The Anna Polke Foundation's scholarships 2021

Call for application 

The Anna Polke Foundation offers scholarships each year for outstanding research projects on the work of Sigmar Polke. It promotes projects that open up new perspectives on his oeuvre. The foundation is offering two research scholarships geared to art historians and academics in related disciplines from Germany and abroad. We would like to specifically encourage young academics to apply. The Anna Polke Foundation is interested in a mutual exchange with the scholarship holders. Latter should benefit from a dynamic research environment and be supported by the foundation's team. The scholarship recipients are selected by a commission of experts consisting of Dr. Stefan Gronert (Sprengel Museum Hannover), Prof. Dr. Petra Lange-Berndt (University of Hamburg), Lanka Tattersall (The Museum of Modern Art, New York) and Sophia Stang (Anna Polke Foundation). 

The Anna Polke Foundation is a non-profit foundation based in Cologne. Its main task is to encourage people to engage with the work of Sigmar Polke, who died in Cologne in 2010 and still today is one of the most influential contemporary artists. As the artist’s daughter, the founder Anna Polke aims to keep alive her father’s work and to invite academics and scholars to do research on Sigmar Polke’s oeuvre. In the long run, the foundation intends to be available to assist scholars in engaging in networks on a national and international level and to foster scholarly exchange about Sigmar Polke’s oeuvre. By supporting external projects and carrying out its own projects, the Anna Polke Foundation is involved in research, art, culture, and education, and, in the spirit of Sigmar Polke, intends to make a contribution to cultural life extending beyond the artist’s life and that of the founder. 3 

Scholarships 

Two scholarships will be awarded, each worth € 5,000. The division of the funding amount can be flexibly set up depending on the qualification as well as the living situation of the applicant and the nature of the project proposal. A redemption of the scholarship as monthly support over a certain period is conceivable as well as the promotion of a research stay or the combination of both as long as the total funding amount is not exceeded. Applicants are therefore requested to submit, in addition to their work plan, a list of the desired use of funds (cost calculation). During the funding period it is expected that applicants who are employed will dedicate themselves substantially to their research project. 

The results of the funded research project are to be presented by the scholars within a public presentation – as a lecture, discussion or in a comparable format. Furthermore, a publication of the research findings would be desirable. The Anna Polke Foundation is interested in publishing the results of the funded projects in its own publication series. However, we ask for your understanding that this will be decided after completion of the scholarship on a case-by-case basis experts and will not be possible for each of the funded research projects. 

Application 

The application deadline ends on 12 April 2021. Applicants will be informed of the decision after the commission meeting in May. Approved funds must be used in 2021. 

To apply, please submit the following documents in German or English: 
- CV (incl. list of publications and relevant certificates/references) 
- Completed form (Download PDF: https://www.anna-polke-stiftung.com/en/scholarship/) 
- Project outline (about 1,000-2,000 words) 
- Work schedule 
- Cost calculation (where appropriate) 

If you submit your documents in German, we also ask you to submit an English abstract (max. 200 words) of your proposal due to the international staffing of the expert committee. 

Please send your applications digitally and as PDF-files to: stang@anna-polke-stiftung.com. 

If you have any questions, please contact Sophia Stang (+49 221 29438 633).