Art Senses Mentorship Programme: Sensing the Invisible

About the Open Call

Open Call Now Live: Apply to Art Senses, a mentorship programme dedicated to exploring how art engages the senses to inspire wellbeing, connection, and new ways of experiencing the world. Artists are invited to apply responding to the edition’s curatorial theme: Sensing the Invisible. Art Senses is a new mentorship programme exploring the sensory dimensions in artistic practice. Conceived by Therme Art, it supports works that engage the senses, alone or in combination, unlocking cross-modal pathways of perception and inspiring wellbeing and new ways of experiencing the world. Each edition of Art Senses explores a specific theme in the sensory field guided by an invited artist-mentor and distinguished jury, who offer curatorial insight, mentorship, and professional guidance. The programme is founded on three core principles: wellbeing, which fosters sensory artistic practices that nurture mindfulness and environmental awareness; immersion, which encourages artworks that are designed to envelop audiences through multisensory, spatial, or participatory elements; and expanded communities, which extend cultural engagement beyond conventional artspaces. Artists worldwide are invited to apply via our open call portal. From all submissions, three artists will be shortlisted and awarded an artist fee to develop a project proposal. One of them will be chosen as the Art Senses Artist of the Year, receiving a budget, mentorship, visibility, and resources to develop their project further. Art Senses is developed by Therme Art, an international cultural initiative advancing Therme Group’s mission to promote wellbeing, in close collaboration with Therme Group, whose expertise in innovative technologies and wellbeing infrastructures shapes the programme’s vision. The 2025/26 edition of Art Senses explores how art can extend perception beyond the predominance of sight, embracing the full spectrum of our sensory experience. This focus highlights ephemeral, interactive, and time-based artworks that exist in the moment of encounter, reminding us that art is not only an object to observe, but a lived experience to inhabit, feel, and reflect upon. In an era saturated by visual stimuli and digital spectacle, this edition seeks artistic practices that cultivate balance across the sensorium, opening space for embodied, multisensory experiences. We are delighted to announce A.A.Murakami, Tokyo/London-based artist duo, as the 2025/26 mentor-artist. Renowned for their immersive sensory practice, their work heightens awareness of ephemeral phenomena and the invisible forces shaping perception, offering a lens through which to explore the multisensory and fleeting experiences. Under the theme of Sensing the Invisible, Art Senses 2025/26 supports artists whose works uncover intangible forces by choreographing the senses into new constellations. Applicants are invited to expand their sensory vocabulary and investigate the ephemerality of light, sound, vibration, scent, air, or bodily interaction. This theme celebrates works that dissolve boundaries between the senses, between self and environment, and between the visible and the invisible. It asks: How can artists give form to what is imperceptible to the eye, and in doing so, awaken us to both the fragility and the vitality of our embodied presence?

What is Offered

Shortlisted artists receive €1,000 artist fee to develop a project proposal and consultation with the jury and mentor. The winning Art Senses Artist of the Year receives a €10,000 financial award, up to six months of tailored remote mentorship with A.A.Murakami, curatorial guidance from the jury, technical and feasibility consultations from Therme Group experts, international visibility through Therme Art’s online platforms, and opportunities to present the artistic outcome at Therme Art partner venues, with the possibility to realise the project as a permanent site-specific artwork with Therme Art.

Requirements

Artists working across all mediums and disciplines. Participants must be 18 years or older at the time of submission. Artists from all nationalities, based anywhere globally, are welcome to apply. Applications are open to individual artists as well as collectives (collectives considered a single applicant).

How to Apply

Artists are invited to submit a CV, portfolio, and letter of interest responding to the edition’s curatorial theme: Sensing the Invisible. Please download the full Application Guidelines for detailed information. Apply online via the Art Senses portal.