EAST CALL CURATORIAL RESIDENCY
Period: 11 – 24 May 2026
Length: 2 weeks
Location: Budapest, Hungary / Ljubljana, Slovenia
Application deadline: 27 March 2026
About Residency
East Call Curatorial Residency offers a unique opportunity for emerging curators to gain a comprehensive insight in the Hungarian and Slovenian contemporary art scene by examining its characteristics and understanding them in a broader, regional context.
East Call is an intensive 2-week program that focuses on the status and practice of artists, contemporary curatorial conditions, institutional situations and the understanding of issues affecting contemporary art, with a focus on the roles and responsibilities of curators as mediators between audiences and artists, and researchers as theoretical transmitters of knowledge, interpretation and contextualization.
East Call aims to foster dialogue on issues surrounding curation and to interrogate what constitutes “the curatorial” in the Central Eastern European region. The East Call program focuses on open, horizontal and conversation-based transfers of knowledge and experience.
The program is designed for emerging curators and curators-to-be still involved in their studies who expect to work in the field of contemporary art. It intends to introduce participants to current and relevant practices as well as to the mechanisms of curating in relation to exhibitions, institutions, audiences, aesthetics and cultural political discourse.
Throughout the two-week program, participants intensively expand their professional knowledge and practice by conducting in-depth investigation of contemporary exhibitions, getting introduced to case studies of leading curators’ engagements, taking part in curatorial workshops, visiting artist studios, and exchanging, discussing with each other during these meetings. By sharing the experiential and theoretical best practices of leading contemporary art museums, galleries, the program offers a unique chance to the participants to develop project ideas, conduct research of their particular interests, enrich connections and networks internationally as well as elaborate discussions with contemporary art professionals active in Budapest.
Fees
Participation fee: 1000 EUROS
The fee includes the use of office facilities, participation in workshops, guest lectures, entry fees of museums and special events, the use of public transport in Budapest, inland transport for provincial venues and regional transport for Bratislava.
Travel to Budapest for the start of the program and back at the end of the program, as well as accommodation expenses are NOT included.
IKT Member Discount:
Active members of the International Association of Curators of Contemporary Art (IKT) are eligible for a 15% discount on the participation fee. Applicants must clearly state their IKT membership in the application form or CV. Eligibility will be verified jointly by Easttopics and IKT, and only active members are eligible for the discount.
Application process
To apply please fill the application form
Application deadline: 27 March 2026. Selection process: 28 March 2026.
For additional information, please contact : easttopics@gmail.com
To learn more and for FAQs, please visit the Easttopics website.
About Easttopics
Easttopics is dedicated to the promotion of the Eastern European contemporary art field, acting as a dynamic platform that fosters connections, exchanges and cooperations on a local, regional, and international level. Working as a think tank for the Eastern European art communities, Easttopics is a genuinely interdisciplinary cooperative whose goal is to bring the Eastern contemporary art field and the international art scene closer to each other. This cross-border project started as an expanding on-line website and database featuring artists, institutions and publications from Eastern Europe. Our activities now include running a region-specific library, publishing and hosting international residency programmes for curators and artists. Stepping out from the online world we opened our exhibition space, Easttopics Gallery.
Easttopics was imagined and is developed by Fruzsina Kígyós, Róna Kopeczky, Alexandra Nagy