2022 Open Call
Call opens: 16th March 2022
Call closes: 25th April 2022
Results by: End of May, 2022
Start of residency: September 2022
BIFOLD (Berlin Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data) and Science Gallery at Technische Universität Berlin (TU) are excited to announce the new artist-in-residence program Kunst der Verschränkung. The residency seeks to entangle artistic and scientific perspectives by bringing an artist into the realm of cutting-edge research in the fields of artificial intelligence (AI) and the relation between big data management and machine learning. The chosen artist* will be provided the opportunity to realize an artistic project as an artist-in-residence at BIFOLD, the preeminent center for artificial intelligence and big data in Berlin.
We are looking for an artist based in Berlin who has the capacity to dive into BIFOLD’s research fields, have engaging discussions with scientists and the broader public, and who aims at creating an inspiring, insightful, and innovative new artwork.
*We welcome applications from artists who work individually, in teams or in small collectives (≤5 people).
About BIFOLD and the Research Themes for this Residency
BIFOLD was formed in 2019 from the merger of two national Artificial Intelligence competence centers dealing with two pillars in the development of AI: big data management and machine learning. Their entanglement is central to BIFOLD and its endeavors to create new infrastructures and tools, to address open questions in diverse disciplines as well as to develop approaches for explainable AI. As such, BIFOLD explores the application of AI in the fields of digital humanities, physics, chemistry, medicine and remote sensing. While scientific knowledge and the potential of new technologies is growing, societal, cultural, and artistic reflections on these areas may provide an enriching case for their critical and further development.
Kunst der Verschränkung thus seeks to examine cutting-edge technical and technological developments through artistic perspectives. These perspectives may shed light not only on how AI systems are implemented in problem solving, but how they may equally subvert or highlight asymmetries and inequities found in various large-scale systems that drive society. The residency program thus provides a framework to explore the role of the artist, art and culture in the rapidly developing wave of innovation in AI, and to reflect on the status of the interaction between implicit (tacit) and explicit knowledge in an artistic praxis in the post-digital age.
The implications for big data and its management and analysis through machine learning is at the heart of the residency. This is exemplified through the core focus of BIFOLD’s various research groups and labs. We thus expect the chosen artist to actively interface with the research expertise currently developed at BIFOLD.
The scientists at BIFOLD work in an interdisciplinary context and across research groups and labs, developing and curating an ever-growing collection of shared datasets. We envision that the artist-in-residence will tap into this growing knowledge ecosystem and further their own artistic research by sharing their motivations for such science + art collaborations as well as the results from their cross-disciplinary discussions.
Further Details about the Residency and Artwork Presentation
The winning artist will be invited for a residency at BIFOLD between September 2022 until the expected presentation of the artwork in February 2023. The artist will be informed by the end of May about the results of the selection process. They will be supported by local facilitators and will be working with curator Dr. Claudia Schnugg throughout the process of the residency leading up to the exhibition or final presentation of the artwork in Berlin in February 2023.
The residency proper starts in September 2022. We anticipate offering an introduction and initial working contact in summer 2022 depending on the artist’s availability. At the start of the residency, the artist will be invited to give a presentation of their work and proposed project or project themes at a BIFOLD research symposium. During the residency, the artist is expected to collaborate on research topics of BIFOLD, reflect on their artistic praxis, and engage with the PhD students at BIFOLD’s Graduate School.
The artwork realized during the residency will be presented and exhibited by Science Gallery at TU Berlin and BIFOLD starting in February 2023.
Budget for the Residency
The winning artist will be awarded a gross total of 30.000 EUR that covers an artist fee, time spent at BIFOLD, fees for presentations and workshops during the residency phase, all expenses for materials, and production costs for the artwork. The payment will be facilitated through three installments.
What to Submit
In the application we ask you to provide the following:
1. Your Project's Title
2. Briefly describe your artistic practice and your motivations for applying for this residency (400 words)
3. How might your artistic practice intersect with, or complement the research themes at BIFOLD? (300 words)
4. Please explain your idea/theme for the residency and how you will collaborate with BIFOLD researchers and PhD students (400 words)
5. Have you collaborated with scientists previously? If so, where, and to what extent? (200 words)
We also ask you to upload the following:
· A portfolio in PDF format (10MB max). The portfolio should include images, links to existing websites, catalogues, or video sites hosting your work.
· A curriculum vitae including, where relevant, details of qualifications, previous exhibitions, participation in residency programs, public engagement activities, and workshops held.
· A budget plan that includes a breakdown of your artist fee and projected production costs.
Criteria
· Quality of project idea and previous work shown in portfolio
· Demonstration of meaningful connection with (and interest in responding to) the key research themes as presented above
· Commitment to creating an output of the residency for exhibition in early 2023
· Aesthetics, originality of ideas and quality of proposed artistic approach to the theme
· Interest in working collaboratively and an active exchange with the scientists at BIFOLD
· Interest in engaging with the PhD students at BIFOLD and Science Gallery Berlin’s core audience of 15-28 year olds
· A demonstrated capacity to implement the proposed idea within the designated budget
Jury
The winning artist will be selected by a jury which will include:
· Two representatives of BIFOLD
· Two representatives of Science Gallery Berlin
· The curator of the residency
· One external science-art expert
The Jury’s decision will be final. The name of the winning artist will be published on the Science Gallery Berlin, Science Gallery International, TU Berlin and BIFOLD website.
Support
The artist-in-residence program Kunst der Verschränkung is being realized in collaboration between BIFOLD and Science Gallery at TU Berlin. BIFOLD is generously supported by the Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) and Senatskanzlei Wissenschaft und Forschung Berlin.