In the Field is a scholarship programme aimed at aspiring artists and cultural workers. 15 scholarship recipients from Austria, Croatia, Hungary, Slovakia, Slovenia and the Czech Republic are set to reconvene once again in Vienna in 2023 as part of the Wiener Festwochen. Concurrently with the festival programme, they will take a closer look together at aesthetic and structural issues pertaining to contemporary art production and, over a period of ten days, explore both the international scene and the local context. In the Field focuses on transregional networking and knowledge transfer, bringing together young people from a 300 km radius around Vienna for exchanges with one another and the city itself.
Critical questions about the art sector as a whole run through each edition of In the Field: What are the economies in which we are operating, and how do we want to shape cooperation? What differentiates or unites the various contexts in which art is created and showcased around the world: across various disciplines, large institutions and self-organised structures, artists and collectives, international touring and site-specific work, commissioned work and guest performances? How do structural framework conditions and formal and aesthetic choices inform one another?
As a multidisciplinary festival that is both international in orientation and anchored within the city itself, the Wiener Festwochen provide a platform for a many-voiced reflection. Conceived in co-operation with brut Wien, a leading co-production space for Vienna’s independent arts scene, the programme also focuses on local actors and trends. This year, In the Field is led by Austrian playwright Gerhild Steinbuch.
The scholarship recipients have the opportunity to attend performances and rehearsals together on a daily basis, hear from experts, and then discuss their wealth of impressions within the group and with numerous guests. Through the exchanges among participants, with the organisers, with international artists performing at the festival and with Vienna’s cultural landscape in general, In the Field offers a space for dialogue and inspiration as well as a practical insight into the structures and working practices of the art and culture sector.
