Deadline: 01-Sep-2025
The Music Biennale Zagreb invites individual artists and artistic duos from South East and Central Europe working in sound and music to join MBZ LAB, a ‘project incubator’ experiment.
The MBZ LAB reimagines how festivals commission and produce new works, particularly collaborative, sound-based projects designed for unconventional spaces. They are seeking bold, imaginative, and process-driven artists who want to activate public spaces or unusual sites and reimagine the audience experience.
The opportunity is structured in two stages: Stage 1 – Expression of Interest & Research Visit and Stage 2 – Commissioning & Production.
The competition welcomes applications from composer-performers, sound and installation artists, improvisers, new-media artists, instrument makers, as well as visual, multimedia, and/or performance artists whose work engages with sound and music in expanded or non-traditional ways. Applicants should be in the early-to-mid-career stage, with a developed body of work and some public presentation history, but are not yet regularly commissioned by major institutions or festivals (approximate age range: 25-35 years old). An ongoing collaborative practice is essential.
In Stage 1, individual artists or artistic duos submit a portfolio and an expression of interest, and at most, five applications will move to the next stage. Each selected application will receive travel and accommodation for up to two people for a site visit of three to four days to Zagreb, as well as a seed development fee of €1000, which is the same amount for both individual artists and artistic duos. The research visit is scheduled for the last week of October 2025, from October 27-31, and aims to allow artists to connect with the MBZ team and local partners, explore potential locations, and develop their concept into a full proposal that must include at least one other LAB artist.
For Stage 2, final projects will be selected in early 2026 and co-produced by MBZ for presentation in April 2027 as part of the 34th Music Biennale Zagreb. Production budgets and timelines for each selected project will be developed in close collaboration with the chosen artists to reflect the specific needs and scope of each project.
Applicants must be available for the research visit and be able to work legally in Croatia independently, as the organizers are unable to provide visa or work permit support at this stage. The application must include a CV of the artist or creative team, a portfolio of selected works, and an artistic statement addressing three specific questions about their work’s engagement with sound and music in unconventional spaces, their collaborative practice, and the experience they aim to create for their audience. The selection process involves a jury of external experts and the MBZ Artistic Directors, and the selection is based on artistic experience, the relevance of the portfolio, demonstrated interest in collaboration and experimentation, and geographical proximity with a preference for applicants who can travel by means other than flying. The application closes on 1 September 2025.
For more information, visit MBZ.
