Steirischer Herbst is an annual festival for contemporary art, situated in Graz and the province of Styria, Austria. Since 1968 the festival has been setting standards in contemporary art and curating, which it continues to do to this day. Following the launch of a retrospective website and the restructuring of the festival’s archives, Steirischer Herbst is initiating a fellowship programme aimed at established as well as emerging researchers who would like to delve into the festival’s rich history.
The newly inaugurated Research Residency Fellowship seeks to make the festival’s archive resources accessible as part of its mission to place the history of Steirischer Herbst in dialogue with contemporary academic work. The fellowship supports and encourages innovative scholarly, creative and interdisciplinary inquiries into the festival’s practices and history. It supports and encourages new perspectives and readings of its legacy.
Festival archive
The archive includes a press archive, a media archive with over 1300 media files, a file archive, and a reference library holding over 3000 publications from the 1960s to the present day. Most files are not digitised and in German.
Fellowship start and duration
Applicants can choose between a three-month fellowship starting July or August and a one-month fellowship starting September or October 2022.
Support
Fellows receive a monthly stipend of €1500 as well as a monthly accommodation allowance of up to €500 for the duration of their fellowship. Travel to and from Graz for the residency is covered as well. Fellows able to commute will receive a monthly commuting compensation instead of the accommodation allowance. The festival works collaboratively with a network of institutions in the city that the fellow is introduced to throughout their stay.
Thematic angle
Due to the festival’s extensive history and its interdisciplinary character, the archive provides insight into a wide range of topics. Research topics could therefore include:
- The cultural politics of postwar Austria.
- Art and politics in Austria and Eastern Europe from 1960s to today.
- Art in public space.
- The politics of media and technology in art.
- The history of contemporary curating in visual arts, performance, and theatre.
