Artist in Residence at the University of Ghana
Call for Applications
The Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) invites applications for
Up to two Artists in Residence
for 3 months each at the University of Ghana (in the Academic Year 2025/2026)
Application deadline: 30 August 2024
The Merian Institute for Advanced Studies in Africa (MIASA) invites applications for up to two artists in residence to interact with and accompany Interdisciplinary Fellow Groups and/ or individual or tandem fellows in their ongoing research at MIASA, University of Ghana, Legon campus, Accra. Artists have the capability to express and present globally challenging topics in a way which can enrich the sciences by introducing disruptive ideas. Similarly, scientific discourse can nourish the creative processes of the arts.
MIASA is an institute under the College of Humanities at the University of Ghana. It is based on a collaboration with four German partners (Univ. of Freiburg, Goethe Univ. Frankfurt, GIGA and GHIP) and sponsored by the German Federal Ministry for Education and Research with co-funding from the University of Ghana. The institute offers time and space for supporting innovative academic projects of top international quality in the social sciences and humanities under the overarching theme of Sustainable Governance.
MIASA is particularly interested in artistic projects which address one of the following fields: *Meanings of Sustainability; *Environment; *Conflict and Peace; *Democracy; *African Cities; *Restitution; *Migration. MIASA is committed to promote critical debates, to reduce global asymmetries in knowledge production, and to increase the role of African thinking in academic contexts. Creative ways of addressing our research topics can help us to reflect on them in new ways and to reach out to larger societal debates also beyond the university sphere.
We are interested in applications from artists of all creative forms (visual, plastic, textual, digital or performing arts). Artists in residence are invited to MIASA for a three-month stay within the period from August 2025 to August 2026. During their stay they are expected to interact with MIASA fellows and the MIASA networks as well as with the wider University of Ghana community. Artists receive a monthly stipend (1500 €/month), an accommodation allowance, and additional project funding for material (up to 500€/month based on receipts). MIASA provides a working space as part of the residency.
Applications should include:
- Cover form (including your preferred starting date of the residence in 2025 or 2026; draft to be downloaded here: Draft Cover page MIASA Artist in Residence Application:
- CV (max. 2 pages)
- Project summary (max. 5 pages):
- Project name
- Artistic disciplines involved in the project
- What do you propose to do during the stay (500 words)
- What is the nature of artistic output which you wish to achieve during the stay?
- How is the project related to one of the above-mentioned thematic fields of MIASA?
- How do you propose to interact with MIASA fellows and the wider University of Ghana community?
- If any, you may provide up to 5 links to previous artistic works or interviews or reviews about your work which are published online.
- Pictures or textual excerpts (max 1 page each) of 5 artistic examples from your previous works.
All documents have to be merged into one (1) PDF file named following this model: NAME of the artist_application 2025.2026. The PDF file should not exceed 5 MB.
Submission deadline: 30th of August 2024 via email to: miasa@act.uni-freiburg.de
Successful candidates will be informed in February 2025.
