About us

Akademie Schloss Solitude is an international Artist-in-Residence Program and has supported approximately 1,700 young artists from more than 120 countries since opening its doors in 1990. It creates a close-knit, global and transdisciplinary network of Solitude alumni that expands from year to year.

Exhibition »A Courtyard in the Barn« by Mariana Jochamowitz and Nicolás Rivera (Architecture 2019/2020) during the Solitude Micro Summer Festival 2020, Photo: Frank Kleinbach

A residential fellowship at Akademie Schloss Solitude should also be understood as a future investment, as it might sometimes only bear fruit at a later date, for both the fellow and the institution.

The name Akademie Schloss Solitude unites the belief in artistic, scientific exchange with the notion of a refuge, a credo which underlays the construction of the Schloss Solitude from the very beginning. Residencies at Akademie Schloss Solitude enable fellows to devote themselves to their research projects under favorable material and intellectual conditions. In this way, the available resources can be used in an optimal, needs-oriented manner. It is essential for the self-conception of Akademie Schloss Solitude that fellows of all disciplines are enabled to work and research free of daily pressures and presentation deadlines. Despite this, the Akademie offers the possibility to communicate and present projects to the public. Besides the realisation of numerous public events, the category Projects &Publications on this website allows international visibility of fellows and their projects and creates space for new digital projects.

The Akademie Schloss Solitude is financially supported by the German province of Baden-Württemberg.

Sound Performance by Sarvenaz Mostofey (Music/Sound 2020) at the Symposium »Paradoxien des Fortschritts«, March 2020, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Photo: Jessica Plautz
Performance »Legging« by Maayan Danoch (Performing Arts 2019/2020) at the Solitude Winter feast 2019, Akademie Schloss Solitude, Photo: Jessica Plautz
»Temple Solitude« by Ariel Schlesinger surrounded by fellows.
Exhibition »A Courtyard in the Barn« by Mariana Jochamowitz and Nicolás Rivera (Architecture 2019/2020) during the Solitude Micro Summer Festival 2020, Photo: Frank Kleinbach
»Summer Enquiry« von ZZDD, Sommerfest 2019. Foto: Frank Kleinbach
Monthly dinner at Akademie Schloss Solitude, 2019. Photo: Simone Gilges
$Membrane Exhibition »Refracted Gazes«, Römerstraße 2A, Photo: Frank Kleinbach$
Membrane Exhibition opening »Refracted Gazes« at Solitude's Project Space Römerstraße 2A, Photo: Frank Kleinbach
Akademie Schloss Solitude. Winterfest 2019
Lesungen beim Sommerfest 2019. Foto: Frank Kleinbach
Flower and plant market by Chloroplast e. V., Solitude barn, Photo: Frank Kleinbach at Solitude Mikro-Sommerfestival 2020, Photo: Frank Kleinbach

Esprit Solitude

An example of late-Baroque style, poised on a hill overlooking the cultural and industrial city of Stuttgart, the Akademie Schloss Solitude has developed into an important global network for the international art scene.

Solitude in autumn

In harmony with the castle’s location and history, Solitude is a retreat and »free zone« for art and life. But it also has a public face as an exhibition venue, innovative laboratory and arena for discourse. The Akademie’s fellows and guests use it as an artistic incubator, a projection screen; a place to make lasting connections or as an opportunity to realize a project without having to conform to conventions. The institution represents an open concept of art and intentionally allows its guests to influence and shape it.

Spaces

Studio visit »big foot stepping over« by Sophia Guggenberger, Summer feast 2019, Photo: Frank Kleinbach
Open Studio »A Skin Made of Light/ly Touches – a Decorum«, Installation and Reading by Edith Lázár (Design 2019), Summer feast 2019, Photo: Frank Kleinbach
Akademie Schloss Solitude. Winterfest 2019
Library at Akademie Schloss Solitude
Akademie Schloss Solitude. Winterfest 2019
Studio at Akademie Schloss Solitude
Pocket Poetry Festival. Reading by Solitude-artists, initiated by Vinicius Jatobá
Alicja Bielawska, studio at Solitude, »Line on a Walk« (2015)

The Akademie Schloss Solitude has 42 furnished live/work studios and three guest studios.

The building also has a lecture hall, two workshops, a library, a cafeteria and additional public areas. Exhibitions, symposia, performances and other events take place primarily at the Akademie. The Akademie has used a renovated timbered barn on the castle grounds to host classical concerts since 2008 and also runs a project space on Römerstrasse in Stuttgart’s city center.