Call for Web Residencies No. 21 »Polymorphic Futures«

About

»Polymorphic Futures«
Exploring blockchain as a tool for care, participation, and collective governance beyond markets.

Blockchain is not just a technical infrastructure: It is a site of contestation, a tool for rethinking the systems we take for granted. Not all of Web3 is about finance, nor is it only about NFTs (Non-Fungible Tokens). The technology is a many-headed hydra: It can power hyperextractivist ventures, or nurture commons-oriented experiments. Why, then, do we keep reducing blockchains to money? These polymorphic machines are capable of staging any social reality. Tokens could be more than currency – they can signify belonging, participation, membership, care. DAOs are not merely libertarian fantasies but can be infrastructures of governance grounded in the shared values and goals of translocal communities.

This call is an invitation to move away from blockchain’s market-centric approaches, and to imagine and reimagine the technology as an agent of change. We seek artistic projects that do not simply represent, but prefigure: projects that provide the experience of building a world they would want, in preparation for a future to come. We seek rehearsals of futures worth living, prototypes of solidarity, worlds that stretch beyond the logic of scale or linear time. We are looking for imaginations of blockchain as a kin-making device, an infrastructure of critique, and a tool for speculative governance.

With this call for proposals, we raise difficult, necessary questions: How might we govern ourselves differently? What futures become possible when technology is not extractive but generative? Could art actively shape these emergent structures? We invite projects that dare to dream, to experiment, to build »as-if« worlds where blockchains serve as the structural backbone of emancipation.

Text: Barbara Cueto

Project Types & Format

• DAOs and »tokenomics« focused on alternative modes of social production, community, and commons-oriented economies
• Supports initiatives that reimagine the technology as a site to redesign our relation to governance, value, or care.
• Artistic projects that propose specific plans for the use of the technology and could be at any point in their development, prototypes, proof-of-concept, and white papers.
• Selected projects should be carried out in open-source formats that are well-documented, shareable, and consider the accessibility of its users, who may range in age, race, gender, economic class, and ability.

Grant

Six project proposals will be selected and rewarded with an online residency and a grant of 1,200 euros.

Timeline

Call release: October 31, 2025
Deadline for submissions: November 28, 2025 (06:00 pm CET)
Announcement of the jury’s decision (via mail): December 2025/January 2026
Duration of Web Residencies: February 12, 2026 – March 12, 2026
Launch Web Residency projects: April 2026
Optional online coding workshop: February 5, 2026

Web Residencies

Akademie Schloss Solitude initiated the Web Residencies program in 2016 to support young talents from the international digital scene, as well as artists from all disciplines engaging with web-based practices. The program offers a platform to present both the process and outcomes of artistic work online. Its aim is to promote and give visibility to digital art and artists; foster discussion on issues at the intersections of digital art, net culture, technology, and society; and explore and test new forms of artistic practice outside geographical and institutional boundaries.

For each call, Akademie Schloss Solitude collaborates with international curators or curatorial collectives to develop a thematic framework and select four to six project proposals. The chosen participants receive a four-week online residency, an online presentation of their projects, and a grant of 1,200 euros.

Akademie Schloss Solitude launches several calls for Web Residencies each year. The program invites artists to experiment with digital technologies and new art forms, and to critically engage with the topics proposed by the curators or curatorial collectives. The Web Residencies take place exclusively online.

An overview of all projects and interviews can be found HERE.

Artists of all disciplines may apply. There is no age limit. The submission is free of charge.

FAQ

Is it possible to apply with more than one project?
No. We accept only one submission per applicant (individual artist or collectives).

Is it possible to apply with an already existing project?
Yes, if the project is not finished, is process-oriented, and allows for embedding in Akademie Schloss Solitude’s online environment.

How many projects will be selected?
For this year’s call, six project proposals will be selected and rewarded with an online residency.

Call Team

Barbara Cueto is an independent curator, writer, and researcher based in Berlin. Her work explores the intersection of contemporary art, digital culture, and the politics of emerging technologies. She currently serves as Online Curator at LAS Art Foundation, where she develops projects that examine how technological systems shape collective futures. Her curatorial practice spans major institutions and biennials worldwide, including KANAL Pompidou, Brussels; C/O Berlin; Van Abbemuseum, Eindhoven; Fundación La Caixa, Barcelona; Moscow Museum of Modern Art for the 6th Moscow Biennale for Young Art in Russia; Asian Culture Center, Gwangju; La Casa Encendida, Madrid; Bétonsalon, Paris; Impakt Festival, Utrecht; or de Appel, Amsterdam. Her book White Papers on Dissent: Rethinking Art, Value, and Resistance through Blockchain will be published with MIT Press in summer 2026.