In 2026, the Schwalenberg Fellowship was awarded to Leipzig-based artist Linda Marwan. In Schwalenberg, Marwan continued and expanded her project Becoming a Body of Others.

The project playfully engages with the history and concept of the monster, creating sculptures that appear as hybrid beings and refer to the empathetic network of living organisms. Marwan’s works are influenced by gaming as well as the fantasy and horror genres. What may initially appear alien or even frightening becomes equally fascinating. Marwan’s creatures connect humans with animals, as well as landscapes with the bodies that inhabit them. In doing so, they examine corporeality from the perspective of openness and self-surrender. To create them, Marwan primarily employs 3D modelling and 3D printing. In some of these sculptures, the printed and handmade elements ultimately merge into a seemingly homogeneous body.

Acting as manifestations of the fear of one’s own dissolution into the unfamiliar, these critters…