Research Residencies in Berlin

AiR zusa

Berlin, Germany

AiR zusa is a non-product-oriented residency program in Berlin designed to provide artists, cultural managers, curators, and arts and culture activists from Ukraine and other countries at risk with a safer space for rest, mental health support, and professional resilience-building. The program emphasizes process, self-reflection, and personal growth rather than artistic output, offering participants time to heal and reconnect with local and international cultural networks.

American Academy in Berlin

BERLIN, Germany

The American Academy in Berlin is a private, nonprofit institution offering semester-long residential fellowships to American scholars, artists, writers, composers, and journalists for advanced independent research and creative work in the arts, humanities, social sciences, and public policy. Fellows reside at the Hans Arnhold Center on Lake Wannsee and engage in transatlantic dialogue through public lectures, readings, performances, and discussions.

Cultural Vistas

Berlin, Germany

The Cultural Vistas Climate Action Artist Residencies program invites artists from Germany and V20 countries (Philippines, Fiji, Samoa) for three-month residencies with environmental research organizations in Germany or the selected V20 countries to explore climate crisis impacts through art and science collaboration. Artists freely choose their medium and work with host institutions to create projects highlighting vulnerabilities in host and home countries, with results showcased in international exhibitions. The program, funded by the German Federal Foreign Office, provides stipends, travel funding up to 4,000 EUR, and production support up to 10,000 EUR.

SAVVY Contemporary Residency

Berlin, Germany

The SAVVY Contemporary Residency in Berlin hosts national and international curators, artists, writers, thinkers, researchers, and cultural professionals for periods of at least 3 months, challenging residents to engage with Berlin’s socio-political context and explore trans-disciplinary issues beyond geographical constraints. Residents work from premises in a former power plant in Neukölln, offering workshops, seminars, or lectures, with accommodation in private rooms in a shared flat 500m away, though no production studios are available. The program emphasizes decolonial practices, public-oriented research, and topics like Afro-Pacific affinities and innovative exhibition-making, often through partnerships like REFLEKT for practitioners from Southeast Asia.

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK)

BERLIN, Germany

The Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research (PIK) in Potsdam, Germany, hosts an artist residency program since , providing artists with studio space in the historic Kleiner Fotorefraktor building, accommodations in Potsdam, and a stipend paid in three monthly installments. Selected by the Berliner Künstlerprogramm des DAAD, Potsdam Town, and PIK, residents integrate into the PIK community to foster interdisciplinary exchanges between artists and climate researchers on global sustainability. Note that a distinct 'Planetary Transitions' residency exists at the nearby RIFS Potsdam, not PIK.