Open Call:
DENKMASCHINE
Ideas for the Materials of Tomorrow.
Paper has accompanied humanity for centuries. Yet perhaps its most exciting future still lies ahead.
With DENKMASCHINE – PapIer, we invite artists, designers, architects, materials researchers, engineers, students, school classes and all curious minds to rethink paper as the starting point for the materials of the future.
We are not only interested in finished objects.
Quite the opposite.
We want to make ideas visible while they are still growing.
Depending on the size and format of the submissions, the jury will select approximately 20 to 40 projects. They will be presented from 11 December 2026 onwards in the special exhibition "DENKMASCHINE" at the Museum Haus des Papiers.
We are looking for concepts, sketches, material experiments and research approaches that explore paper, paper waste or regional fibre plants as the basis for new materials. Whether these might eventually become lightweight composites, flexible structures, load-bearing constructions, textile applications or entirely different material systems is, for the moment, of secondary importance.
Not every good idea needs to have a concrete application yet. Fundamental research is expressly welcome.
We believe that the materials of the future will not emerge only in laboratories, but often begin with a simple question:
"What if...?"
Those are exactly the questions we are looking for.
Who can apply?
We welcome applications from
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individuals
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teams
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school classes
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university courses
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workshops
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research groups
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entire year groups
We particularly welcome interdisciplinary approaches.
For participants from Berlin and the surrounding region, we will open our new Raum für Materialerfahrung (Material Experience Space) free of charge on several dates before the exhibition as a place for experimentation, exchange and collaborative thinking.
What can be submitted?
A completed work is not required.
For the application, the following is sufficient:
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a concept of no more than two A4 pages.
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Optionally, you may also submit:
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up to five photographs, renderings, material samples or sketches
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Incomplete experiments, material studies or early prototypes may also be submitted. What matters is not the stage of completion, but the quality and originality of the idea.
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All submitted ideas will be treated confidentially. Copyright and intellectual ownership remain entirely with the applicants. By submitting an application, applicants confirm that the idea or development is their own original work.
Exhibition
Particularly original ideas may later become part of our
permanent special exhibitions Paper Future Lab and Fiber Future Lab,
where they will continue to be developed and presented to a wider public.
Outlook
DENKMASCHINE is intended to grow into a long-term initiative. We are therefore currently working on establishing an annual research fellowship. The plan is to offer a six-month development fellowship with total funding of €9,000, providing particularly promising ideas with the time and space needed for further development.
This programme is still under development. Our goal is not only to exhibit outstanding material ideas, but also to actively support their further development.
Application
Deadline: 27 September
Please submit:
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concept (maximum two A4 pages)
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optionally up to five photographs or sketches
Processing fee
A €5 processing fee applies to participation in the “DENKMASCHINE” Open Call. Once your submission has been received, we will issue an invoice for the submission fee.
Perhaps one of the submitted ideas will become the material with which we build, design or create art twenty years from now.
