Led by the British Council, in partnership with ATÖLYE and Abdullah Gül University in Turkey, Bios in Greece and Nova Iskra in Serbia, Connect for Creativity announced the participants for the Art and Technology Residency Programme that will take place simultaneously in Athens, Belgrade, and Istanbul between 7 October - 16 November 2019.
The project is co-funded by the European Union and the Republic of Turkey through the Intercultural Dialogue programme that is led by Yunus Emre Institute. Throughout the project, Connect for Creativity aims to form a network of creative hubs across Europe to foster creative exploration and collaboration that contributes to building a more cohesive, open and connected civil society.
The Art and Technology Residency Programme will bring together artists from Turkey, the UK, Greece, and Serbia with a focus on the intercultural collaborative experience. The resident designers for the project’s Art and Technology Residency Program was selected from a variety of disciplines such as Architecture, Visual Arts, Performing Arts, Design, Literature, Music, Sound, and Video, Film, and New Media.
Held simultaneously in Athens, Belgrade, and Istanbul, the residency will host four artists in each city from the four participating countries, for a total of 12 participants in the programme. Throughout the immersive six-week programme, participants will explore how a networked culture can develop cohesion to deal with the uncertainty and change that pervades modern life.
Over 250 artists applied for the open call from a variety of disciplines
Over 250 applications were assessed by the project team of representatives from the British Council, ATÖLYE, Nova Iskra, and Bios. The evaluating team shortlisted the most exceptional artists to be reviewed by the project’s UK curatorial team, Furtherfield, who then selected the 12 artists and designers from the four participating countries to be accepted to the program.
12 artists and designers to be hosted by creative hubs in Turkey, Greece, and Serbia
Here are the artists and their host hubs for six-week-long residency: ATÖLYE in Istanbul, Turkey will host Emmy Bacharach from the United Kingdom, Görkem Acaroğlu from Turkey, Georgios Makkas from Greece, and Katarina Popovic from Serbia. Bios in Athens, Greece will host Tamara Kametani from the United Kingdom, Yağmur Uyanık from Turkey, Angelos Papadopoulos from Greece, and Mersid Ramicevic from Serbia. Nova Iskra in the Serbian capital of Belgrade will host Ioana Man from the United Kingdom, Oğuz Emre Bal from Turkey, Theo Prodromidis from Greece, and Sanja Anđelković from Serbia.
Encouraging co-creation and collaboration among artists across locations
The curatorial remit of the residency program aims to foster outcomes that will result in immersive and multimedia-rich artwork, powered by techniques of design research, human-centered design, and speculative design. The artists will be asked to question what hopes and fears are associated with rapidly changing work and living environments in contemporary society, how a networked culture can develop cohesion, and how to deal with uncertainty and change. Participants are also encouraged to collaborate and form teams (within and across locations) to produce works to straddle their own, as well as Furtherfield’s physical, digital and social layers. This works might include a combination of video works, 3D printing, maquettes AR, VR, online artworks, performance and participatory protocols, and temporary structures.
Furtherfield—London’s longest-running space for art and technology
One of the key activities of the project, the final exhibition that is set to take place between 12 March and 19 April 2020, will be curated and hosted by Furtherfield, London’s longest-running space for art and technology. The public exhibition will showcase the work created in the series of art and technology residencies that are set to take place simultaneously in Turkey, Greece, and Serbia.
Furtherfield, founded in 1996, has a reputation for initiating experiments in artistic co-creation across digital and physical networks and continue to invest time and energy in decentralized and distributed peer to peer practices, fostering new projects with artists, and seizing and challenging debates about the role of art and technology in society. Furtherfield also advocates open and playful engagement with people and their technologies, encapsulated in the process of ‘doing it with others’ (DIWO).
A selection of works to be exhibited in the art and technology space Furtherfield in London
The resident designers will develop their works in response to the curatorial statement created by the program's curatorial team, through their own perspective and practice. The final works will be showcased at each residency location at the end of the program for two weeks. Also as part of the Connect for Creativity project, an exhibition is to take place between 12 March - 19 April 2020 at Furtherfield, London’s longest-running (de)centre for art and technology. Selected works from the resident artists and designers will get the chance to be featured in a final exhibition in London.