For the fourth time, the International Photoszene Köln is organising the Artist Meets Archive programme in cooperation with the photographic collections and archives of the City of Cologne. International artists are invited for a residency at the institutions and develop an exhibition based on their exploration of the photographic collections, which is shown as part of the Photoszene Festival in Cologne.

The artists’ research stays are planned for a maximum of one month at a time or can take place in several shorter visits to the host organisations. The residency will take place in summer 2024 and will be scheduled according to the living and logistical situation of the participating artists. During the residency, the artist will be supervised by the host institution, which will also grant access to the archive. Photoszene Köln organises travel and accommodation and creates a network among the participants and in the city through artist talks, archive visits and excursions.

The artists can present and showcase the results of their work in the form of an exhibition as part of the Photoszene Festival from May 2025. The exhibition projects will be shown at the institutions themselves and/or at associated locations and will be on display for at least 6 weeks. The Artist Meets Archive programme will be accompanied by public event formats such as talks or symposia on the festival and will thus receive broad attention.

The participating institutions are:

• Kölnisches Stadtmuseum.
• Museum Ludwig (by invitation only).
• Die Photographische Sammlung/SK Stiftung Kultur.
• Rautenstrauch-Joest-Museum.
• Dombauarchiv.

The call is open internationally to all professional artists, photographers and artist collectives who are of legal age, and is primarily aimed at artists who are dealing with photography and archives in their work.

Support from Artist Meets Archive:

• Travel and accommodation costs.
• The artist will receive an artist fee of €1500 for the residency, €1500 for the conception of a project, and €1500 for the realisation of an exhibition. This makes a total of €4500. (Collectives consisting of several people must share the fee.)
• The artist receives basic funding for the exhibition.
• The participating institutions grant the artists access to the archive or to selected parts of the archive/collection.
• An exhibition during Photoszene-Festival 2025.