Modes of Access define who can reach resources — data, spaces, systems. In computing, this is a technical question. In society and culture, it is a political one: Who has access? Under what conditions? Who sets the rules of participation? And how can the digital space lower these barriers and give access to those excluded?
 
As part of this collaboration the Kuenstler*dorf Schöppingen and the kaethe:k Kunsthaus are offering four digital residencies. The program takes place entirely online, allowing participants to work from their own locations.
 
Throughout the project, media artists Ana María García Jácome (Mexico), Aynaz Norouzi Baranghar (Iran), Gaurav Singh Nijjer (India), and Nóra Réka Juhász (Hungary) explore access as a political and artistic methodology and examine how digital spaces can multiply rather than standardize participation.
 
In the spirit of Disability Justice, we recognize access as a shared responsibility rather than a legal obligation and disability not as an individual deficit but as an effect of systems that position certain bodies, temporalities, and ways of living as the norm. Additionally, we see residencies as time to work but also to rest and connect.
 
In digital residencies, these exclusions are not automatically eliminated; they exist in different forms: in platform architectures that add accessibility as an afterthought rather than building it in from the start, and in working structures that measure productivity by a single rhythm.
 
Crip Time describes the experience that time works differently for disabled and chronically ill people — bound to variable rhythms, cycles of fatigue, and shifting needs. Within Modes of Access, we understand the programme structure as a laboratory for recognising this temporality structurally and encourage interdependence through flexible formats and participation options. The underlying conviction is that access to culture must not be standardised, but multiplied.
 
The four participating fellows are accompanied throughout the residency by a team from the Künstler*dorf Schöppingen, kaethe:k Kunsthaus, curatorial lead Paulina Seyfried, and Agustina Andreoletti as a mentor for digital cultures. Fellows join the Künstler*dorf alumni network and gain access to media-focused arts organisations across NRW, and can contribute to several formats and network events.

ABOUT THE ORGANISATIONS
 
Künstler*dorf Schöppingen
 
The Künstler*dorf Schöppingen offers artists, composers, writers, and other cultural practitioners a space for concentrated work, exchange, and intentional networking. Since 2024, it has partnered with kaethe:k Kunsthaus to invite artists with disabilities to in-person residencies. The Digital Residencies are a new annual format launching in 2026, designed to support artists who use digital spaces as their primary working environment.
www.kuenstlerdorf.de
 
kaethe:k Kunsthaus
 
kaethe:k Kunsthaus combines artistic excellence with structural inclusion. Based in Pulheim-Brauweiler, it provides a professional studio environment for artists with disabilities and supports their careers through an art agency, an education programme, and an extensive network. Through events, projects, and collaborations, kaethe:k works to increase the visibility and institutional presence of artists with disabilities in the arts sector.
www.kaethek.de

This project is kindly supported by the Ministry of Culture and Science of North Rhine-Westphalia through the Medienfonds of medienwerk.nrw