Artists Program
On the occasion of its 50th anniversary in 2022, the University of Siegen in cooperation with the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen (MGKSiegen) has initiated the artists program ‘Artist in Residence Siegen’. The program brings together science, art and the public and visibly reflects the significance of urban development in Siegen.
‘Artist in Residence Siegen’ accompanies the extension of the university, which will take place over several years, and visibly reflects the significance of urban development in Siegen. Art reveals spaces of differentiated perception, critical reflection and will initiate social discourses with the planned interventions. The program aims to artistically examine the relationship between university and urban life anew in each case and to intervene in their public, social and media spaces for this purpose.
The artists program offers the University of Siegen and the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen the opportunity to engage with their respective social missions and to explore the question of how science and art, how university and museum can be further anchored in the urban society of Siegen. By occupying the interface between culture, university and urban planning, the program offers an important and lasting contribution to the Siegen Cultural Development Plan.
News
Auspices
‘The new residency program can serve as a model for committed imitators throughout North Rhine-Westphalia. Urban life, art and science dovetail very profitably here and enter into an intensive exchange with each other. This is a promising development, especially against the backdrop of the planned expansion of the inner-city campus, which will bring the university into the heart of the city and into the neighborhood of the Museum für Gegenwartskunst.’
Isabel Pfeiffer-Poensgen, Minister for Culture and Science of the State of North Rhine-Westphalia (retired), is patron of the artists program ‘Artist in Residence Siegen’.
Artist of the Residency 2022/23
Artist of the Residency 2022/23 is the female artist duo FORT.
FORT is a female artist duo founded in 2008 consisting of Alberta Niemann (*1982 in Bremen) and Jenny Kropp (*1978 in Frankfurt/Main).
Their work includes sculpture, installation, performance, video and photography. Their work has been shown at Kunstverein Hamburg, Kestnergesellschaft Hannover, KW Institute of Contemporary Art Berlin, and MOCA Museum of Contemporary Art in Taipei, among others.
FORT has been awarded numerous prizes and grants, including the Karl Schmidt-Rottluff Scholarship and the Cremer Prize of the LWL Museum für Kunst und Kultur. The artists live and work in Berlin.
Jury Residency 2022/23
Jennifer Cierlitza
Managing Director and Curator of Kunstverein Siegen e.V.
Prof. Dr. phil. habil. Eva von Engelberg
Professor of Architectural History, University of Siegen
Dr. Karin Kolb
Director of the Siegerland Museum, Siegen
Prof. Johanna Schwarz
Professor for Cultural Education and Artistic Strategies in Public Space, University of Siegen
Arne Schmitt
Artist, Cologne/Zürich
Thomas Thiel
Director of the Museum für Gegenwartskunst Siegen
Partners & Supporters
The artists program is made possible through the generous support of the following supporters: Christa-und-Dieter-Lange Foundation