How do we want to encounter the living: virtually, hypothetically, cautiously? What should guide us in its design – fantasy, attentiveness, openness? How do we touch our planet? And how are we attached to it? Is the future of the earth »interstellar«? What is our relationship to the lifeworld in which we are embedded? How do we shape this relationship? And what kind of responsibility does this formation necessitate? What would happen if we no longer perceived the world as an image of »nature,« but instead as an »event« defined by technological progress, that we are taking part in? What kind of landscapes will we traverse if we increasingly shape the earth according to our own imagination? How will we distinguish between the »natural« and the »unnatural«? How will we as human beings change within this process? What does illness mean for a machine? What makes us healthy? When do we feel alive? What is a good life? And to whom will this life be granted?

The current thematic call for submissions for the WimmelResearch-Fellowship invites artists of all disciplines to engage with the topic of »Immortality & the Living« from an artistic point of view. Intended as a trigger for interdisciplinary exchange, the introduction of a thematic focus aims to initiate an open dialog between artists and researchers of the Robert Bosch GmbH from all fields, in which common grounds, deviations, and controversies can be discussed and constructively metabolized.

The WimmelResearch Fellowship addresses artists (including architects, designers, authors, sound artists, performers, filmmakers, coders), who have a serious interest in interdisciplinary exchange. A willingness to open communication and sensibility toward the specific working environment are essential. An active examination and artistic reflection of the respectively encountered working conditions in the context of Platform 12 are required. The fellowship also entails an introductory as well as a concluding presentation at the start and end of the fellowship, which introduces the artistic approach towards the topic and which initiates a comprehensive dialog with researchers from Bosch. The work’s content and form of expression are principally open and left to the artist.