Featured Section | Open Call

Enter your application via this Online Application Form. 

The open call to participate in Featured starts on 17th of March 2026 and ends on 27th of May 2026 at midnight.

All project organisers of the Berlin contemporary art scene are invited to submit an entry. Independent project groups, project spaces and initiatives, small and large art institutions and other actors in contemporary art are eligible to participate. Individual artists without exhibition spaces are not eligible to participate. Berlin Art Week does not have its own exhibition spaces and cannot provide spaces for potential participants.

The prerequisite for participation is a contemporary art programme contribution. There are no thematic requirements and no limitation to specific media of contemporary art production.

The programme contributions should begin during Berlin Art Week (9—13 SEP 2026) or represent a free special programme within the festival week. Openings within the festival week should be free of charge. Programmes with durations that start before the festival week as well as purely commercial formats are excluded from participation.

On Friday, 11 SEP 2026, we will place an additional programmatic and communicative focus on the selected projects with the FEATURED NIGHT. From 6—10pm, the projects can present themselves collectively with extended opening hours, openings, and special programmes. Please indicate in your application whether you are able to participate in the Featured Night with your programme.

Independent project groups, project spaces and initiatives, small and large art institutions and other actors in contemporary art are eligible to participate. Individual artists are only eligible to apply provided that they have a suitable exhibition space. There is no entitlement to participation.

Berlin Art Week does not fund projects. There are no participation fees.

Repeat applications are possible after previous participation in Berlin Art Week.

On Friday, 11 SEP 2026, we will place an additional programmatic and communicative focus on the selected projects with the FEATURED NIGHT. From 6—10pm, the projects can present themselves collectively with extended opening hours, openings, and special programmes. Please indicate in your application whether you are able to participate in the Featured Night with your programme. Participation in the Featured Night is not mandatory. If participation at your venue or with your programme is not possible, this does not exclude you from the application process.

The open call to participate in Featured starts on 17th of March 2026 and ends on 27th of May 2026 at midnight.

The following information is required for submission:

• Name and short text about the organisation and institution / exhibition venue
• Information on the exhibition / special programme: title, opening, duration, brief concept
• Contact person (name, e-mail, telephone number)
• Authorised signatory (name, position)
• Images: The online form must be submitted together with up to 5 images, which also serve as information for the selection committee. Please take care to select meaningful images that comprehensively convey your venue as well as the project to the selection committee. This should also include images of the premises in which the project takes place (format: JPG. Minimum image size: landscape format 1,000 px wide / portrait format 700 px wide). The images are separately uploaded in a plattform (Razuna) via the application form.

You can always return to the fields you have already completed within the form. If you close the online form before submitting it, the data entered will not be retained. A copy of your details will be sent to the email address you entered in the form once you have submitted your application.

Your data is not intended for publication and will be used exclusively for processing by the Berlin Art Week team and for the selection committee’s selection procedure.

An annually appointed selection committee decides on inclusion in the festival programme.

The Jury 2026 will be annouced with the choosen projects.

The selection committee 2025 consisted of: Marie-Therese Bruglacher (Curator), Anna Gritz (Director, Haus am Waldsee), Kito Nedo (Journalist and Author, Editor-in-Chief of Museumsjournal), and Mona Stehle (Artistic Director, Berlin Art Week).

The selection committee for the open call of Featured 2024 were: Emma Enderby (Director, KW Institute for Contemporary Art), Nele Heinevetter (Founder, Tropez), Christian Kaspar Schwarm (Board Member Curatories at Freunde der Nationalgalerie, Freunde der Nationalgalerie), Mona Stehle (Artistic Director, Berlin Art Week).

The selection committee 2023 consisted of: Krist Gruijthuijsen (Director, KW Institute for Contemporary Art), Catherine Nichols (Curator, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart), Mona Stehle (Artistic Director, Berlin Art Week), María Inés Plaza Lazo (Founder, Arts of the Working Class).

Applicants will be notified by email of their decision to be included in the festival programme without individual justification.

The selected project sponsors are one-time partners; the cooperation relates to the Berlin Art Week programme contribution stated in the application. If the project is accepted, a cooperation agreement will be concluded with Kulturprojekte Berlin GmbH. The project will be included in the festival week programme as an official partner and integrated into the festival week’s communication measures via all Berlin Art Week channels.

If you have any questions, please contact: [email protected] 

All project organisers from Berlin’s contemporary art scene are invited to submit an application. Independent project groups, project spaces and initiatives, small and large art institutions and other actors in contemporary art are eligible to participate. Individual artists are only eligible to apply provided that they have a suitable exhibition space. Purely commercial formats are excluded from participation.

It is not possible to participate in Berlin Art Week without your own premises. Berlin Art Week does not have its own exhibition spaces and cannot arrange rooms for potential participants.

Yes, but the submission should convey the project idea as concretely as possible and artists should already have agreed to collaborate.

The open call for participation in Featured 2026 is starts March 12th 2026 and ends at the end of May 2026 at midnight.

You can find the online application form here during the application phase.

The following information is required for submission:

• Name and short text about the institution / exhibition venue
• Information on the exhibition / special programme: title, opening, duration, brief concept
• Contact person (name, e-mail, telephone number)
• Authorised signatory (name, position)
• Images: The online form must be submitted together with up to 5 images, which also serve as information for the selection committee. Please take care to select meaningful images that comprehensively convey your venue as well as the project to the selection committee. This should also include images of the premises in which the project takes place (format: JPG. Minimum image size: landscape format 1,000 px wide / portrait format 700 px wide). The images are separately uploaded in a plattform (Razuna) via the application form.

An annually appointed selection committee decides on inclusion in the festival programme.

The Jury 2026 will be annouced with the choosen projects.

The selection committee 2025 consisted of: Marie-Therese Bruglacher (Curator), Anna Gritz (Director, Haus am Waldsee), Kito Nedo (Journalist and Author, Editor-in-Chief of Museumsjournal), and Mona Stehle (Artistic Director, Berlin Art Week).

The selection committee for the Open Call of Featured 2024 were: Emma Enderby (Director, KW Institute for Contemporary Art), Nele Heinevetter (Founder, Tropez), Christian Kaspar Schwarm (Board Member Curatories at Freunde der Nationalgalerie, Freunde der Nationalgalerie), Mona Stehle (Artistic Director, Berlin Art Week).

The selection committee 2023 consisted of: Krist Gruijthuijsen (Director, KW Institute for Contemporary Art), Catherine Nichols (Curator, Hamburger Bahnhof – Nationalgalerie der Gegenwart), Mona Stehle (Artistic Director, Berlin Art Week), María Inés Plaza Lazo (Founder, Arts of the Working Class).

Notification of acceptance or rejection for participation is planned for the beginning of July 2025. Applicants will be informed of the decision by email without individual reasons.

The Berlin Art Week team will contact you to obtain further information about your project. The information you provide will be used for comprehensive communication and promotion of the festival programme (website, social media, etc.). In addition, a cooperation agreement will be drawn up for participation in the festival.

No. Berlin Art Week does not charge any participation fees from its programme partners in the Featured section.

No. Berlin Art Week does not contribute to the costs of realising your project.

The following projects and project spaces were part of the festival programme in 2025 as part of the Featured section:

FEATURED 2025 |  BETWEEN BRIDGES — CCA BERLIN-CENTER FOR CONTEMPORARY ARTS — DIE MÖGLICHKEIT EINER INSEL — FLUTGRABEN | FORTUNA — GALERIE WEDDING-RAUM FÜR ZEITGENÖSSISCHE KUNST — GROTTO — HAUS DER VISIONÄRE | ANAHITA SADIGHI — HAUS DES PAPIERS | A TRANS — KUNSTRAUM POTSDAMER STRASSE — KVOST-KUNSTVEREIN OST — NEUN KELCHE — NUMBER 1 MAIN ROAD — PAINT SHOP — PASSAGE ART | FUNKHAUS — PICKLE BAR | SOFT POWER — REFUGE WORLDWIDE — REMISE IM WRANGELKIEZ — RYAN MENDOZA STUDIO — S27-FALSCHER FISCH — SCHERBEN — SİNEMA TRANSTOPIA — SPOILER AKTIONSRAUM — STIFTUNG ST. MATTHÄUS — STUDIO DB — TRAUMA