OPEN CALL
5th Graz Residency for International Photographers (GRIP)

Intro

An initiative by Camera Austria and Kulturvermittlung Steiermark
Place: Graz, Austria

We are delighted to announce the fifth round of a scholarship that Camera Austria and Kulturvermittlung Steiermark are collaboratively offering in the fall of 2026!

The one-month Graz Residency for International Photographers (GRIP) residency offers artists focusing on photography and lens-based media an opportunity to work and do research in the city of Graz. It is requested that the selected artist resides in the city between mid-September and mid-October 2026. Further, we highly appreciate if the artist shows an interest in the city’s vibrant local art scene and in connecting with its protagonists.

During their stay, the selected artist will have time to work on an already ongoing project or to develop a new one. For research, the extensive study library of Camera Austria, comprising more than 11,000 volumes, is available during the institution’s opening hours.

Scholarship
Kulturvermittlung Steiermark provides the following benefits as part of the scholarship:
+ a fully furnished apartment in downtown Graz
+ € 1,000.– for the four-week residency period
+ reimbursement of travel costs between the artist’s place of residence and Graz

Part of the residency is a presentation of the selected artist’s work in the exhibition and library space of Camera Austria.

Who can apply?
International artists who are still at the beginning of their careers, and who work with photography and/or lens-based arts.

Application procedure
Please send your application to magazine@camera-austria.at including the following:
+ A statement of purpose (informal)
+ An artist portfolio (PDF format, max. 15 MB) which contains information about the applicant’s practice and a CV

Schedule
Deadline: Thursday, April 30, 2026
Notification of the selected artist: end of May 2026
Residency: mid-September to mid-October 2026

Kulturvermittlung Steiermark
ART = People = Creativity = Freedom (Joseph Beuys)

Getting people (regardless of age, origin or gender) excited about culture and involving them in the creation, viewing and discussion of art has always been the mission of Kulturvermittlung Steiermark. Through public funding, it promotes exchange among artists from the fields of photography, visual arts and literature. The guiding principles are to offer basis-oriented cultural work, to support the young generation and to honor human rights. Thanks to a closely knit network, the creative work of the protagonists in Styria’s cultural scene is positioned on a regional, national and international scale. Kulturvermittlung Steiermark thus documents, collaborates, organizes, produces and supports.

Camera Austria – Labor für Fotografie und Theorie
Since 1980, the magazine Camera Austria International has been providing its readers with insights into important discourses on the role of photography as a medium and practice of contemporary art—presenting outstanding artists who have made extraordinary contributions to the continual development of the medium. The exhibition program, which places a focus on solo exhibitions, usually presents long-term projects developed specifically for Camera Austria. The respective artistic positions shed light on important image-political issues and cover a broad, multilayered spectrum of research on the photographic image: specters of archives, questions related to knowledge production, the construction of identities, artistic research, feminist critique, the reconstruction of history, and the erosion of social utopias.

Insights