Open Call: Museumnacht 2025 at de Appel

de Appel invites proposals for performances that explore play as a critical practice for adults. Moving beyond childhood, which the exhibition CaccHho CucchhA by Mercedes Azpilicueta engages with, this programme looks at play as a state of mind rather than an age-bound activity. As a space where adults can unlearn, improvise, and inhabit new forms of collectivity.

From Huizinga’s notion of play as a step outside ordinary life, to Brougère’s framing of play as a cultural construct, to the carnivalesque rehearsals of other worlds, we are interested in how play can unsettle norms, resist rigid timelines of productivity, and generate spaces of agency. We invite artists to consider play as ritual, festivity, or performance; as disobedience and satire; or as a serious yet ludic way of relating to one another and to the world; open shared spaces where adult audiences can embody vulnerability, joy, and collective imagination.

The performance programme and game night will take place in the exhibition space where different elements of play have been constructed by Mercedes Azpilicueta, for more about this, please read the conversation between Lara Khaldi and Mercedes Azpilicueta here.

During Museumnacht, de Appel transforms into a vibrant space for play. de Appel invites artists and collectives to develop short, ongoing (game) activities for Museumnacht. In connection with the child-oriented exhibition CaccHho CucchhA we are looking for formats that are playful, sensory, interactive and accessible for Museumnacht visitors.

What we are looking for:
○ (Game) activities (5–20 minutes) that are easy to repeat;
○ Sensory/embodied/collective play: no fixed outcome required;
○ In connection with the exhibition and the space;
○ Take into account sensory sensitivity (no strobe, no excessive volume).

Practical:
○ Evening slots between 19:00–01:00, in rotations;
○ For each contribution de Appel offers an appropriate artist fee, as well as a very humble production budget for materials if required;
○ Hosting and audience support will be provided.

How to apply:
Send your proposal by Friday 3 October 2025 (max. 300 words or 3 a minute video) to katjun[at]deappel.nl, with subject “Open Call: Museumnacht Game Night”.

Briefly describe:
○ Concept: what happens in 5–20 minutes, and how can the audience join?
○ Visitor experience and practical feasibility: how does it work in the space of the exhibition, what would you need production-wise?
○ Requirements: technical/material, set-up and dismantling.
○ Short bio and portfolio or updated website if available.

Selected artists will be notified as soon as possible after the deadline. We will inform the selected activities in the week of 6 October 2025.