for an artist to explore research in microbiology

The Austrian Centre of Industrial Biotechnology (acib) is pleased to announce this first open call for the ARTcib SciArt Residency at three academic partners of the acib academic partner network. With this open call we 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 we 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.

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
• All fees and budgets are fixed. All mentioned costs, fees, and budgets will be divided in case of team applications. For example, in case you are applying as a team of two artists, the artist fee will be the fee for the team, both artists’ travels will be supported by the available travel and accommodation budget, and the production budget needs to be calculated for the joint work. We welcome applications of individual artists and can host up to three team members in a residency.

How to apply

Your application should have a single PDF file (maximum 5 MB in size) with the following sections:

Curriculum vitae (please include):

• personal information (such as first name, birth date, and city/country of residence, contact details)
• a short biography or artist statement
• details of qualification, work experience (such as previous exhibitions, residencies)
• potential previous art-science collaborations, and
• potential links to webpage and social media.

Project proposal:

• Introductory motivation letter highlighting your interest in the theme and scientific research, and potential connection to your artistic practice (up to 500 words),
• Main project proposal presenting your envisioned artistic project, detailing goals and contribution to the discourse as described in the curatorial brief and scientific description, your envisioned artistic research process, and approach to your process with the scientists. Please keep eligibility and selection criteria in mind while writing this proposal (up to 1000 words).

Artistic portfolio:

• please focus on highlights of your artistic production and relevant previous works (artscience collaboration, works in a similar field as advertised in this residency, etc.)
• please include links to material available online (e.g., webpages for more detailed impression of the works, links to videos and exhibitions).
• Only submissions including all three sections are eligible in the jury process.

A submission to this call will automatically imply acceptance of the outlined terms and conditions.
In case of any further questions, you can contact us via email at @email
Send your PDF file to the email address @email.