Call for Submission

For this year’s edition of Art in the Underground 2024/25: flexen, flirren, fantasieren – mapping the queer city, artists are invited to propose new works for urban space exploring the freedom of movement of different populations, and to suggest artistic interventions that reflect current socio-political developments. Western European cities were built with specific subjects in mind, even though our city and its inhabitants are diverse and multifaceted. People have different needs and, therefore, different strategies for using public space. How do women, people of color (POC), queer and postmigrant people, workers, children, senior citizens, and people with disabilities experience and shape their city? How do they adapt to structures and architectures that were not designed for them?

Please find the full call for submission here

Response to written queries

Historical development of the Art in the Underground competition

Originally called Art Instead of Advertising, the competition was first held in East Berlin in 1958, with entrants asked to submit posters for peace. The works were shown on platform billboards at Alexanderplatz underground station. Whereas many East German institutions were dissolved or renamed after 1989, this competition survived in its original form. Since the early 1990s, neue Gesellschaft für bildende Kunst (nGbK) has been realizing projects in cooperation with Berlin’s Senate Office for Culture under the title Art in the Underground with artworks in or near underground stations.

Archive

Art in the Underground since 1993