Following the launch of our nomination-based model this spring, we now turn to the second field in this year's programme – Sound Arts & Experimental Music, understood broadly to include sound installation, sonic art, experimental composition, and radio art.

Our thanks go to this round's nominators, each of whom brought forward artists rooted in their own local communities and disciplinary networks: Jon Rose, Magda Mayas, Florencia Curci, Simone Keller, and Taku Unami.

We are pleased to offer support to: Clayton Thomas (Australia), Fadi Tabbal (Lebanon), Sociedad de Benefactores de las Artes de Cañada Rosquín (Argentina), Chris Griffiths (Australia), The Honourable Elizabeth A. Baker (USA), Ana Ruiz Valencia (Colombia), Crystabel Efemena Riley (UK), Wakana Ikeda and Shoko Numao (Japan).

It is our honour to play a part in what comes next for each of them.

This year marks the launch of the Gwaertler Grant's nomination-based model. The spring round focused on Moving Image Arts – a field we understand broadly, spanning projection-, screen-, and time-based practices across film, video art, expanded cinema, and related forms.

We are grateful to our nominators, who identified artists working at the edges of their local, cultural, and disciplinary contexts: Afsun Moshiry, Tamar Guimarães, Leonardo Bigazzi, Ben Russell, Mathilde Rouxel, Lemohang Mosese, and Davide Oberto.

Through this process, we are pleased to announce our support for: Aliyar Rasti (Iran), Luís Knihs (Brazil/Germany), Alessandra Ferrini (Italy/UK), Laida Lertxundi (Spain/France), Nathalie Rosa Bucher (Lebanon), Nima Nassaj (Iran), Mila Turajlić (Serbia), Elena Pardo (Mexico), Selou Sowe (Germany), Malaury Eloi Paisley (Guadeloupe), Essa Grayeb (Palestine), and Marta Popivoda (Serbia/Germany).

The projects supported in this round reflect meaningful collaboration across disciplines, geographies, and communities, and a research component that pushes the boundaries of form and process.

We look forward to following these projects as they unfold over the coming months.

Selected from an open call among artists previously supported through the Gwaertler Grant, Villa Romana and the Gwaertler Stiftung are pleased to announce Nelson Makengo as the recipient of the Gwaertler x Villa Romana Residency.

Based in Kinshasa, Makengo is a visual artist and filmmaker whose practice navigates the intersection of contemporary art and experimental documentary. He is currently developing his project Vieux Kilo and is representing the Democratic Republic of the Congo at the 61st Venice Biennale in 2026.

The four-week residency takes place in July 2026 within the international artist community at Villa Romana – an institution located in Florence and founded in 1905 as a space for artistic autonomy, experimentation, and exchange.