Work with our scientists!

3 artist-in-residence opportunities

We are seeking 3 artists who are eager to work with the research groups specialized in DNA replication, cell fates and cancer research. The Artist in Residence programme involves specifically the younger generation: the PhD students in the RepliFate Marie-Curie network

Please apply through our online application system and provide the following information in English. In case you want to apply for more than one theme, please send in separate applications. Your application should have a single pdf file with the following sections:

  • Curriculum vitae, including personal information (such as first name, and city/country of residence, contact details), a short biography or artist statement, details of qualification, work experience (such as previous exhibitions, residencies), potential previous art-science collaborations, and potential links to webpage and social media.
  • Motivation letter, highlighting your interest in the selected theme in the RepliFate artist-in-residence programme and potential connection to your artistic practice, your envisioned approach to connect to the researchers in the RepliFate network, your envisioned artistic research process and/or envisioned artistic project (maximum 2 pages).
  • Artistic portfolio, in pdf format, may include links to material available online.
  • Email your application to:

We will select the artists-in-residence that fit the most in the three themes based on the following criteria and selection process:

  • Eligibility check: each submission will be checked for eligibility in terms of completeness of application documents
  • Remote evaluation: each eligible application will be assessed independently by the members of the respective scientific teams (supervisors and PhD students of the respective theme), the scientific lead for the artist-in-residence projects in RepliFate and the curator
  • Evaluation meeting: the selection committee comprised of scientific partners and the curator will meet to select the winning artists for the three artist-in-residence spots.
  • Evaluation criteria are:
    • A clear connection between the artistic proposal and the chosen theme / research goals by the scientific partners
    • The project’s potential for raising interesting art-science exploration and discussions between the scientific and artistic partners, contributing to their artistic and scientific development, and transdisciplinary experience for the artistic and scientific partners
    • The importance of connecting the project within the RepliFate context, and anticipated final joint presentation of all three artistic outcomes
    • The project’s feasibility, and the coherence between the proposal, timeline, and budget
  • For each artist-in-residence spot one artist will be selected. The winning artists will be informed in the days following the evaluation meeting.
  • The selection committee’s decision will be final. The name of the winning artists will be published on the RepliFate webpage.

  • Access to and collaborative process with several researchers in the RepliFate network and an ongoing exchange with the scientific partners online and on-site over the course of 2 years
  • Flexibility in scheduling the on-site residency phase
  • Artist fee (artwork, residency, final presentation) €6,500
  • Production costs (artwork, materials for potential workshops planned by the artist throughout the residency) €6,500
  • Travel and accommodation per artist (1-2 residency visits, final presentation) up to €3,000
  • Curatorial mentoring and support for the duration, including the art-science process with the scientific partners and final
  • Final presentation of the outcomes in Munich in 2026

Budgets are calculated per artist-in-residence spot. In case an artistic duo applies for one artist-in-residence spot, the budgets will stay fixed.

  • Call opening: 23 October 2023
  • Deadline for application: 23 November 2023 (23:59 CET)
  • Remote evaluation: 24 November – 13 December 2023
  • Selection meeting of scientific team members and curator: 14 December 2023
  • Notification to candidates: 18 December 2023
  • Start of art-science collaboration: beginning of 2024
  • On-site residency phase: tbd individually in the course of the collaboration phase
  • Final presentation of outcomes: 2026

In case of any questions, reach out to: replifate@cbm.csic.es

Each artist will focus on working with 4 PhD students from across the network and get in touch with the labs and supervisors of the PhD students, including a residency phase. The programme aims at fostering transdisciplinary encounters between artists and scientists and their research in the RepliFate network

Each artist will focus on one of the predominant themes in the RepliFate research as outlined below:

  1. Faces of Stress and Malignance
  2. (In)Stability and Damage Repair
  3. Transformation through Replication).

The programme fosters the conversation and development process between the artist and the collaborating scientists, starting from an inquiry into the scientific subject, a project idea, or a more poetic/artistic approach. The artist and scientists will meet online and at least once for a residency on-site

 The programme aims to give enough time and space for every process to develop in their own pace. All collaborative art-science processes will be supported by art-science curator Claudia Schnugg and will take place in a hybrid format throughout 2024-2025, with a final presentation of the outcome in 2026.

Take a look at the three themes!

We offer 3 individual artist-in-residence spots to connect with the research in the RepliFate network

In the RepliFate doctoral network, 12 fellows (PhD students) work in 12 laboratories throughout Europe researching DNA replication as a target for cancer treatment and stem cell identity. Each fellow works on a well-defined project within one of the four workpackages of the RepliFate research project – addressing questions ranging from fundamental research in genetics to exploration in drug development. For the artist-in-residence programme, the fellows are grouped in three themes. These themes give artists the opportunity to propose artistic projects and artistic research approaches that they aim to realize in the course of a residency with one selected theme, but with the opportunity to interact with the other themes across the network.

Faces of Stress and Malignance
How does stress manifest and what are the responses of our cells to stress? How is it related to malignance in cells? What are opportunities to address stress for drug development?

This theme brings together the research of four partners in the RepliFate network who look at ways in which stress impacts cellular development, such as cell fate, mutations, or genome instability, and looks at how cells respond to stress, for example, by changing their epigenetic layout. Importantly, knowledge about faces of stress in cellular replication and their entanglement with malignance in cell reproduction helps the researchers to find ways to address malignance through new drugs.

The artist will engage with methods and knowledge from the fields of cell and molecular biology, including imaging using microscopy on live cells and CRISPR technology.

Main partners in the RepliFate network are:

Working with Dr. Andrés J. López-Contreras at CABIMER – CSIC in Sevilla
Working with Dr. Philippe Pasero at CNRS and University of Montpellier
Working with Dr. Matthias Altmeyer at University of Zurich
Working with Dr. Lorenza Penego at Institute for Molecular Cancer Research at University of Zurich
(In)Stability and Damage Repair
What are the structures that provide stability and instability in cell responses to stress? How to regulate stability and instability? Can such knowledge be employed to explore opportunities for damage repair?

This theme integrates research into structural studies into the regulation of DNA replication and into how the DNA can be repaired by the DNA damage response that the cells possess. This theme is combined with research based on structures of proteins that is used towards cancer therapeutics. Questions of cell fate decisions, responses to replication stress, pathways and factors that play a role in these processes, and understanding of molecular modulators in the cells are researched by the fellows in this theme.

The artist will engage with methods and knowledge from the fields of structural biology and biochemistry, including mass-spectrometry to identify unknown proteins and computational biology, data integration and bioinformatics.

Main partners in the RepliFate network are:

Working with Dr. Titia Sixma at Netherlands Cancer Institute in Amsterdam
Working with Dr. Julien Duxin at Novo Nordisk Center for Protein Research, University of Copenhagen
Working with Dr. Sylvie Noordermeer at University Medical Center in Leiden.
Working with Dr. Bert Klebl at Lead Discovery Center in Dortmund
Transformation through Replication
How is replication and the duplication of our DNA connected to transformation? How are cell fates defined during this duplication processes? What changes when replications are produced under stress? What is the connection of replication stress for inflammatory responses and cancer?

The researchers in this theme apply new imaging techniques in genetics and functional genomics research to understand the dynamics and organization of DNA duplication as well as cell differentiation. They are also interested in unveiling the relevance of replication processes for the development of cancer and cell fates, to ask whether the duplication of the DNA itself drives the process of cell differentiation. They are interested in the composition of the replication machinery and transformation processes in cells, and the impact of replication dynamics on healthy and malignant cell cycles.

The artist will engage with methods and knowledge from the fields of molecular biology, including single DNA molecule studies, epigenetics, stem cells and computational biology.

Main partners in the RepliFate network are:

Working with Dr. Emilio Lecona at CBMSO – CSIC in Madrid.
working with Dr. María Gómez at Centro de Biología Molecular Severo Ochoa (CSIC/UAM) in Madrid and Dr. Juan Méndez at Spanish National Cancer Research Center
Working with Dr. Maria-Elena Torres-Padilla at Helmholtz Zentrum Munich
Working with Dr. Zoi Lygerou at Cell Cycle Laboratory, University of Patras