subject. A supporting contribution of EUR 10,000 in total has been made available which will be used to support the realization of at least one project. The project will be chosen by the board of trustees of the Kurt Eisner Kulturstiftung.

Additional guidelines

Required documents and information

• Personal details (name, place of residence, phone/fax, email)

• Project description: maximum 1 page of text

and appropriate visualization (3 pages max.)

• Project budget

• Implementation plan (schedule and places)

• Short CV

• Further examples of the artist’s work (3 images max.)

All documents must be filed in DIN A 4 format. No original artworks or digital data please. Please do not apply by e-mail. Please note that documents submitted will not be returned to you. Applications that do not meet these formal requirements can't be admitted.

Closing date for applications:

Thursday, January 31, 2013 (date as postmark)

The decision of the board of trustees will be published on the website of the Kurt Eisner Kulturstiftung (www.kurt-eisnerkulturstiftung.de) approx. two months after the expiry of the application term. We kindly ask for your understanding that only awardees will be notified personally.

Please send to:

Kurt Eisner Kulturstiftung

c/o RA Michael Sack

Schwanthalerstr. 12

80336 München | Munich, Germany