dance around the rule fellowship
Scuola Piccola Zattere welcomes applications from artists and cultural practitioners, including curators, researchers, architects, choreographers, performers and writers, for the selection of 1 participant to the thematic-based fellowship program, which will take place during the second season of activity, titled Dance Around the Rule. The purpose of the open call is to select 1 fellow who will be able to carry out their artistic and/or research activities, for 3 months, from May 11th to July 31st 2026, at Scuola Piccola Zattere in Venice, Italy.
The international fellowship is an opportunity to focus on one's research and ongoing projects, while coming into contact with the artistic community of the Scuola, and experiencing the rich cultural offerings of the city of Venice, during the months of the 2026 Art Biennale. The program allows participants to both receive and offer mentorship and education, work with other practitioners from different cultural contexts and disciplines and contribute to the Scuola's public programs. Fellows are invited to share their research through different formats, such as by way of example, workshops, presentations, seminars, screenings or performance events. This will help initiate a circular, iterative approach to the research process, opening new areas of exploration, to the benefit of subsequent phases of study, development, and production.
The thematic areas analyzed within the program and thus constituting a common horizon for reflection and production for the first season of research, titled Dance Around the Rule, will be:
the forms of aggregation, conflict, and negotiation inherent in the dynamics of sociality,
the relationship between space and body, architecture and movement, instruction and performative action,
the rule as a generative and foundational tool of customs, collective rituals, recreational activities, and games, but also as a constraint to be circumvented and re-imagined in order to disclose unexpected possibilities.
These research themes will be at the center of a common reflection across the various disciplines and the different formats of residency, study, and programming, informing a collective research process extended over time.