Open Call: AIL Ping-Pong #3

Submit your artwork for the new exhibition format AIL Ping-Pong at the showcases [Vitrinen] in the Kassenhalle of Otto Wagner Postsparkasse

#3 March 2026 – July 2026

WHAT?

With the aim of implementing playful interdisciplinary interventions in the unique space of the Kassenhalle, AIL Ping-Pong is a newly developed format that repurposes the building’s architecture – specifically a former display cabinet [in German: Vitrine] of the Otto Wagner Museum in the Kassenhalle to showcase artistic projects by Angewandte alumni*. In line with AIL’s mission to embrace interdisciplinary approaches, AIL Ping-Pong fosters dialogue between 2-5 artistic positions for each period. Centered around rotating themes, we envision AIL Ping-Pong to be a series of small scale presentations that function as a window into the diverse artistic practices and languages of Angewandte alumni, offering a range of perspectives that explore parallels, contrasts, or extensions within a thematic framework.

*Please note: The Open Call is addressed only to alumni, who are currently NOT affiliated with the Angewandte via a Phd, teaching position or employment.

In its third edition, AIL Ping-Pong will focus on the theme of COLLAPSE

Collapse can be both an ending and a beginning – a sudden breakdown or a quiet unraveling. It might describe the fall of systems: ecological, economic, or political structures that no longer sustain themselves. It can also speak to personal or emotional states, the moments when bodies, relationships, or identities falter under pressure. Collapse is not only destruction; it is also transformation – the point at which something gives way so that something else might emerge.

Artists are invited to explore collapse from any perspective: the physical decay of materials, the implosion of meaning, the failure of communication, or the slow erosion of the familiar. How do we navigate the tension between resistance and surrender? What forms of care, adaptation, or creativity can arise from breakdown?

This open call welcomes works across all media – visual, text, performance, or hybrid formats – that engage with collapse as process, metaphor, or lived experience. Whether intimate or systemic, catastrophic or subtle, collapse asks us to look closely at the edges of what holds and what falls apart.

WHERE?

Originally a display space for the Otto Wagner Museum, the AIL Ping-Pong presentations consist of a 330cm x 205cm glass vitrine divided into eight vitrine sections (up H:114cm x L:80cm x W:40cm; down H:62cm x L:80cm x W:40cm). The decision on how the vitrine is divided by the chosen AIL Ping-Pong participants will be made in conversation between AIL and the invited artists.

You can view the cabinet during the regular opening hours of the Postsparkasse (Mon - Fri, 10:00 – 18:00 ). It is located near the back entrance on the left-hand side. Or download measurements and image here

HOW & WHO?

AIL provides the space as well as communication around the project. Additionally to the visibility AIL can offer each artist an compensation fee of 250 EUR (incl. VAT). Artworks are insured for the time of the display.

The open call is adressed to alumni from all departments of the Angewandte*. The participants for AIL Ping-Pong will be selected by AIL based on the interesting pairs, potential contrasts, or similarities of projects and artistic positions.

*Please note: The open call is addressed only to alumni, who are currently NOT affiliated with the Angewandte via a Phd, teaching position or employment.

Shortcut – We are looking for:

• Artistic projects / artworks that relate to the given topic COLLAPSE

• The artworks / projects should be able to be presented within the limited space of the glass vitrines

• The proposed artworks should be self sufficient in the way of presentation. That means they should not need f.e. an external electricity source, or daily activation. In case a project involves daily or weekly maintenance the artists are responsible for it.

• All media accepted: print, textile, objects, text, publications, video...

Submission mode:

Please send all details and required documents by e-mail to: nora.mayr@uni-ak.ac.at

(Submissions can be in English or German!)

1 PDF (max. 10 MB)

• Concept: short description of the artwork or project you would like to submit including an explanation of its relevance towards the topic COLLAPSE. (1-3 pages incl. images)

• max. 1000 characters

• including link to artist portfolio or similar relevant links of the artistic works

• please name year of graduation and department

Please apply only if the schedule below is feasible for you.

Timeline:

• End of January 2026: Announcement of selection

• February 2026: Desicion on specific artworks & install period as agreed on with AIL

• Mid of March 2026: AIL Ping-Pong Launch

• Mid March – End July 2026: Presentation period

• 1st week of August 2026: Deinstall

Opening hours AIL Ping-Pong: Mon – Fri: 9:00-17:30