Residencies
The methods, concepts and formats developed are unique in their innovation and lay important foundations and impulses for a sustainably inclusive art and cultural landscape.
Un-Label also supports artists in the realization of their own creative projects. We make this possible with our own artist residencies, which we implement as part of the Laboratory for Inclusive Culture (L.I.K.) right in the heart of Cologne-Neuehrenfeld. We also regularly collaborate with partners from the network to support their residency programs and anchor the topics of accessibility and the promotion of artists with disabilities deeply in the cultural scene.
With the Laboratory for Inclusive Culture (L.I.K.) and the artist residencies, a central hub has finally been created in Cologne that connects artists with disabilities from a wide range of disciplines and provides them with financial, personnel and logistical support to realize their ideas. And the best thing is: with the Un-Label Studio, there is now also a place where this art can be created and presented! Artists with disabilities are given the opportunity to devote themselves to their creative work over longer phases. One focus is on interdisciplinary and intersectional collaboration as well as the development of new inclusive approaches.
Participatory Residency Program with ADKDW
Participatory Residency Program – Call by Akademie der Künste der Welt and Un-Label
From January to December 2025, we are hosting the Participatory Residency Program together with Akademie der Künste der Welt (ADKDW) das Participatory Residency Program aus.
The application phase has just ended. A jury is currently reviewing over 140 applications from all over the world. The selection will be announced at the beginning of 2025.
The Participatory Residency Program of the ADKDW has been aimed at artists and activists who want to work interactively and develop a program for the local scenes and communities in Cologne. The resulting events are aimed in particular at people and groups with multiple marginalization who are excluded from discourses in mainstream society due to their origin, religion, class, disability and/or sexual orientation, for example.
The aim of next year’s cooperation is to strengthen the social participation of artists with disabilities and to support them in expressing the reality of their lives through art. As part of the pilot project, expertise and networks will be pooled in order to jointly develop a concept for inclusive residencies that are geared towards the needs of the participants and can also be used in other locations in the future.
The call was aimed at artists, activists and cultural workers with disabilitie[s], or disabled artists, activists and cultural workers from all disciplines. The self-designation of the person is decisive.
The cooperation takes place within the framework of L.I.K. – Laboratory for inclusive culture.
Current Residencies
Amy Zayed and Joy Bausch
The “Journey to Avalon” residency by blind music journalist Amy Zayed and blind sound engineer Joy Bausch started in spring 2024. Their work focuses on the accessibility of comics for blind audiences. With the help of AI, they explore the perception of the purely visually receptive medium and create an audio-visual landscape from it.
The past residencies have already been awarded have already moved into previously unexplored territory of cultural and artistic practice. We are looking forward to the next ones.
Past Residencies
Leonard Grobien and Barbara Schachtner The first residency in winter 2023/24 went to the performers Leonard Grobien and Barbara Schachtner, who investigated the accessibility of classical music theater. The approaches and ideas developed in the process formed the basis for the production „24 Hebel für die Welt – Berichte aus der Winterreise“, which premiered at the Beethovenfest in Bonn in October 2024.