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International Residency

Four artists and researchers selected for the Estonian National Museum’s international photo archive Residency

An international cohort of residents will undertake six months of collaborative research before creating a joint exhibition opening in February 2027.

The Estonian National Museum has selected four artists and researchers for its 2026–27 International Residency: Paris-based artist and designer Nicolas Mimault; Spanish filmmaker and anthropologist Claudia Barthelemy Rojo; Estonian installation artist Jevgeni Zolotko; and French architect, photographer and researcher in urban design Élisabeth de Bézenac.

The residents were chosen by the museum’s exhibition committee following an international open call that drew 261 applicants from 53 countries. The committee assessed the clarity and quality of the research proposals, their relevance to the photographic collection and the applicants’ capacity for sustained collaboration. 

From September 2026 to February 2027, the residents will work with a shared body of material from the museum’s photographic collection of more than 400,000 photographs. The collection ranges from nineteenth-century glass negatives to digital images and documents everyday life, material culture and social change in Estonia. Through joint research, the residents will develop an exhibition in the Estonian National Museum’s 742-square-metre temporary exhibition hall, opening on 24 February 2027 and remaining on view until 19 September 2027. 

“No photograph, and no photographic archive, is neutral. What gets photographed, by whom and how, depends on a wide range of individual, cultural, historical and technological circumstances. The same is true of what enters an archive, what is preserved, how it is described and made findable. Four people looking at the same collection will produce different observations. The challenge, and the value of this residency, is getting all of that into one collectively authored exhibition,” said Karin Leivategija, researcher at the Estonian National Museum and facilitator of the residency.

Each resident will receive a creative grant of €10,000. The Estonian National Museum will also provide institutional support, archival access, travel and accommodation during the collective working and installation periods, and an exhibition architect alongside a production team.  

The International Residency is part of ERMX, the Estonian National Museum’s programme marking ten years since the opening of its home in Raadi. ERMX brings together international exhibitions and new opportunities to participate, explore, reflect and create together. Read more about ERMX: ERMX – Eesti Rahva Muuseum 

Residents

Nicolas Mimault is a Paris-based artist and designer working with light, moving image, interactive systems and spatial computing. Trained in interaction design and a graduate of Sciences Po Paris, he creates immersive installations, audiovisual performances and experimental environments. His work examines how technological systems shape perception and spatial experience, including what digital tools preserve, distort and omit.

Claudia Barthelemy Rojo is a Spanish filmmaker and anthropologist based in Madrid. Working across documentary cinema, ethnographic research and collaborative practice, she explores memory, family archives, queer identity, technology, territory and the tensions between reality and fiction. Her projects have been developed through programmes including the Film Academy Residencies, Coofilm and CIMA Impulsa.

Jevgeni Zolotko is an Estonian installation artist based in Tartu. His site-specific works examine the relationships between language and matter, cultural memory, religion and the subconscious. He studied sculpture at Tartu Art College and the Estonian Academy of Arts and received the inaugural Köler Prize in 2011. His major solo exhibition The Secret of Adam was presented at Kumu Art Museum in 2024–25.

Élisabeth de Bézenac is a French architect, photographic artist and researcher in urban design. She developed a practice across photography, film and writing through collaborations with journalists, artists, anthropologists and various scientific programmes. Her work across different parts of the world informs an ongoing interest in how people shape places and how places shape people. Her doctoral research focuses on dark spaces and nocturnal environments.

Application

Open Call for Applications: International Residency
Researching the Photo Archive and Producing an Exhibition

The Estonian National Museum’s photo archive, ranging from glass negatives to digital images, is open to researchers. Four residents will have the opportunity to immerse themselves in our photo archive over a six-month period and, as a result of their work, co-create a joint exhibition in ERM’s temporary exhibition hall (742 sqm), open from 24 February 2027 to 19 September 2027. 

Watch: Information Session on the International Residency of the Estonian National Museum

Submit your application here no later than 31 March 2026.

Click here for Frequently Asked Questions.

Read more about the collection here.

Application deadline: 31 March 2026, 23:59 (EET, UTC+2)
Resident confirmations: 29 May 2026
Support: €10,000 per resident + accommodation and transport during the co-creation and installation period + exhibition production team and production costs
Residency: 1 September 2026 – 24 February 2027 (hybrid: research can also take place outside Estonia)
Mandatory co-creation periods in Tartu: 28 September to 2 October 2026 and 2 November to 6 November 2026
Exhibition open: 24 February 2027 – 19 September 2027

The Collection
The Estonian National Museum holds more than 400,000 photographs, collected since the second half of the 19th century. Established in 1910, the collection documents everyday life in Estonia, material culture, and social change. Every archive functions as a form of infrastructure: what is collected, how it is described, what is digitised, and how it is made accessible all rely on specific decision-making models. Catalogue cards, metadata, and database queries reflect value choices and shape access to memory—and, consequently, how that memory is understood.

The Framework
This residency operates within the context visual anthropology, examining photographs not just as images of culture, but as evolving cultural practice itself. What do people do with pictures and what do pictures do with people? In modern data-driven societies, photographs undergo another metamorphosis, through technical systems that are not neutral.

The Estonian National Museum offers four residents a collaborative creative research process. We propose a few points of reference, while we welcome diverse interpretations. 

1. The Archive as Everyday Culture
What kinds of lives are considered “everyday”? What is deemed worth photographing? How have the collector’s questions and working frameworks shaped what entered the archive?
2. Looking, Ethics, and Interpretation
This perspective focuses on the social dimension of photography. Who photographed whom—and why? What power relations existed between photographer and subject? How do these photographs become public heritage?
3. Montage, Patterns, and Time
When similar images are placed side by side, what patterns or narratives emerge? How does repetition produce categories of normality and typicality?
4. The Archive as Infrastructure
Examining the archive as an operational system. How do metadata schemes and digitisation choices affect the discoverability of photographs? How do technical decisions shape cultural memory?

Process
Residents will work with a shared body of material to ensure comparability of outcomes. Continuous collaboration is expected through workshops and feedback sessions, culminating in a jointly produced exhibition.Financial and Logistical Support from the Museum

  • A creative grant of 10,000€ per resident.
  • Accommodation and transport expenses for co-working periods and during exhibition installation period.
  • The production costs of the exhibition, subject to approval.
  • Full access to our archives with institutional support.
  • An exhibition architect and the museum’s production team to create the exhibition.

Requirements for Applicants

  • Demonstrated and substantial engagement with photography, archives, ethnography or visual anthopology through artistic, research-based or hybrid practices
  • Availability to conduct six months of research
  • Wllingness to engage in meaningful collaboration
  • A critical and open approach
  • Presentation of research outcomes within the exhibition development process
  • Proficiency in English (Working language of the residency)

Applicants are not required to hold an academic degree or prior archival experience. Backgrounds in ethnology, cultural studies, semiotics, information science, or film are welcome where they bring a critical perspective to the photo collection. Curiosity, collaborative skills, and commitment are key.

Exhibition Aim
The exhibition seeks to make visible the hidden layers of archival systems and to demonstrate how multiple perspectives reveal different facets of the same material. It will also foreground the archive’s role as an infrastructure of cultural memory.

How To Apply
Submit your application here no later than 31 March 2026.

Please include:

  • CV (maximum of 2 pages)
  • Portfolio
  • Role statement: Which position are you applying for and why are you suited for this role?
  • Research proposal: What questions would you bring to this archive? What methods or approaches might you use?

Timeline

  • 31 March 2026 – Application deadline
  • 29 May 2026 – Residents confirmed
  • 1 September 2026 to 28 February 2027 – Residency period
    • 28 September to 2 October 2026 first co-creation period
    • 2 November to 6 November 2026 second co-creation period
  • 24 February 2027 – Opening of the exhibition

Residents will be selected by the Exhibitions Committee of the Estonian National Museum. 
For questions, please contact residency@erm.ee.

Read our privacy notice for applicants and residents here.