Call for Artists: STARTS EC(H)O Residency Programme

STARTS EC(H)O is a project launched as part of the S+T+ARTS initiative with the objective of promoting ecologically conscious and human-compatible digital technology. Through this initiative, they aim to drive the triple transformation – social, green, and digital – by supporting artists in developing innovative solutions that blend art, science, and technology.

The STARTS EC(H)O Residency Programme offers selected artists the opportunity to participate in a 13-month residency starting from December 2024. During the residency, artists will receive funding, guidance, access to experts, and participation in various events aimed at accelerating the impact of their projects.

This open call offers 10 residency opportunities hosted in Germany, Austria, and France. Each Residency Host Institution has defined specific challenges in collaboration with the STARTS EC(H)O Consortium. Artists are invited to submit project proposals that respond to these challenges, addressing various areas of innovation.

Innovation Areas

• Data Simulation & Visualisation – utilizing advanced algorithms and technologies to simulate and visually represent complex datasets for improved analysis and decision-making.
• High-Performance Computing – leveraging powerful computing systems to process vast amounts of data quickly and efficiently, enabling complex calculations and simulations.
• (Urban) Digital Twins – creating digital replicas of physical environments or systems, such as cities, to monitor, analyse, and optimize their performance in real-time.
• Clean Tech/Circular Economy – developing innovative solutions and practices to minimize waste, reduce environmental impact, and promote the efficient use of resources.
• Artificial Intelligence – harnessing algorithms and machine learning techniques to automate tasks, make predictions, and derive insights from data in various domains.
• Bio and Life Sciences & Medical Technologies – research and technologies in biology, life sciences, and medical fields to understand biological systems, develop medical treatments, and improve human health and well-being.

By providing free access to highly resource-intensive technologies, the residency hosts will empower the residents to develop unique new solutions and maximize their impact.

Challenges

• Challenge 1: Modelling the Mind
  • Understanding the human mind, how they perceive, think, feel and act, has implications extending from treatment of cognitive disorders to aspects of education, democracy, economics and many other facets of society. It may also lead to the development of intelligent machines with more human-like behaviour. At TU Dresden, scientists strive to construct models of the mind, by combining empirical psychology and phenomenology with immersive simulation, brain scanning and computational modelling.
    • Country: Germany
    • Residency Hosting Institution: TUD –  Dresden University of Technology
    • Innovation areas:
      • Data Visualisation & Simulation.
      • Bio and Life Science & Medical Technologies;
      • Urban Digital Twins
• Challenge 2: Exploring Human – AI Relationships 
  • The emergence of artificial intelligence and autonomous robots has profound implications in many dimensions of society.
  • The emergence of artificial intelligence raises many questions about the manner ones perceive and understand “other minds”. With what kinds of artificial systems can one enjoy inter-subjective relationships? What are the necessary and sufficient ingredients for something to appear alive, intelligent or sentient? What kinds of relationships will be possible with intelligences entirely alien to the own? To what degree must artificial beings and minds be made “in the likeness” if one are to enjoy meaningful relationships with them? Is inter-subjective understanding predicated on anthropomorphization?
    • Country: Germany
    • Residency Hosting Institution: TUD Dresden University of Technology
    • Innovation areas:
      • Artificial Intelligence;
      • Data Visualisation & Simulation;
      • Bio and Life Science & Medical Technologies.
• Challenge 3: Exploring the Physics of Life 
  • Can one understand the biological processes underlying living systems? Can one build computational models of living biological matter? Can one identify the laws that underlie the spatiotemporal organization of life into molecules, cells and tissues? In other words, can one build a physics of life? This is the grand challenge occupying the many scientists that make up the TU Dresden Physics of Life excellence cluster. https://physics-of-life.tu-dresden.de/ This domain presents a captivating and interdisciplinary research landscape, spanning biological and life sciences, medical technology, data visualisation and simulation, and high-performance computing.
    • Country: Germany
    • Residency Hosting Institution: TUD – Dresden University of Technology
    • Innovation areas: 
      • Life Science & Medical Technologies;
      • Data Visualization & Simulation;
      • High-Performance Computing.
• Challenge 4: European Space Policy in the Age of Sustainability 
  • The era of the ISS as the only permanent inhabited orbital outpost is coming to an end and competition, between states and private entities, is on the rise. If Europe is to increase its existing exploration program including the areas of Low Earth Orbit space stations, human presence on the Moon and Mars or even the search for life in the universe, how does it differentiate itself from other global space powers?
  • This residency aims to explore opportunities to harness the technologies developed for these space activities and apply them for the benefit of people and planet Earth itself.
    • Country: Austria
    • Residency Hosting Institution: ESPI
    • Innovation areas: 
      • Bio & Life Sciences & Medical Technologies.
• Challenge 5: Virtual Représentations of Users 
  • Metaverse and spatial computing are other words for collaborative virtual environments enriched with data from the real world or the internet, simulations or experiments. But how are they represented there? What are the biases and challenges users faced by using the technologies to build their identity in virtual environments? Using the opportunity to work with the visualization software COVISE that allows users to explore three-dimensional scientific datasets in VR and AR with other users who can join the session remotely, the residency artist is invited to examine creative potential of technologies and reflect on those pressing questions.
    • Country: Germany
    • Residency Hosting Institution: MSC & HLRS
    • Innovation areas:
      • Data Visualization & Simulation.
• Challenge 6: Technical / technological solutions inspired by nature 
  • How can technical solutions be inspired by nature and benefit from biological systems?
  • How much abstraction is needed for biological imitation?  Using the advantages of high-performance computing and its ability to simulate those processes in the digital environment, the artist is invited to explore phenomenons of nature and their uptake to technological challenges in other fields of application. Technological solutions e.g. in aerodynamics might be inspired by investigation of biology. In this sense, the shape and movement of leaves or seeds being distributed by wind could be taken as a basis for novel approaches in aviation or wind turbines.
    • Country: Germany
    • Residency Hosting Institution: MSC & HLRS
    • Innovation areas:
      • High-Performance Computing;
      • Data Visualization & Simulation.
• Challenge 7:  Transforming Logs into Visual Narratives 
  • How can the artistic thinking contribute to bridging the human-AI divide and driving progress towards beneficial and trustworthy AI? They seek creative contributions that redefine the interaction with and understanding of HPC system logs, focusing on anomalies, energy consumption, and cybersecurity incidents. Contributions could aim to refine real-time visualizations on metric monitoring dashboards and employ VR/AR to represent live metrics in more insightful and user-friendly ways.
  • High-Performance Computing (HPC) systems, at the forefront of computational advancements, are now critical for diverse communities in artificial intelligence and quantum computing. However, the complexity and immense volume of data generated by HPC systems, such as system logs, present unique operational challenges in areas like anomaly detection, energy consumption, and cybersecurity incidents. What insights could one gain by reimagining their interaction with data from these complex systems through an artistic lens? How might creativity help bridge the divide between humans and AI, moving ones toward more beneficial and trustworthy artificial intelligence? How can one enhance real-time visualizations for metric monitoring dashboards by using virtual and augmented reality to create engaging and accessible experiences for users in an insightful manner?
    • Country: Germany
    • Residency Hosting Institution: MSC & HLRS
    • Innovation areas: 
      • Artificial Intelligence;
      • High-Performance Computing;
      • Data Visualization & Simulation.
• Challenge 8: Urban Digital Twins for the Salzburg Festival
  • During the last decades, a variety of digital tools have been developed to support both the planning and management of cities, as well as the inclusion of civic society. Stakeholders, planners and citizens each have their own, often diverging needs and expectations. Digital Twins serve as a bridge between these interest groups since they, along with being a powerful tool for designing and prototyping, are useful for conveying information and thus creating a mutual understanding. For this challenge, the residency artist is invited to experiment with approaches for Digital Twins for buildings and their visualization. The Salzburg Festival use case is a unique opportunity to develop a prototype and novel vision for the utilization a Digital Twin to support improved planning processes and collaboration.
    • Country: Germany & Austria
    • Residency Hosting Institution: MSC & HLRS & SFS
    • Innovation areas: 
      • Urban Digital Twins;
      • Data Visualization & Simulation;
      • High-Performance Computing.
• Challenge 9: Cultural Heritage through New Technologies 
  • The Salzburg Festival has a long-standing tradition. Over the past 100 years, the organisation has amassed a treasure trove of event related materials, making it one of the most interesting theatre archives in Austria. Now it presents a new arena for further experimentation with emerging technologies. What novel and intriguing opportunities arise from the diverse applications of digital technologies in working with cultural heritage? How can data visualization and AI tools be used in innovative ways to enhance the understanding of historically relevant scenarios? Additionally, how can archives serve as a source for new creative endeavours?
    • Country: Austria
    • Residency Hosting Institution: SFS & AE
    • Innovation areas:
      • Data Visualisation & Simulation;
      • Artificial Intelligence.
• Challenge 10: Reconnecting to the territory 
  • The United Nations’ Agenda 2030 for Sustainable Development sets out the local and global challenges facing humanity in a perspective of necessary transformation towards sustainable development. It is in line with the philosophy of the “commons” and supports the collective management of landscapes and natural resources.
  • The residency will therefor engage in a reflection on the notions of socio-ecosystem and landscape, in a logic of reappropriation of (or reconnection to) natural and cultural spaces, by encouraging and nurturing connections with the living and its dynamics and processes (soils regeneration, wind, temperature, luminosity). Combining the fields of bio-construction, digital technology, art and heritage (cultural and natural).
    • Country: France
    • Residency Hosting Institution: FTGP & AU
    • Innovation areas: 
      • Clean Tech/Circular Economy;
      • Bio and Life Science & Medical Technologies;
      • Artificial Intelligence.

What do they offer?

• Up to 40.000 EUR budget for artists residencies to cover the project;
• Guidance and support by the STARTS EC(H)O Residency Host Institutions;
• Access to experts provided by the STARTS EC(H)O Consortium;
• An incubation programme (M1-M13) to support the residency teams in kickstarting the pilots and nurturing them to accelerate their impact. The program will consist of 8-10 shared training & peer exchange sessions throughout the piloting period, about 24 overall hours of individual mentoring (support by email included) according to artists’ needs, and a STARTS impact accelerator workshop at the end of the residency cycle;
• An impact assessment (M4-M13) to evaluate the potential impact of the new and innovative ideas, scenarios and prototypes developed. For this, an hour-long interview (online, recorded and transcribed) will be run with the selected artists at the beginning and at the end of their residency to discuss their expectations and expected impacts. These interviews will not be made public and will not be used for dissemination or communication purposes.

Expected Outputs

• They encourage applicants to enhance and maximise their participation and contribution to the Residency Programme, with the understanding that financial support is directly linked with the activities related to the expected outputs mentioned below:
  • Producing a presentable and art-driven innovation output addressing the chosen challenge, in the form of an artwork or a functional or speculative artistic prototype;
  • Providing (at the beginning of the residency) a descriptive abstract of the art-driven innovation output and a development plan describing the objectives, actions, timetable and setup necessary for implementing it;
  • Participating in and co-organising online or on-site local/ national events, masterclasses, and seminars to (i) share the experience in participating in the STARTS EC(H)O Residency program; (ii) ensure the promotion of the residency results. Artists are encouraged to foresee active dissemination activities for their projects, eg. at local masterclasses or international conferences. For this, costs linked to these dissemination activities are eligible and should be foreseen in the budget.
  • Actively participate in the dissemination and communication efforts of the Residency, sharing posts on social media, producing articles to be shared on websites (such as starts.eu), participating in written/audio/video interviews;
  • Contributing to the Impact Assessment Analysis undertaken by STARTS EC(H)O Consortium and the Residency Host Institutions. An hour-long interview (online, recorded and transcribed) will be run with the selected artists at the beginning and at the end of their residency to discuss their expectations and expected impacts. These interviews will not be made public and will not be used for dissemination or communication purposes.

Eligibility Criteria

• Applicants must be individual artists, collectives, or self-employed individuals engaged in artistic activities.
• Citizenship or permanent residency in eligible countries.
• Demonstration of artistic experience through previous artwork.
• Adherence to call requirements and ethical standards.
• The natural persons who act as artists must be citizens or permanent residents in any of the eligible countries mentioned below:
  • The Member States of the European Union and its Overseas Countries and Territories (OCT) or
  • Associated Countries to Horizon Europe.
• The project and applicant cannot have conflicts of interest with the consortium or its partners and their ethical standards. The artist must not be affiliated with any of the STARTS EC(H)O Consortium partners and Associated Partners, their affiliated entities, employees and permanent collaborators.
• The applicant must have produced enough artwork (at least one) to have their artistic experience assessed. The artist must share evidence for artwork reference as part of their portfolio. Previous experience with art-tech experimentation projects will be valued but does not represent a condition for participation.
• The applicant cannot receive more than one S+T+ARTS residency grant in 2024 or 2025 (but can have both STARTS Prize and STARTS residency, but no more than one running STARTS residency).
• The applicant must not be under liquidation or are an enterprise under difficulty according to the Commission Regulation No 651/2014, art. 2.185, or that are excluded from the possibility of obtaining EU funding under the provisions of both national and EU law, or by a decision of either national or EU authority.
• They encourage artists being in the process of obtaining their PhD to submit a proposal related to their research topic and consider the residency project as a part of the wider research context. Please, if applicable, reflect on it and provide some information in your application.
• Submitted the application forms filled in correctly, with all required fields completed, respecting the pages or number of characters limit and on time – online and in the English language.
• The proposed project is new, meaning:
  • The project has received no major EU funding;
  • The project has been running for less than six months at the time of submission or is significantly re-developed.

Conditions

• Artists may submit more than one proposal (up to 2 proposals maximum – for different challenges).
• Selected artists must commit to take part in the incubation program.
• Applicants must demonstrate a clear objective & offer for the S+T+ARTS collaborative practice and foresee participation in the collaboration program (e.g. co-creation weeks);
• Explain a clear European dimension and contribution to European policies (such as European Green Deal, New European Bauhaus, Trustworthy AI);
• Agreed with the granting of rights form along with their application (accepting the open call rules & confirm the IP is 100% owned by the submitter), including the confirmation of key RRI concerns and open research approaches.

For more information, visit STARTS.