
Neue Gesellschaft fuer Bildende Kunst/New Society for Visual Arts. The new art project on the Berlin Underground, U10 –"From Here to the Imaginary and Back Again," sets a focus on the social and collaborative dimension of public art. Artists or collaborative groups of artists and non-artists are invited to take part in this call for submissions. Preference will be given to artists who see their work as a means of exchange and shared dialogue and who are interested in reaching new audiences. This may include a readiness to collaborate with, for example, groups of BVG staff or passengers who have little experience of contemporary art. The organizers cannot take part in the call themselves. The U10 project will run for a maximum of three years. The organizers are looking for situation specific and/or participatory projects which focus on the Berlin Underground and its staff and/or users. They can range from being short, interventionistic artistic reactions to specific occurrences on the Underground to being long term collaborations. The competition sees members of staff, passengers, kiosk and snack bar owners, buskers and ticket traders not only as a potential audience but also as potential collaborators on a joint research of the Berlin Underground.
This project will be run by Neue Gesellschaft für Bildende Kunst (NBGK) Berlin, in collaboration with the Berlin Underground Train Network (BVG), and financed by Berlin Council's Department of Culture and supported by Wall AG. I'm not sure how much the funding is for this project or whether it includes travel expenses, but you can write them and find out. For more information and to download the application form, go to: www.ngbk.de and click on 'competition.' If you don't speak German, go in the upper right hand corner of the website and click on the tiny "en" for English. Address: NGBK / U10 Competition Oranienstrasse 25, D - 10999 Berlin, Germany E-mail: untergrund@ngbk.de Website: www.ngbk.de. Deadline: June 12, 2009.