TURN2

With its programme TURN2 – Artistic Co-Creation between Germany and African Countries, the Federal Cultural Foundation promotes artistic and cultural projects between Germany and African countries, bringing together renowned and emerging artists and art scenes to engage in sustainable, intercontinental dialogue.

Over the past ten years, the TURN2 programme (along with its predecessor, the TURN Fund) has granted funding to 122 joint partnerships. The experience from these projects has shown that any discussion on colonial rule and its repercussions in the 21^st century, on migration and climate equality, cannot be had without fully taking African positions into account. Building on its years of funding activity and relationships with international experts, the Federal Cultural Foundation hopes that TURN2 will continue reflecting on the asymmetries between African and German partners and facilitate dialogue on a more equitable basis.

The TURN2 programme consists of three modules: the TURN2 Fund, the TURN2 Labs and the TURN2 Residencies.

The Federal Cultural Foundation has allocated a total of four million euros to fund “TURN2 – Artistic Co-Creation between Germany and African Countries” until 2024. TURN2 was established following the original TURN Fund (external link, opens in a new window) in 2020.

The fund supports artistic and cultural projects which promote transnational collaborations with partners from African countries and which have public visibility and impact in Germany. The projects must have at least one African partner and may include additional international partners. The projects should also consist of events which are held in the corresponding African partner countries.

In June 2022, the jury of the TURN2 Fund recommended twelve new artistic co-creation projects between Germany and African countries to receive 1.7 million euros in funding. These involve 20 partner organisations from 13 African nations. The joint projects selected in this second and tentatively final round of funding will be developing projects in the areas of the fine arts, music, theatre and music theatre. Most of these are interdisciplinary artistic research projects which apply a variety of formats. They address virulent social and cultural-political debates on decolonial knowledge practices and historical narratives, commemorative culture and restitution. In view of the political relationship between environmentalism and anticolonialism, the projects also shed light on the relationship of humans with nature. Further information about the twelve new projects will be posted on this page shortly.

In June 2021 the jury selected nine projects to receive a total of 1.3 million euros in funding. The co-creation projects comprised 17 partner organisations from eleven African countries. Funding was awarded to collaborative ventures in the areas of music theatre, fine arts, cultural history, music and cross-disciplinary projects.

Below you can find our funding guidelines for the TURN2 Fund and recommendations for engaging in fair collaboration.

Thinking on a planetary scale has become the new focus in times of global pandemics, the omnipresent effects of climate change, the relentless competition for resources, and massive migratory movements. How do we go about addressing global challenges? What kind of realities do people live with in Africa and Europe? What connects us? How do we want to live and work together in the future? What role do joint artistic strategies play?

To answer these questions, the German Federal Cultural Foundation organised the TURN2 Labs in cooperation with partner organisations in Nairobi, Dakar and Tunis. These comprised a series of so-called “co-labs” – labs of collaboration – non-public workshops in which cultural experts and practitioners identified and discussed topics which promise to shape the artistic cooperation and joint development of European and African art scenes in years to come.

Each TURN2 Lab attended by up to 30 participants from Europe and Africa and took place in 2022 and 2023 in cooperation with the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI), KENU – Lab’Oratoire des Imaginaires in Dakar and L’Art Rue in Tunis. Participation was by invitation only. The thematic and organisational planning and execution of the labs was supervised by the partner organisations in cooperation with the Ugandan curator Martha Kazungu and with support from the Goethe Institutes in Nairobi, Dakar and Tunis. The Federal Cultural Foundation thus supported a form of collaboration which emphasises the issues and working methods of the African partners.

Three TURN2 Labs took place between autumn 2022 and summer 2023, specifically in Nairobi(3-6 November 2022), Dakar (24-27 March 2023) and Tunis (27-31 May 2023).

The TURN2 Residencies for curatorial research visits are jointly organised by the German Federal Cultural Foundation, the ZK/U – Center for Art and Urbanistics (ZK/U Berlin) (external link, opens in a new window)and the Triangle Network (external link, opens in a new window), and are offered in cooperation with the Bag Factory (external link, opens in a new window) in Johannesburg, the Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI) (external link, opens in a new window)in Nairobi and the G.A.S. Foundation (external link, opens in a new window)in Lagos.

The purpose of the TURN2 Residencies is to initiate targeted artistic partnerships between art institutions and curators from African countries and Germany. The research visits in Berlin, Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg aim to lay the groundwork for future collaborative projects and enable German and African cultural institutions and curators to engage in international networks in the field of the fine arts.

The TURN2 Residencies are comprised of two modules:
Module 1 enables twelve curators or creative artists with curatorial experience (fine arts, interdisciplinary) from African countries to complete a three-month research visit at the ZK/U in Berlin. Module 2 enables nine German curators or creative artists with curatorial experience (fine arts, interdisciplinary) to spend two months researching at the NCAI in Nairobi, the G.A.S. Foundation in Lagos and the Bag Factory in Johannesburg.
The residencies at all locations are conceived as research and working stays. They need not culminate in the realisation of an exhibition project, but instead should focus on promoting exchange and networking.

An international open call for applications was conducted in two rounds in 2021.

Residencies in Berlin

The programme invites twelve young curators and cultural producers with curatorial experience from African countries to complete a three-month work and research visit at the ZK/U Center for Art and Urbanistics in Berlin. The candidates will receive a monthly scholarship of 1,500 euros. Funding also covers travel and transportation costs, as well as accommodation and research expenses.

Residencies in Nairobi, Lagos and Johannesburg

The programme invites up to 18 curators from Germany to complete a work and research visit at one of the three African member organisations of the Triangle Network (Bag Factory in Johannesburg, Nairobi Contemporary Art Institute (NCAI), G.A.S. Foundation in Lagos). The selected candidates will receive a monthly scholarship of 1,500 euros and additional funding for travel, transportation, accommodation and research expenses.