The jury of the 2026 UNESCO Project Funding Programme for Media Art has selected eight projects for funding from nearly 40 submissions. The City of Karlsruhe is providing a total of €100,000. The program aims to strengthen media art diversity in the region and encourage exchange between the various scenes, both nationally and internationally.
For the second time, media artists, creatives, and initiatives from all over Baden-Württemberg were invited to apply. Collaborations with artists from other Creative Cities around the world were encouraged.
The funding is intended to make media art more visible, enable experimental formats, and, together with the UNESCO Creative Cities Network, foster the long-term development of the regional scene. In this way, the City of Karlsruhe continues its commitment to media art, even under difficult budgetary conditions.
The following will receive funding: the collective Das Shining; the collective Francis Karat; Laura Gaiser; Hoin Ji; Luise Peschko; David Tanner and Jiyeong Lee; Carmen Westermeier, Tania Cortés Becerra, and Oscar Bahamonde; Lea Wolf and Filip Roca.
The selected projects focus thematically on social coexistence. They ask: Who communicates with whom? How do we humans behave toward non-human actors? And who gets to decide what art is?
In summer 2027, the funded projects will be presented in the exhibition Media art is here. Visitors can expect a program of media installations and actions that use a range of technical means to make Karlsruhe’s public space interactively tangible and open up new perspectives on the city. The lineup includes works that again draw on international networks and continue the dialogue between Baden-Württemberg and other UNESCO Creative Cities.
The expert jury, chaired by Dr. Dominika Szope, Director of the Cultural Office, included John Bock (State Academy of Fine Arts Karlsruhe), Daniela Burkhardt (UNESCO City of Media Arts, Cultural Office of the City of Karlsruhe), Prof. Charlotte Eifler (Karlsruhe University of Arts and Design), Daria Mille (ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe), and Sebastian Schneider (Karlsruhe Marketing and Event GmbH).