Situated on the second floor of Bergen Kunsthall, the Live Studio is dedicated to the development of artworks rooted in liveness. It supports artists working with performance, participatory events, moving image, sound, time-based media and other related forms, through residencies awarded via open calls and invitations.

Since its launch in 2022, the Live Studio has hosted 36 residencies. A complete list is available here.

In 2026, Bergen Kunsthall will grant one-month residencies to three Bergen-based artists. The Kunsthall can consider artists who are not based in Bergen but receive funding for travel and accommodation, and who would benefit from time, space and proximity to the city.

This year, the open call is thematic: the artists will be selected for the quality of their proposal engaging with SUBSURFACE IMAGINARIES.

We welcome projects that take the subsurface as a framework for contemporary creation, as a material and geological realm, but also as a way of thinking through the underlayers of social, institutional, and planetary life. We invite artists who engage with what lies beneath both literally and figuratively.

Proposals may consider experimental Earth observation, subsurface forms of governance and forms of commons, planetary logistics and infrastructure, below-ground imaginaries, petroculture, energy colonialism, pipeline geopolitics, and vertical logics.

We also welcome approaches that examine less tangible forms of subterranean conditions: life withheld or denied space to grow, the politics of visibility, atmospheres of toxicity or exclusion, crushing pressures, and the affective or institutional climates that shape how people work, relate, and belong.

Bergen Kunsthall has a longstanding commitment to supporting practices that often fall in between the categories of artistic disciplines, and the Live Studio is the latest infrastructural offering to sustain such practices beyond public-oriented presentations. The residencies aim to offer artists time, space, and, when possible, connections with Bergen and its local community to further develop their practices.

Residency 1: 02 Feb—01 Mar 2026
Residency 2: 16 Mar—12 Apr 2026
Residency 3: 13 Apr—10 May 2026

What we can offer:
· Use of a 70 square meter Live Studio and in-house equipment
· Curatorial dialogue and feedback sessions with members of Bergen Kunsthall’s curatorial team
· A consultation with an in-house AV technician
· Option to share work in a semi-public format
· 10,000,- NOK grant

Equipment:
· PA-system: Two speakers on stands (Yamaha DXR12mkII), one 16-channel sound mixer (Yamaha ProFX16v3)
· One projector
· Additional in-house equipment depending on availability

Access:
· The studio is accessible 24/7 through a separate Live Studio entrance
· There are two flights of stairs and an elevator

Facilities:
· A fully-equipped kitchen
· Gender-neutral and wheelchair-accessible bathrooms

Disclaimer on sound levels:
With offices located on the same floor and a gallery space underneath, we currently ask the residents to keep the sound volume to a level that “respects the neighbours” between 09:00 and 17:00. After 17:00, there are no restrictions on noise levels, except on Thursdays, until 20:00, as the galleries are open.

For further questions, please contact: jade@kunsthall.no