This year and next, international artists will be guests in the attic studio of the Federal Foreign Office in Berlin. They will explore current foreign policy issues. The Federal Foreign Office (AA) and the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD) announced this in a joint statement on Wednesday. The first artist has already been at work for several days: Pulitzer Prize winner Susie Ibarra is exploring the theme of “the Arctic” here.

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Susie Ibarra is an American percussionist, composer, and sound artist. In a few days, the Filipino-born artist will celebrate her 56th birthday. She recently performed at the Pierre Boulez Hall in Berlin, where a percussionist even played leaves from houseplants. She received the Pulitzer Prize for Music last year for “Sky Islands,” a work about biodiversity.

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The new residency program is called “Bureau de Passage” and is being implemented by the DAAD’s Berlin Artists-in-Residence Program.

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“Foreign policy needs fresh ideas and people who ask unconventional questions. That is why we are opening the doors of the Federal Foreign Office with our alumni residency,” explains Serap Güler, Minister of State at the Federal Foreign Office. The program is aimed at foreign artists who already have ties to Germany through previous fellowships and residencies. “We look forward to the exchange and to new insights from an artistic perspective for our foreign policy and the challenges of our time.”

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“We are living in a time of major geopolitical changes and upheavals. It is precisely in these times that personal connections to Germany are invaluable in many parts of the world,” DAAD President Prof. Dr. Joybrato Mukherjee is quoted as saying in the joint statement. “Through the residencies of international artists in the Federal Foreign Office’s rooftop studio, we want to work together with the Ministry to demonstrate that art and free dialogue can make important contributions to an open society.”

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Sounds of the Greenland Ice Sheet and Himalayan Glaciers

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American composer and Pulitzer Prize winner Susie Ibarra, an alumna of the DAAD’s Berlin Artists-in-Residence Program, is the first alumna to participate in the “Bureau de Passage.” She is one of the world’s most renowned sound artists. The theme of her residency is “the Arctic.” Together with glaciologist Michele Koppes, Ibarra has, among other things, recorded and artistically processed sounds from the Greenland ice sheet and Himalayan glaciers for her project “Water Rhythms.”

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During her stay, the artist will seek dialogue with staff at the Federal Foreign Office and engage with experts from the fields of culture, science, and security policy. Discussions are planned with State Secretary Bernhard Kotsch as well as with Florence Gaub, head of the research department at the NATO Defense College in Rome and herself a DAAD alumna.

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In 2027, three additional artists who maintain “special ties” to Germany are set to benefit from the program. Candidates are nominated by the respective host institutions where the former foreign fellows have previously received support.

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