Giessen, Germany
Application deadline: Jul 24, 2024
Call for Applications 2025: “Prototyping a Planetary Democracy” as a Fellow in the Planetary Scholars & Artists in Residence Program at the Panel on Planetary Thinking (Justus Liebig University Giessen, Germany).
The Panel on Planetary Thinking invites applications for the fourth and concluding round of an international, transdisciplinary fellowship program which explores what it means that we do not simply live ‘on’, but are part of an ever-changing planet. For the periods April-June and September-November 2025, EIGHT three-month FELLOWSHIPS (5000€/per month) are awarded to artists & scholars to explore the underlying themes of Planetary Agency and/or Planetary Politics in and through collaborative projects.
This dual-themed fellowship year addresses the following problem:
Today’s nation-state and human-centered democracies are insufficiently calibrated towards the earthly multitudes that shape the condition of our lives. This contributes to the struggle governments face in addressing the present polycrisis; as a result,
destructive practices persist, ecosystems degrade, and global tensions are on the rise. To work towards mitigating this shortcoming, the overarching aim of this year’s cohort of fellows is to design the building blocks of a PLANETARY DEMOCRACY prototype. The envisaged, new institution protects and strengthens democratic values by listening and answering to all planetary voices and keeps the Earth habitable. In their efforts to conceptualize and experiment with strategies to integrate more-than-human agencies into politics, applicants should be willing to transgress disciplinary boundaries.
Currently, the third round of fellows are working on the overarching theme of Planetary Times. For 2025, possible foci for fellows interested in Planetary Agency include, but are not limited to:
• the (co-)shaping of the Earth, other planets, ecosystems, and human societies by planetary agents (e.g., the geopolitical consequences of solar storms, the co-shaping of societal life between humans and other animals, or the impacts of AI technology);• research on more-than-human communication to shed new light on these agencies (e.g., plant bioacoustics utilizing digital technologies).
Possible foci for fellows who are interested in Planetary Politics include, but are not limited to:
• proposals for new institutional frameworks, practices, and spaces that enable a planetary democracy to answer to more-than-human agencies (e.g., more-than-human voting practice, constituencies, or parliaments);• expansions of political concepts, theories, and real-world experiments that include more-than-human political agents (e.g., more-than-human rights, ecological democracy, or the Embassy of the North Sea);• research and experiments exploring the inspirations we can draw from the political dimensions inherent to planetary agencies (e.g., the democratic arrangements of insects or herd animals).
To work towards the overarching goal of this dual themed fellowship to design a planetary democracy prototype, applicants can focus on either Planetary Agency or Planetary Politics OR they may address both themes complementarily. They are welcome to apply for both summer/winter terms if the envisioned project requires more than one term to be realized.Fellows will be granted a monthly stipend of 5,000 euros and are expected to take up residence in Giessen for the time of their fellowship. In collaboration with their co-fellow artist/scholar, they are to conceptualize a transdisciplinary workshop in a format of their choosing, such as a masterclass, an exhibition, or a performative activity – creativity is strongly encouraged! Additionally, the city’s leading art space for contemporary art provides next year’s artist fellows with the opportunity to contribute to a final exhibition which showcases the results of the program. The show opens in November 2025 and constitutes a collaboration between the Panel and Kunsthalle Giessen.
Deadline to apply for the fourth round is July 24, 2024. For more information on the program and application process, please see our website. In case you have any further questions, feel free to consult us via panel@planet.uni-giessen.de.
We look forward to reading your applications!
Panel on Planetary Thinking
Liebigstrasse 3535392 Giessen
Phone: +49 641 - 99 16191
Email: panel@planet.uni-giessen.de
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