Art & Science

• Your work will be presented to a distinguished Jury and will get international visibility.
• Be a part of the Falling Walls network and interact with a wide range of decision-makers, innovators and emerging talents from all over the world. Join an interdisciplinary community that is committed to bringing down barriers to address common challenges.
• Take your chance to become the Falling Walls Breakthrough of the Year in Art & Science and present your breakthrough work to a global audience on 9 November 2026 on our main stage at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin.
• As Breakthrough of the Year you will get the opportunity to enjoy the Falling Walls Science Summit 2026, a four-day conference with inspiring keynotes, discussions, and exciting pitches. Be part of a community of the most important researchers and thinkers of our time and discuss breakthroughs with global leaders in science, politics, business, and the media.

We will use our expertise and years of experience in science communication to help make your research accessible and engaging to a wide audience, and to highlight its impact on society.

STEP 1 – NOMINATION & APPLICATION

Leading actors in the arts, science and academia worldwide nominate individual artists, scientists or research groups by submitting a nomination form via our online platform by 30 April 2026. Nominated candidates will be contacted directly and asked to submit further details. 

Self-nomination is also accepted.

STEP 2 – 30 SHORTLISTED APPLICANTS

Submissions that meet the standard requirements will be reviewed by the shortlisting jury and the jury chair, using our selection criteria (see below), to determine a list of 30 shortlisted applicants. The shortlist will be announced on our website in mid-June.

STEP 3 – 10 FINALISTS

Our distinguished jury for Art & Science will evaluate all 30 shortlisted applications based on the selection criteria and choose ten finalists. The ten finalists will be announced in mid-August.

STEP 4 – THE FALLING WALLS BREAKTHROUGH OF THE YEAR IN ART & SCIENCE

The respective juries will select the Breakthroughs of the Year from the finalists of each category. On 9 November, the anniversary of the peaceful fall of the Berlin Wall, the Breakthroughs of the Year 2026 will take up the main stage at the Falling Walls Science Summit in Berlin.

We welcome nominations and applications for/from artists whose work is inspired and influenced by science across a wide range of subjects (from the humanities to life sciences, technology and more), which sheds light on societal issues, natural phenomena or simply the wonder of scientific discoveries, and which highlights the unique relationship between these apparently opposite but often highly complementary disciplines. The three selection criteria are:

• Breakthrough Potential: What is special about the project? To what extent does it represent a new approach within the field of contemporary art? To what extent does it critically address societal issues?
• Quality of Research: On what scientific research is the project based? What connection does it maintain to this research?
• Artistic Approach: What is the artistic approach of the project? What were the workings and research processes that led to the work? How have skills or ideas acquired during the process been implemented in the final work?

Each evaluation criterion is considered proportionally. Nominations and Self-nominations will be considered and evaluated within the category, but their potential for interdisciplinary problem-solving will also be assessed. 

Please note that nominated or submitted works must be recent—produced within the last three years—to be considered for the title of Breakthrough of the Year in Art & Science.