Künstlerhaus Marktoberdorf — open call for an exhibition project with a €8,000 budget
Sometimes an open call offers more than participation in a group exhibition — it offers the chance to realise a full exhibition project. This is precisely the format offered by Künstlerhaus Marktoberdorf, a museum of contemporary art in Bavaria, which is opening a competition for external teams of artists and curators for the first time.
The selected team will have the opportunity to realise an eight-week experimental exhibition in the summer of 2026, as well as develop an accompanying programme for visitors: meetings, performances, discussions or educational formats. The organisers see this initiative as a way to bring new artistic approaches and fresh curatorial ideas to the museum.
Unlike standard open calls, the focus here is not so much on presenting individual works as on proposing a holistic curatorial concept for the exhibition and thinking through how it will be realised in the museum space.
Who can apply
Artists, curators and interdisciplinary teams are invited to participate.
Applications can be submitted individually, by a group of artists, or by a mixed team of artists and curators.
Age and country of residence are not important. The main thing is to propose a compelling artistic idea and show that the project can be implemented in the specific architecture of the museum.
Exhibition space
The project will be implemented at Künstlerhaus Marktoberdorf, a museum of contemporary art that combines the historic Dr. Geiger-Haus building with the modern Franz Schmid-Haus building. These spaces are connected by a passageway and form a single exhibition infrastructure.
The team has several floors of museum halls, an inner courtyard and a garden at its disposal. The new building alone offers around 405 m² of exhibition space, while the historic building adds approximately 150 m² of exhibition space.
This architecture allows for projects of various scales, from intimate conceptual exhibitions to large-scale installations.
Project support
The selected team will receive €8,000 to cover fees, expenses and project production.
The museum will also provide:
exhibition infrastructure,
support in project implementation,
communication and press relations,
assistance in preparing a programme for visitors,
and a professional museum venue for the exhibition.
What you need to submit an application
The application should be submitted as a single PDF file consisting of four A3 pages:
an introduction to the team and brief biographies,
the curatorial concept (approximately 2,000 characters),
visual materials or project sketches, and
an exhibition implementation plan (space, programme, budget).
This format requires not just a description of the idea, but a clearly thought-out structure for the future exhibition.
The exhibition will run from 4 July to 30 August 2026.
The deadline for submitting applications is 8 April 2026.
