Mediamatic
Mediamatic is an art centre dedicated to cross-disciplinary research and experimental practice. Our practice has always been strongly inspired by its venue and environment. We understand our locations as a test-site for knowledge useful on a global scale. While our current venue, Biotoop Dijkspark on the Oosterdok in Amsterdam, is centrally accessible, it also forms a sequestered calm environment. Forming both a refuge and a hub, our program responds to urgent social and ecological topics. Our program for 2025-2026 aims to expand on this through the concept of the Open City Monastery and Zoöp.
Zoöp is a form of organisation for cooperation between human and nonhuman life that safeguards the interests of all zoë (Greek for 'life'). The Zoöp model makes the interests of nonhuman life part of organisational decision making. This happens by appointing a Speaker For the Living: someone with a background in ecology external to the organisation, whose sole purpose is to voice the interests of the more-than-human lives. Mediamatic has been officially a Zoöp since November 2025, and we strive to achieve our five regenerative goals.
De Ceuvel
De Ceuvel is an award-winning, temporal and sustainable incubator place for creative and social enterprises on a former shipyard. This old industrial plot is home to our thriving community of entrepreneurs and artists, where all involved have lent a hand to build Amsterdam’s first circular ‘office park’. De Ceuvel has always been a place of experiment - from being a ‘clean-tech playground’ for sustainable techniques to more social statements e.g.. communal bottom-up city development.
The plot hosts creative workspaces, a sustainable café, spaces to rent, a floating hotel and a purifying park that connects them all. The mission of our cultural programme is to plant seeds in the hearts and minds of our visitors that will grow into more involvement with sustainability, innovation, community and the role of art in that movement. Concretely, this vision results in sustainable events, workshops and lectures, but also arthouse films, music evenings and art exhibitions that are not necessarily related to sustainability. Besides a cultural centre for the green innovation community, we also want to be a place where citizens from the neighborhood can come together and enjoy art and culture in a circular urban hub. De Ceuvel has also been a Zoöp since 2023.
The Ukrainian Institute
The Ukrainian Institute is a public institution dedicated to cultural diplomacy, working to strengthen Ukraine’s international presence and foster meaningful cultural exchange. Through its programmes, the Institute promotes a deeper understanding of Ukraine globally and builds long-term partnerships with cultural institutions, festivals, artists, and universities worldwide.
Since April 2025, the Ukrainian Institute has been represented in the Netherlands, contributing to the development of Ukrainian–Dutch cultural cooperation through new connections, collaborative projects, and ongoing exchange of knowledge and practices.
The Institute’s mission has become even more vital in recent years, as it continues to champion Ukrainian identity, culture, resilience, and creative expression in response to Russia’s full-scale invasion of Ukraine.
Main research topics:
Zoöp is about moving away from a human-centric worldview towards embracing a broader perspective that includes all life forms. It is not about setting new, universal ecological paradigms, rather about exploring and diversifying symbiosis between human and non-human. Through the Zoöp model, participants will explore how principles of ecological regeneration and co-governance with non-human entities can show cultural organisations’ role in this larger transformation.
- Non-human life at Mediamatic’s Biotope and De Ceuvel
- New ecological epistemologies
- Co-governance and multispecies institutional transformation
- Sensitisation to environment
- Establishing new and regenerative relationships
- Experimental practice and curiosity
This residency is part of Zoöp Connections, a networked knowledge exchange programme connecting Dutch Zoöps and European cultural institutes. Zoöp Connections creates one-month residencies for artists, thinkers and practitioners from across Europe to learn from, live with, and work within living ecosystems. The programme prioritises process, learning and shared inquiry over predefined outcomes, and is centred on co-creation, care, listening and reciprocity.
More information:
Who can apply?
- This Open Call at Mediamatic and De Ceuvel in collaboration with the Ukrainian Institute is open to all visual artists, researchers, writers, and designers at any stage of their professional careers, who are currently residing in Ukraine.
- Makers thinking outside the box: if you think it's possible, it's possible at Mediamatic & De Ceuvel.
- A level of English B2 or equivalent is required.
- Collaborations and collectives are welcome to present their projects.
- We prioritise practitioners who demonstrate a deep commitment to the intersection of art, nature and deep interest in learning and experimenting around the more-than-human world.
What do we offer?
Mediamatic
- To work in our freshly renovated labs
- Access to our digital and material archive.
- A residency period of one month in our Biotope (September 24th - October 23rd 2026). This period is flexible; you do not need to be present continuously, but we consider you a member of our team during the residency.
- We offer full-time accommodation, workspaces and lunch at Mediamatic as part of life at our Monastery.
- During your residency, you have the opportunity to develop a workshop or presentation together with the Mediamatic team.
- Your final work (which can vary from installation, performance, or workshops) will be on display for one month at our location, with the opening scheduled for September.
- We provide communication and promotion of your artwork during the exhibition period, as well as including you in our international network hub, connecting you to other makers in our network, and free access to all our workshops and events.
De Ceuvel
While residents will stay at the inspiring Mediamatic, De Ceuvel will be the mirror-location, connected through the waterbodies of Amsterdam. There is offered:
- A flexible workspace at need, during the residency period on our boats-on-land, in the midst of our green city oasis.
- Access to the ‘Maakbar’, a maker-workshop-space at De Ceuvel
- Access to the Ceuvel community with experts on a diverse range of sustainability topics.
- Access to in depth knowledge of the regenerative systems at the premisses, free access to events during your stay
- We provide communication and promotion of your artwork during the exhibition period at Mediamatic, as well as including you in our network
- If applicable we would gladly be part of an exhibition created during this residency, assist hosting a workshop on our premises or weave your work in any of our events around that time.
Together
- The Speakers for The Living Jolanda Verspagen (Mediamatic) and Thijs de Zeeuw (de Ceuvel) will be available for mentorship through the residency program.
- We provide guidance and support with bi-weekly meetings to discuss the residency process and final output.
- Residency Stipend of €1500 + Travel allowance of €600 (both ex VAT).
- We provide a small material/installation budget depending on the proposal.
Application
Applications should be written in English.
To submit your proposal, please complete this FORM.
In order to apply to our Open Call we'll need this information:
- Personal data and education: Besides your personal details, this section includes sending an up-to-date CV (e.g. solo / group exhibitions, residencies, publications, awards etc.) and information about your (art) education (e.g. institute, course of study, study period, degree etc.), if applicable.
- Portfolio: You can send your artist statement and attach documentation of your work, as well as descriptions of your documentation.
- Motivation: please provide us with the reason you are applying to this Open Call. You can write a maximum of 250 words about your reason to apply. You can include here a brief project proposal, we highly encourage you to include supporting images or the work.
The deadline to apply for the upcoming 2026 (September 24th - October 23rd) is Monday, 27th of April at 11:59pm EEST. The selection procedure takes approximately one month. Applicants are informed on the status of their application by email. We will announce the winner of the Open Call on Friday, May 29th, via our social media channels.
Disclaimers
- The work will be displayed in Mediamatic’s public space around the Biotope, and ‘mirror-work’ at De Ceuvel: be mindful of the risks and advantages of that.
- We need you to sign a Security, Risks, and Responsibility clause. Our fantastic locations, while beautiful, may not be the safest to display artworks. We will take measures to preserve your work, but we cannot be held responsible for theft or damage.
- We do not offer health insurance.
- To guarantee a balanced and inclusive evaluation, the applications will be reviewed by a mixed jury committee featuring members from the Mediamatic and De Ceuvel teams, the Ukrainian Institute, as well as representatives from the EUNIC Netherlands cluster - participants of the Zoöp network.
Contact
Mediamatic Biotoop
Dijksgracht 6
1019 BS Amsterdam
+31 (0)20 638 9901 (Mo to Fr | 09:30 - 17:00)
program@mediamatic.nl
