Research Residency in Contemporary Music and Sound Practices in Hellerau (Germany)
The Conseil des arts et des lettres du Québec (CALQ) and HELLERAU – European Center for the Arts Dresden This link will open in a new window have established an eight-week research residency for a composer or sound artist from Québec who wishes to further develop their artistic practice in an international context of artistic research and technological innovation.
Launched in 2015, this cross-cultural residency is rooted in the longstanding relations between Québec, Germany, and the Free State of Saxony. It aims to foster dialog between the musical scenes of both regions and support research across the multiple dimensions of sound: material, spatial, motion, memory, and technology.
HELLERAU, a landmark of modern artistic thought founded in the early 20th century, is today recognized as one of Europe’s leading centers for research and contemporary creation. As a place of experimentation and critical reflection, it brings together artists, researchers, and audiences around practices that renew connections between music, space, technology, and listening experience.
The residency offers a unique opportunity to explore emergent sound practices: spatialization, immersive environments, multi-speaker systems, gesture capture, acoustic architecture, and in situ listening experiences. It invites the artist to engage with sound in all its facets (physical, sensory, social, and poetic) and to renew its perception through artistic research.
The selected artist will pursue their research within an ecosystem where the artistic field, academic research, and digital industry converge. Dresden, designated a “Smart City” and a European hub for microelectronics, hosts numerous institutions and companies in robotics, artificial intelligence, and immersive technologies, fields of potential inspiration for residents.
In reciprocity, a composer or sound artist from Germany will be hosted in Montréal, with support from the Goethe-Institut Montréal This link will open in a new window and Le Vivier – Carrefour des musiques nouvelles This link will open in a new window, to explore the vitality of Québec’s contemporary and experimental music community.
The residency seeks to stimulate the circulation of ideas and practices, to strengthen the dialogue between art and technology, and to support artistic research on new forms of listening and sonic creation.
Objectives
CALQ's studio-apartment residency program has five objectives:
- To support and stimulate artists by making available to them a suitable environment and the means to produce and disseminate their works.
- To foster artistic renewal for artists and writers by giving them access to a new and stimulating cultural environment.
- To facilitate exchanges of artistic or literary viewpoints and contribute to the formation of durable ties between artists from Québec and abroad.
- To promote the work and career development of Québec artists internationally.
- To develop new networks for artistic creation, production and dissemination.
Residency characteristics
Disciplines concerned
Contemporary Music and Sound Arts
Target applicants
This international residency is intended for composers with a minimum of two years of professional artistic practice who have publicly disseminated or interpreted at least one work in a location or context recognized by peers.
Length of stay and amount of the grant
The sojourn is for a period of two months, from October to December, 2026.
The amount of the grant is $8,000.
Location
HELLERAU – European Centre for the Arts is today one of the most important centres for contemporary art in Germany and Europe.
In HELLERAU interdisciplinary co-productions and guest performances take place. HELLERAU offers spaces for production and presentation of contemporary dance, music, theatre, performance and media art. Debates on art and society with thematic focuses, festivals and audience formats are initiated. HELLERAU cooperates with other cultural partners regionally, nationally and internationally and is involved in numerous networks.
The residence offered by HELLERAU features an apartment with private bathroom and shared kitchen. In addition residencies will get a project room. The apartment and project room is located in HELLERAU in the artistic administration building. It is explicitly desired and fostered to connect artists in residence with the house program, partners in the city of Dresden and beyond.
