Open Call - Kunstinstituut Melly X Amarte: TOOLSHED

Amarte proudly supports TOOLSHED, a new initiative by Kunstinstituut Melly that focuses on a critical exploration of the tools we use to shape institutions, whether artistic, practical, theoretical, or conceptual in nature. Through this open call, Amarte and Melly aim to encourage collectives and collaborative projects to share their ideas and collaborate on fresh perspectives regarding the ways in which art and cultural institutions operate. Do you have ideas you’d like to share? Click here to submit a proposal.

For questions about the program or the application process, please email:
roos [​at​] kunstinstituutmelly.nl.

Deadline: November 21, 17:00.

What is TOOLSHED?

Located on the second floor of Kunstinstituut Melly, the first edition of TOOLSHED launched in May 2025 as a dynamic experimental space for reflection, discussion, experimentation, and action, with tooling understood as both an active and symbolic process. This open call is for the second iteration of TOOLSHED, starting February 2025.

Building on past and ongoing programs, including Tools for Collective Learning, Tools for Demodernizing, and Tools for Conviviality, TOOLSHED is conceived as a space for challenging conventional institutional practices and for exploring a broad range of disciplines that help art spaces become more accessible. With this initiative, Amarte and Kunstinstituut Melly are looking for collectives or collaborative projects that work across disciplines and are interested in approaching art as a way to explore the way an institution works, as well as connecting their practice to fields such as science, architecture, music, or entirely new and hybrid forms of practice.

At the heart of TOOLSHED lies the need to better understand and respond to current socio-political dynamics from an institutional and artistic perspective. Rather than superficially thematizing these crises, TOOLSHED will encourage dialogue about how institutions like ours can respond honestly and critically to global issues, always mindful of our location and role in Rotterdam’s cultural landscape. TOOLSHED is not just about conventional tools, but about rethinking the structures, material and immaterial, that shape our world. Through collective inquiry, critical dialogue, and creative experimentation, it opens up possibilities for redefining how we operate within an institution and for expanding the potential of cultural practice to engage more meaningfully with the present.

For who?

This open call is for collectives or collaborative projects working across disciplines. We are particularly interested in practices that:


Explore art as a way to build and rethink institutions

Connect artistic practice with other fields such as science, architecture, music, or new/hybrid disciplines

Challenge conventional institutional practices and strive to make art spaces more accessible

What to expect?

Selected collectives or collaborative projects will:


Develop their ideas within TOOLSHED during a working period from February to May 2026

Present findings in moments of public programming

Receive support from the Kunstinstituut Melly team

Be introduced to a network of artists, thinkers, and cultural organizations in Rotterdam

Have access to a budget and resources (production fee is estimated at €15.000 and artist fee at €7.500 per person, with a maximum of €22.500 total)

Have access to provided accommodation in Rotterdam

How to apply?

You can apply for the open call until November 21, 17:00. Click here to submit a proposal.