Artist Call Out: Queer Natures Micro-Commissions

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The Queer Natures Project is offering 3 micro-commissions to artists in any discipline. You can find the brief and application form below. 

Too often, queerness has been described as “unnatural”, or a modern invention. In many cases, queer scholars have responded to this by rejecting nature as a space of significance for LGBTQ+ lives. The Queer Natures Project asks: what new knowledge and practices can we discover when we think of queerness and nature together?

As part of the Queer Natures project, Project Lead Dr Ina Linge, Associate Professor of German, Gender and Sexuality Studies at the University of Exeter, investigates how German-speaking artists and scientists in the past have thought about nature and queerness together. She is particularly interested in the Weimar Republic (1919-1933) as a period in German history when queer and trans lives gained new visibility, but were also subjected to scientific scrutiny. Her research has shown that artists, writers and scientists during this period looked at animal bodies and metaphors to inform their understanding of LGBTQ+ lives and identities. For example, some looked at insects to reflect on different models for social organisation that included LGBTQ+ people. Others recommended consuming specific animal products to enhance gendered traits. Sometimes, this led to emancipatory practices that reclaimed the natural world as inherently queer. Other times, attempts at queering nature reinforced problematic ideas about race, nation, able-bodiedness and able-mindedness. The Queer Natures project as a whole seeks to bring this research into dialogue with creative and artistic practice. You can find out more about this research here and here.

We are offering 3 micro-commissions to artists in any discipline and working in either English or German to respond to the research conducted as part of the Queer Natures project. £500 including VAT will be awarded to each successful project, to cover all fees and production costs.

Project partners are: the Queer Natures project, Flock South West, and Arts and Culture University of Exeter.

Selected artists will:

• Respond to the research outlined above. Successful applicants will have the opportunity to meet with the Project Lead (online or in person) to find out more about the research.
• Create work that is completely new OR part of an extension of an existing body of work.
• Be expected to spend an appropriate time on developing and producing the work; this is a micro commission with around two days of artist time budgeted and should be light-touch and smaller scale to reflect this.
• Produce a finished work suitable for hosting on the Queer Natures website and project partner websites and on social media. This work can be any media, including writing, sound and music, digital, video or physical media.

To apply:

Please submit your application form, alongside any additional material (via fileshare, link, or attachment) to queernatures@exeter.ac.uk

Application forms can be downloaded here as a Word document or as a PDF

The deadline for applications is 5pm, MONDAY 19 JANUARY 2026.

By applying, you are giving permission for your details to be shared with the selection panel, to be used for the sole purpose of awarding the commissions.

Selection Criteria:

• Demonstrates a genuine connection and interest in the research themes.
• Able to provide a novel creative perspective, complementing the other research work.
• Established creative practice, creating work that will connect meaningfully with research audiences.
• Suggested output achievable within a short timeframe.

Note – the selection panel will also be seeking to balance a range of voices, perspectives and artforms across the three selected micro-commissions.

Selection process:

The selection panel is made up of representatives from each of the project partners: the Queer Natures project, Flock South West, and Arts and Culture University of Exeter. Selected projects will be announced on MONDAY 2 FEBRUARY 2026.

Successful artists will be invited to attend an optional Queer Natures project workshop in London on SATURDAY 21 FEBRUARY 2026. We can cover modest travel costs. Availability for the workshop is not a selection criterion, and you will not be disadvantaged if you cannot attend.

Final Submissions:

Selected artists will be required to submit: the final artwork (if digital), or a presentation of the final artwork (in appropriate digital file format); a short statement about the artist(s); and a short statement about the inspiration for the artwork, by 5pm, FRIDAY 6 MARCH 2026. Final submissions will be shared on project partner websites, digital communications such as e-newsletters, and social media platforms.

Questions?

Contact Dr Ina Linge, Project Lead for Queer Natures, queernatures@exeter.ac.uk with “Micro-commissions: QUEER NATURES” in the subject line.