Eren Akşahin is a multi-instrumentalist and composer. In his projects and works, he combines the influences of Anatolian folk music with his own vision of sound and aesthetics. He studied world music at the Rotterdam Conservatory and deepened his expertise with his instrument, the bağlama. Most recently, he directed projects such as the play ‘Die Optimistinnen’ at Bielefeld Theatre and the concert series ‘Cemal Cemale 4’ and has performed in many musical constellations.

As part of the LWL Cultural Fellowship, Eren Akşahin wants to compose a musical narrative for an ensemble of traditional oriental instruments. It will be a musical and interdisciplinary reinterpretation of Fariduddin Attar's ‘Conference of the Birds’.

Miriam Michel studied theatre studies, sociology and American studies as well as scenic research. She has been working as a director, performer, dramaturge, lecturer and author in theatre and the independent scene since 2005. She was part of the collective dorisdean, which she founded in 2006. She explores the world around her in writing, images, sound and collages.

During the scholarship period, Miriam Michel focuses on women who were born in Westphalia between 1945 and 1955. She is interested in the daughters of the ‘first post-war period’ because of their often ‘invisible’ social influence. As children, they experienced the ‘rubble’, the economic miracle and the 1968 movement. As guest workers, countesses, mothers and care-takers, politicians and workers, these ‘silent fighters’, as the project is called, helped to shape their time and set the course for the future. What regional differences can be discovered between the countryside and the city, between Bochum and the Teutoburg Forest?

Franziska Jäger challenges the perception of forms with her paintings and prints. She studied art history, art/art education and art and communication at the University of Osnabrück. Since then, she has had exhibitions in Germany and in Italy, Austria and Switzerland, among other countries.

With her project ‘’Printmaking Connections‘’, Franziska Jäger wants to establish a network for printmakers in rural areas that promotes exchange between artists and enables collaboration with local actors. Mutual visits to studios, joint workshops and museum visits are planned.