The Oberhausen Seminar is an experimental course that examines moving images and contemporary artistic practices in the context of an international film festival. It operates on the boundary between film and art, between festival programming and knowledge production. Interested parties can now apply for the 2026 Seminar, which will be led by artist, curator and scholar Linda Chiu-han Lai (Hong Kong).

The Oberhausen Seminar is aimed at international young artists, filmmakers, curators and scholars who work in moving images with a focus on artist films. A diverse group of participants from various geographical regions will examine selected film works, the infrastructures of their distribution and the critical parameters of their curation and analysis. The working language is English, the number of participants is limited to 25. In 2026, the Seminar will take place for the twelveth time.

Participants will spend five days during the Festival observing and discussing the Festival programmes. The Seminar responds to the Festival. In addition to group discussions of specific programmes and themes, the schedule includes guest talks with curators, filmmakers, artists or distributors.

Seminar leader
The 12th Oberhausen Seminar will be led by Hong Kong-based transdisciplinary artist, curator and scholar Linda Chiu-han Lai. Central to Lai’s works are her historiographic experiments, especially the moving image’s power to work against grand narratives and “central conflict” assumptions. Lai’s film works have been presented in Oberhausen and other festivals, her large-scale installation works began in the 9th Shanghai Biennale (2012-13).

Application
The application deadline is 27 February 2026. Applicants are requested to submit a description of their work, their motivation and examples of previous projects, if relevant. All documents must be submitted in English.

Selected participants will be notified in March 2026. The seminar fee of €275 (excluding transaction fees) includes all seminar events, a festival pass, access to all film programmes and festival events during the Festival, as well as snacks and lunch during the five-day seminar.

Application form:
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSfelv3oD-D23drRzslxBTcqsfp2gW36...

Seminar contact: seminar@kurzfilmtage.de

Short biography Linda Chiu-han Lai
Known for her work in intermedia arts and media archaeology, Hong Kong-based transdisciplinary artist, curator and scholar Linda Chiu-han Lai brings her videography, experimental arts and pedagogy to the Oberhausen Seminar. Central to Lai’s works are her historiographic experiments, especially the moving image’s power to work against grand narratives and “central conflict” assumptions.

Lai’s works have been presented in Oberhausen’s International Competition in 2005, 2010 and 2011. Solo retrospective-screenings of her short videos were presented at the Experimental Film/Video Festival Macao (2015), Experimental Film & Video Festival in Seoul (2017), Centro de Creación Contemporanea de Andalucia (Cordoba, 2021) and the LSK School of Creativity (Hong Kong, 2025). Her large-scale installation works began in the 9th Shanghai Biennale (2012-13); since then, she has had three solo shows of her site-specific installations. Lai is also the founder of the new media art group Writing Machine Collective (2004) and the participatory art initiative The Floating Projects (2015). Until 2023, she taught at the School of Creative Media, the City University of Hong Kong.

She was awarded Artist of the Year (Media Art) 2017 by the Hong Kong Arts Development Council, her project D-Normal/V-Essay (on-line video zine) with the Floating Projects Collective was awarded Ars Electronica’s “State of the Art(ists)” in 2022.

Oberhausen, 1 December 2025