Open Call for Nocturnal Walkthroughs | 'Pedagogies of War' by Roman Khimei & Yarema Malashchuk

APPLICATIONS UNTIL JANUARY 11, 2026

The Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza and TBA21Thyssen-Bornemisza Art Contemporary announce the second edition of their Open Call for the Nocturnal Walkthroughs, a recurring initiative within their public programs, which on this occasion accompanies the exhibition Pedagogies of War by Roman Khimei and Yarema Malashchuk.

The exhibition brings together three works—the newly commissioned Open World (2025), You Shouldn’t Have to See This (2024), and a new site-specific commission, Pedagogies of War: War at Distance (2026)—offering a multi-temporal exploration of war, memory, and agency. Pedagogies of War investigates the experience of war in its multiple registers: war as a lived condition, war as captured by the camera as a scene of destruction, and war perceived at a distance—mediated, remembered, and imagined—creating a reflective space to examine how states of emergency are aestheticized, how survivors and bystanders become agents, and how repetition opens possibilities for doubt, empathy, and imagining life after destruction.

The Nocturnal Walkthroughs are conceived as a series of activations that open the exhibition to new forms of encounter, reflection, and collective imagination, offering audiences the chance to engage with the works in an intimate, immersive setting that encourages dialogue, contemplation, and shared experiences beyond conventional viewing practices.

Visit the artists' website

CALL FOR PROPOSALS

Apply here

We invite artists, poets, performers, scientists, activists, writers, thinkers, and cultural workers to propose original activities responding to the exhibition’s central questions:

• How is war seen, remembered, and mediated today?
• How do images of destruction shape collective perception?
• How can exhibition spaces foster dialogue, reflection, and collective experiences?
• How can shared immersive experiences support rehumanization or repair after conflict?
• How can states of emergency and their aestheticization be explored through artistic practice?

Proposals can take a variety of forms, including:

• Performances
• Lectures 
• Readings 
• Sound interventions
• Living arts
• Workshops
   

Selected activities should activate the exhibition space and foster dialogue, contemplation, and collective engagement with the themes addressed by the artists’ work.

FORMAT

• An evening event that introduces new perspectives and engages visitors in dialogue within the exhibition space
• The selected participants will execute their activity for a total of four times, with two sessions per evening: 9pm & 10pm.
• Activities will take place on the following Saturdays: March 21, April 11, April 25, May 9, May 23, and May 30, 2026. Applicants should indicate their availability for these dates when submitting their proposal.
• Duration: approximately 45 minutes per session.
• These activities are free of charge and open to the public.
• Activities can be conducted in Spanish or English.
• Open to all disciplines, backgrounds, and nationalities.
   

Important considerations

• Audio from the artworks will remain active during the sessions. 
• Screens will continue displaying the videos throughout the activity.
   

Any additional speakers or projectors must be adapted to the requirements and limitations of the gallery space

PRACTICAL INFORMATION

How to Apply

Interested applicants must submit their proposal through the registration form

Requested Documentation

• Description of the activity
• Relation to the exhibition
• Requirements
• Short portfolio or CV
• Availability on the proposed dates

Participation Requirements

• Activities can be conducted in Spanish or English.
• Open to all disciplines, backgrounds, and nationalities.
• Participants must submit a complete application by the stated deadline.
• The organizers may request additional documentation or clarification of the proposal.

Technical Conditions

• Due to the conditions of the exhibition proposal, any additional speakers or projectors must be adapted to the requirements and limitations of the space.
• Proposals with simple technical requirements will be especially valued.
   

Fee

1,500 € (incl. VAT)

The fee includes travel and accommodation if required. Please note that we are unable to cover extensive travel expenses.

Selection

Proposals will be evaluated in two phases. In the first phase, a representative of TBA21 will review all submissions. In the second phase, a panel composed of the exhibition curator Chus Martínez and two external professionals will evaluate the shortlisted proposals. Selection will be based on the following criteria: creativity; technical feasibility, considering that the activity can be carried out within the exhibition space and with the available resources, valuing simplicity and practicality of technical requirements; potential for audience engagement; and alignment with the themes of the exhibition.

Applicants of the selected proposals will be informed by email.

Timeline

• Release of Open Call: November 27, 2025 
• Application period: November 27, 2025 – January 11, 2026. *Questions regarding the call will be answered until January 9, 2026.
• Deadline: January 11, 2026 (midnight) 
• Notification of results: February 6, 2026
   

Contact

For inquiries, please contact: public.programs@tba21.org. Only questions received by email will be answered.

Examples of past activities

For the exhibition At-Tāriq. A Journey into the Rural Musical Traditions of North Africa and the Arab World, by the artist Tarek Atoui The First Touch with Pablo Zamorano: Pablo Zamorano’s proposal was an immersive activity using body, movement, and ritual to explore the liminal space between night and day, life and death, allowing participants to engage with ancestral poetics and experience transitions shaping perception of time and existence.

In Praise of the Broken with Marina Hervás: Marina Hervás’ night tour offered a listening experience exploring the fragmentary and incomplete in shaping our connection to tradition and rurality, engaging in dialogue with Tarek Atoui’s sound work and notions of imagined traditions and utopian geographies.

For the exhibition Listening All Night to the Rain by John Akomfrah

Listening Transmissions with Hannah Kemp-Welch: Hannah Kemp-Welch’s Sonic Walkthrough invites visitors to interact with Listening All Night To The Rain through sound, selecting sounds from the works and adding their own. Moving through the gallery, participants enter different broadcast zones, creating layered combinations that blend with the exhibition and explore transmission and delay.

Listening All Night to the Marassa with Inés Sybille and Malvin Montero: Listening All Night to the Marassa is a dance activation. Dancers Malvin Montero and Inés Sybille move through the iconography of the Marassa twins from Haitian-Dominican Vodou, exploring philosophical, aesthetic, sonic, and choreographic echoes from Akomfrah’s aquatic body-archives.