Call for Applications: Immersive History Lab Studio

“Back to the beginning?” – this is the question posed by journalist Hadija Haruna-Oelker and author Max Czollek in their assessment of German remembrance culture. It is directed against a “Never again!” that has become a cliché, against a practice of remembrance that all too often serves the moral self-assurance of the majority society – and against forms of commemoration that remain stuck in the 20th century, both in terms of media and aesthetics.

But how can remembrance culture become effective again in a society shaped by media change, migration and transnationalisation?
How can it become the driving force behind a pluralistic, conflict-open future?
And what role can art play in developing more diverse, lively narratives about the past – creating new links between the past, present and future, or deliberately blurring their boundaries?

Immersive History Lab Studio

Since June 2026, we have been working together at the Immersive History Lab Studio, where, alongside young ‘memory workers’, we are exploring media art approaches in online workshops to shape the participatory, debate-stimulating, challenging, speculative and open-ended culture of remembrance for tomorrow. The programme is supported by artists, curators and researchers who will be joining us as guests – e.g. philosopher and curator Daniel Tyradellis, theatre maker Michael v. zur Mühlen, the artist Ulrich Formann, curator Jonny-Bix Bongers, dramaturgue Sarah Reimann, curatorin Selina Heidschwager and the artist Lion Sauterleute.

Participants will also take part in a supporting programme as part of our Transgressive Memory Festival in September. We would like to thank everyone for the large number of applications and are delighted to have such a diverse group of young curators on board – including representatives from Focke-Museum Bremen, Arolsen Archives, MARKK Museum am Rothenbaum, GRASSI Museum für Völkerkunde Leipzig, Stiftung Stadtmuseum Berlin, Stiftung Neue Synagoge – Centrum Judaicum, Potsdam Museum, Altonaer Museum or KZ-Gedenkstätte Flossenbürg.

The Immersive History Lab

For almost five years, Körber-Stiftung’s eCommemoration programme has been accompanying the transformation of remembrance culture in the digital media age. Using contemporary media art, we question certainties in remembrance culture, open up discourse on fundamental questions of remembrance, touch on the sore points of worn-out forms of commemoration, and give a voice to communities and their stories that are often overlooked.

With the Immersive History Lab, we set out in 2025 to find new forms of media art that engage with history: projects in which the past can be experienced from the present – designed, framed and conveyed sensually through digital media.