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Open Call: Open Archief 2020/21 RE:SEARCH

23 september 2020
Image: Marius Schwarz.
Image: Marius Schwarz.

Three creative practitioners will be given the opportunity to create a new, autonomous media work within a six-month working period, using the public and digitized collections of Het Nieuwe Instituut, the Netherlands Institute for Sound and Vision (Sound and Vision) and the International Institute of Social History (IISH). The selected artists receive a working grant of €7,800. Deadline for the proposals is the 30th of October at 17:00 (CET).

Het Nieuwe Instituut manages one of the largest architecture archives in the world, the Sound and Vision collection contains over 1 million hours of historical audiovisual material and the IISH archive consists of archival and audiovisual material with a thematic emphasis on social movements. A growing part of these collections are made available under open licenses and are available for creative reuse. Open Archief aims to introduce a new generation of media artists to the possibilities of digital heritage collections. Through research and experiment new interpretations will arise on the unknown archival material. Het Nieuwe Instituut, Sound and Vision and IISH are committed to the importance of the creative reuse of heritage and are inviting media artists to create new works with the "open collections" that are digitally available.

Working period

Open Archief offers three positions in the period of December 2020 to May 2021 for creative practitioners with an affinity for archives, audio-visual media, graphic design, architecture, social history and art. Important parts of the project are copyrights and licensing. The position offers space for research, experimentation and production. Selected applicants receive a grant of €7,800 (€6,800 fee and €1,000 production budget). The makers are invited to research the open collections of Het Nieuwe Instituut, Sound and Vision and IISH. During the working period, the selected applicants get support from staff members of the institutes and external experts. The project will end with a public presentation of the research and the final results in the form of an exhibition at Het Nieuwe Instituut. An international symposium will also be organized following the themes RE:SEARCH, RE:USE and Copyright.

Access the online collections of Sound and Vision, Het Nieuwe Instituut and IISG.

RE:SEARCH

Participants are invited to submit their proposal under the theme RE:SEARCH. Research in archives can uncover different meanings and understandings of the past, and bring forward new interpretations, critiques and knowledge. Applicants are invited to engage with the topic critically and reflect on what it means to do archival research and engage with archives, not merely as repositories but as socio-political structures. RE: SEARCH calls for reflection on the entire process: from archival research to realization. The diverse collections of the three institutes can be researched and can be used for the making of new mediaworks.

Image: Marius Schwarz.
Image: Marius Schwarz.

Applying

Open Archief is open to applicants who are based in the Netherlands and have the right work permits. It is intended for creative practitioners who have graduated from relevant education in the field of arts, design or (media)technology and are passionate about working with archives. Proposals can be submitted until the 30th of October at 17:00 (CET) via email at openarchief@beeldengeluid.nl.

The application must include 

  • A motivation letter with a clear, concise description of your project proposal working with the theme RE:SEARCH and your motivation for working with open/public heritage materials; (max 2 A4 pages (1.5. space).
  • Appendix I: portfolio (max 10 pages);
  • Appendix II: CV (max. 2 pages); which includes Links to videos and websites should be included in the documents.

Review process

All submissions will be reviewed by Donna Verheijden (filmmaker), staff members of Het Nieuwe Instituut, Sound and Vision and the International Institute for Social History, who will select the three artists based on the following criteria:

  • Distinctive project proposal addressing the creative and critical reuse of open collections;
  • Motivation for working with the open archive collections;
  • Quality of the artist’s work (portfolio);
  • The added value of the project for the artist’s career.

Procedure

The selection will be announced within two weeks after the closing of the call. For questions about the open call and the procedure, please contact us at openarchief@beeldengeluid.nl. No draft of the proposal can be submitted in advance. Applicants will receive an acknowledgment of receipt via email no later than one week after the closing date. The selection of proposals will be announced by email.

More information? Visit the Open Archief website for updates, past editions, images, news and blogs.

Open Archief is made possible thanks to a contribution from the Pictoright Fonds.

Research Residency For the Record

Next to Open Archief, Het Nieuwe Instituut and Sound and Vision are launching an open call on October 6 for two Research Residencies on the politics of design in music video and television.