Open Call ARTcib SciArt Residency Program

With this open call they aim at opening up the academic as well as industry-related research at acib to a dialogue with artists and to push the boundaries of the inter- and transdisciplinary discourse in the field.

In this first ARTcib SciArt Residency they invite an artist to explore the research at three research groups in microbiology, focusing on the role of yeasts as transformative agents, the potential of self-sustaining systems concerning carbon and nutrient cycles, and computational modeling of organisms and such settings in the context of an ongoing artistic discourse with respect to space art.

The residency will take place in Vienna with a minimum of 8 weeks on-site with the scientists at three different universities. The on-site residency period will take place between summer 2024 and early spring 2025 and can be divided into several shorter visits. Additionally, the residency will be supported in a hybrid format with online sessions between the on-site visits. The residency start will take place on-site.

The first phase of the residency will be dedicated to artistic research, exploration, and artscience collaboration, including potential hands-on work in the laboratories, a joint artistic experiment, and dedicated work with the scientific partners working on computational models. The second phase of the residency will focus on the definition of an original, leading-edge artwork and its production. In summer 2025, the artwork will be exhibited as part of a highly visible, international group show.

Curatorial Brief

• Space has inspired societies, art, and science alike. Visions of space and space travel inspire such creative work to envision societies that live in space, cope with the extreme environments in space travel or in potential habitats in outer space. Art, design, architecture, technology development, science, and cultural engagement meet to lead a critical discourse and propose specific approaches. Tests of equipment and technologies developed for space often happen in harsh places on Earth in analogue missions that might resemble places on far away celestial bodies. At the same time, in the wake of climate change and ecological environments challenged by human activity, scientific and technological developments aim at circular production and creating efficient self-sustaining systems that help to ease pressure on the environment and cope with harsh conditions in a changing world.
• The artificial and the biological often merge in these endeavors, looking at biology to create bio-inspired or bio-driven solutions. One aspect that both artistic and scientific communities investigate it the potential of biological materials and staging biological organisms as transformative agents. In the past decades, fungi and algae took a center stage.

Benefits

• Artist fee € 10,000
• Production budget for the creation of the new artwork up to € 25,000
• Travel and accommodation expenses covered
• In-depth residency phases on site with all three research groups and laboratories at three universities in Vienna which are part of acib, including potential hands-on work, in combination with hybrid phases while the artist is not on site in Vienna, to be scheduled in alignment with the artist’s and scientists’ calendars. The on-site phase will amount to 8-12 weeks that can be planned in several trips
• Access to scientific materials and joint experiments with scientists
• Throughout the residency, the artist will be supported by artscience mediator Sonja Schachinger and curator Dr. Claudia Schnugg
• A highly visible exhibition at the end of the residency, international group exhibition curated by Dr. Claudia Schnugg, envisioned dates May – July 2025

Eligibility Criteria

• The call is open for artists from any country who are at least 18 years old. Artists from any artistic background are welcome to apply, but the envisioned proposal must take into account a dialogue or collaboration with the hosting scientific groups and laboratories, and that the envisioned outcome is to be exhibited after the residency.
• The selection will take place in a jury meeting. The jury consists of five members who will evaluate the submissions based on the following guidelines concerning eligibility and criteria:
  • Capacity: openness and capacity to go into dialogue with diverse groups in the realization of works of artistic excellence,
  • Connection: demonstrate interest in the theme and the scientific host, i.e., a clear link between the artistic proposal for the residency, the curatorial brief, and the research at all three research groups and laboratories
  • Collaboration: the proposal’s potential for raising interesting art-science explorations and meaningful dialogues between the artistic and scientific partners, contributing to their artistic and scientific development, and transdisciplinary experience for the artistic and scientific partners
  • Contribution: relevance of the proposal by showing novelty of ideas, combining unexpected viewpoints, and enter the scientific and cultural discussion as proposed by the open call
  • Feasibility: the proposal’s feasibility, and coherence between the artistic proposal and the artist’s background, scientific environment provided by the scientific hosts, envisioned timeline of the residency, and budget.

For more information, visit acib.