FUTURE OF WATER

Call for proposals

Science Gallery at Trinity College, Dublin, Ireland, is
seeking proposals for an upcoming major exhibition and
series of workshops and events on the theme FUTURE OF WATER.

Call opens: Friday 17 June 2011

Call closes: Friday 15 July 2011

Exhibition duration: 20 October 2011 – 20 January 2012

See: http://www.sciencegallery.com/futureofwater

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Calling all armchair hydrologists, liquid artists, part-time
diviners, fluid technologists and steamy scientists! This
October Science Gallery asks ‘what is the future of water?’.
This theme will form the basis for a major exhibition and
series of events at the Science Gallery, to run from October
2011 till January 2012.

Water is a potentially all-encompassing theme – from the
amazing physical properties of water, to its destructive and
life-giving power in nature, and its role in both human
development and conflict. It flows through us, as blood,
sweat and tears. It is venerated, coveted, spoiled and
fought over. It has as many meanings and functions as it has
physical forms; we regularly encounter water as liquid,
solid and vapour. Water can be soothing, an instrument of
healing, accelerated through water cannon as a weapon, or
used to cut rock and metal. One billion people lack access
to it in its most valuable form, as clean drinking water.
Clean water is running out – and around the world it is used
as a weapon of power and a tool in political conflict.

What innovations might help us to acquire new sources of
water, or help us to conserve it? What is our relationship
to water? What will a water-scarce future look like? What
creative ways are there of envisaging this? With Dublin
facing likely water shortages in the coming decades, the
exhibition could help audiences to inform and involve
themselves in the complex global and local issues around
water, and the choices this city is likely to face in the
near future. How can the works on exhibition link the local
to the global?

The exhibition will include existing and proposed
innovations and inventions around water, artworks on the
theme of water, and artifacts that reveal the different ways
in which water is used and perceived of. The exhibition will
extend beyond the gallery through workshops, events and
off-site projects. Alongside artwork, designed objects and
documentary artifacts, FUTURE OF WATER will include special
live performances, innovative installations, unique physical
and mental experiences, high-profile talks, discussions and
debates, web-focused interactions, games and collaborative
experience.

We invite proposals that look at the cultural and social
aspects of water, at the relationship of first world to
developing world, at narratives of the future, designed
objects and systems for water, provocative inquiries into
water as a commodity versus a common good, water as energy,
‘virtual water’, and water in the city. Proposals might play
on the bodies of water in and around Dublin, as well as
internationally, and may make use of the distinctive
architecture of Science Gallery, for example its glass
façade onto Pearse Street. For images of Science Gallery’s
layout and architecture, please see
http://www.sciencegallery.com/hire

Science Gallery welcomes proposals for both existing and new
work from artists, designers, engineers, scientists and
everyone in between, from any country, in any and all media.

Submitted projects will be evaluated on criteria including:
relevance to the theme (FUTURE OF WATER), science and
technology interest, artistic interest, potential to engage
a broad public with the exhibition theme, track record of
the participants, costs, and ability to deliver the project.

Each project needs to delivered within a maximum budget of
up to €7,000, however a higher budget may be made available
in exceptional circumstances. Previously, many participating
artists have secured financial support from local arts and
government sources or other funding bodies. Science Gallery
is happy to help with letters of support if needed.

We are also looking for digital proposals. If your idea is a
web-based or mobile phone application, or can be reworked
digitally, then let us know.

Submissions must be received no later than Friday 15 July
2011 to be considered for inclusion. Science Gallery will
contact those selected for inclusion by 1 August 2011.

To submit your proposal and find more information please use
the form on the FUTURE OF WATER website at
http://www.sciencegallery.com/futureofwater

Please feel free to forward this e-mail and link to other
forums and individuals, and do please contact us at
ralph.borland@sciencegallery.com if you would like to
suggest projects or people for the exhibition.

FUTURE OF WATER at Science Gallery is part of a larger
3-year international project, StudioLab, funded under the
Framework 7 programme, with partners including Harvard
University’s Idea Translation Lab, Media Lab Prado, Ars
Electronica, the Royal College of Art, London and Le
Laboratoire, Paris.

JOYCE HINTERDING & DAVID HAINES RESIDENCY + WORKSHOP

 

+ WIRED EARS Funding Opportunity for emerging artists…

 

Throughout June our first residents for 2011 will be the widely recognised and awarded contemporary Australian artists Joyce Hinterding and David Haines. During their residency Hinterding and Haines’s will be taking advantage of the Winter Solstice and the big night skies at The WIRED Lab to expand upon their ‘EarthStar’ work.  The absence of manmade light, sound and minimal electromagnetic interference at The WIRED Lab will provide the ideal opportunity to photograph and listen to the stars, space and the sun. For more information about Hinterding and Haines’s work go to:   http://www.sunvalleyresearch.net/

 

‘FIELDS OF FREQUENCY’ WORKSHOP FOR ARTISTS

On Saturday 16th  & Sunday 17th July Hinterding and Haines will be returning to The WIRED Lab to facilitate the ‘Fields of Frequency’ workshop. The Wired Lab provides a unique opportunity to step into space, and consider how the very physical phenomena of sound, experienced through the long-wire installations, is mirrored and extends into the massless space of the electromagnetic environment.

 

‘Fields of Frequency’ will explore the concept of listening into and looking through selected frequency  ranges, or bandwidths with home-made, custom made  and amateur  devices  designed  for artistic  and real time performative outcomes. This approach will begin by looking directly into the sun through the H-alpha frequency -656.28 nm (6563 Angstroms) and opening up the possibility for basic wide field astrophotography (weather permitting).  Listening to the VLF  (3 KHz to 30 KHz), the Very Low Frequency range of the spectrum which is dominated by solar noise and the effects of the solar winds on our atmosphere and Tracking and Receiving LEO (Low Elevation Orbit) weather satellites equipped with automatic picture transmitters that transmit between (137-138 MHz) on wide band FM.

 

The workshop will proceed by looking into the varied approaches that people take to building photographic rigs, receiving systems and antenna, in order to conduct some of our own experiments and make recordings and images on site.

 

As our urban and home environments are becoming increasingly saturated by energised frequencies and we become aware that the real estate of the electromagnetic spectrum is being sold to the highest bidder, Hinterding and Haines would like to open up the window of experience into this universe through some simple principles and basic equipment.

FINANCIAL SUPPORT FOR ARTISTS: WIRED EARS

(EMERGING ARTISTS RESIDENCY SCHEME)
The WIRED EAR Scheme provides financial assistance for young and emerging artists to attend selected WIRED Lab workshops. For the ‘Fields of Frequency’ workshop we will be offering funding support of between $100 – $250 to assist 12 emerging artists with the costs to attend the workshop. Artists who consider themselves to be ‘emerging’ are invited to submit a brief expression of interest (EOI) detailing their arts practice and how they feel they will benefit from being a WIRED EARS participant.

 

On your EOI please cite the amount of financial assistance you will require and keep your EOI to 1 A4 page. Also note that we don’t follow standard industry definitions of ‘young and emerging’ we expect you to determine where you place your practice and experience.
WIRED EARS expressions of interest are due on FRIDAY 1ST JULY

 

WORKSHOP DETAILS
Saturday 16th & Sunday 17th July
The workshop is offered for free to 20 participants, 12 of these places are reserved for WIRED EARS participants.  Held over two days, the workshop will include:

* VLF Building, astrophotography and satellite tracking.
* Permanent WIRED Lab residents Sarah Last & Dave Burraston will demonstrate the wire installations and discuss observations.

* Materials will be provided by the Wired Lab, please BYO recording and portable audio equipment.

* Lunch will be provided by the Wired Lab.

 

NOTE: workshop places are strictly limited, with a maximum capacity of 25 people. Places will need to be reserved ASAP, with bookings on a 1st come 1st served basis. Further information about the location of The Wired Lab and travel information can be found in this blog post
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REMEMBER: this workshop has ***limited availability***
This is primarily for logistical reasons; BUT NOTE we host many workshops and an open day, so if you miss out this time there will be opportunity for many more people to get WIRED in the future.

Any further questions?
Please email Sarah at: info@wiredlab.org

 

Call for professional collaborators

FIELD_NOTES – Cultivating Ground

Kilpisjärvi Biological Station in Kilpisjärvi/ Lapland/ Finland.

26. September – 2. October 2011

 

Deadline 30th of June 2011

 

Organized by the Finnish Bioart Society in the context of the Ars

Bioarctica project together with the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station.

 

” Field_Notes – Cultivating Grounds” is a week long field laboratory for

theory and practice on art&science work at the Kilpisjärvi Biological

Station of the University of Helsinki in Lapland. Five working groups,

each hosted by an expert (Oron Catts, Marta de Menezes, Anu Osva, Tapio

Makela and Terike Haapoja) together with a team of four, will develop,

test and evaluate specific artistic approaches based on the interplay of

art&science. The outcome of Field_Notes will result in a publication

published by the Finnish Bioart Society in 2012.

 

We warmly welcome artists, scientists and practitioners to participate

and contribute to the development of the field.

 

—

 

“Cultivating Ground” refers to the intention of Field_Notes to develop

and strengthen art&science practice with a specific focus on the

locality of Kilpisjärvi. The local nature and ecology, as well as the

scientific environment and infrastructure of the Kilpisjärvi Biological

Station will act as a catalyst for the field work carried out.

 

Field work is an activity referring to the collection of raw data.

Fieldwork is something what one does locally on the field and about the

field. It is a form of practice which cannot be done elsewhere. However

it is not opposite of theoretical work, but a crucial component of it.

One could say that the fieldwork keeps one close to the research topic.

A very similar type of practice is inherent in the arts. This is

specifically apparent with art forms that aim at creating awareness,

mobilizing the public, and working locally with people in their

environment. In these kinds of practices the artistic research,

production and implementation are happening in the field, close to the

topics and to the public the artist wants to reach.

 

Practitioners, in both art and science, repeatedly argue that their

disciplines loose touch with the actual research subject or topic while

the focus is directed on lab work or gallery presentation. Field_Notes

aims to investigate and point out the importance of field work in

art&science. The fields where Field_Notes will be carried out

specifically are the subarctic nature, ecology and landscape, the lab,

the workshop, the study, the infosphere and the Field_Notes working

groups as such.

 

—

 

Groups, hosts and fields:

 

* Exploring the biological milieu – in search of substrates at the

sub-Arctic – hosted by Oron Catts

– in the sub-Arctic nature, in the lab and in the study

There is a growing realisation among biologist that the substrate plays

an important role in biological processes such as cell differentiation

and development. Some argue that the Extracellular matrix (ECM) and the

milieu are more significant than DNA in the development and processes of

complex organisms. This is a major shift from the reductionist

privileging of the database (the genome) towards a more complex

application of context as a major driver in engaging with our

understanding of life. We will collect materials form Kilpisjärvi and to

try and transform them into different types of substrates/biomaterials

for tissue growth, as an opening for a broader exploration concerning

the cultural importance of the biological milieu.

 

* Body/ Nature relationship – hosted by Marta de Menezes

– in the sub-Arctic nature, in the lab and in the study

The Body/Nature connection refers to nature as a body, something akin to

an organism, but also to the body, our body as a sensor, part of nature

and immersed in it: an interface with the rest of nature connecting us,

linking us and transforming our relation to it. This relation, this

communication is part of what defines us as humans, as animals and as

natural. This group will try to explore the possibilities of

manipulating life, nature and our own nature to express awareness and

concepts close to the idea of nature’s identity and our own in present

times.

 

* Arctic Waters – hosted by Anu Osva

– in the sub-Arctic nature, in the lab and in the study

Kilpisjärvi is an important site for research on Arctic freshwater

ecosystems. During the last few years also Finnish artists have been

involved with water ecosystem research in Kilpisjärvi, with a focus on

phytoplankton and water fleas. The group will focus on the topic of

Arctic waters through artistic, anthropological, ecological,

philosophical, geophysical and other relevant tools. It will also

reflect and process previously collected raw data, experiences and

workshop methodologies achieved during the Arctic Waters workshop held

earlier this summer. Special attention will be given to collaborative

artist and scientist lead field work in nature.

 

* Politics and affect of environmental computing – hosted by Tapio

Mäkelä

– in the workshop, sub-Arctic nature and amongst data sets.

Politics and affect of environmental computing looks at how researchers

and artists work with environmental data in the field and how it is post

produced to info graphics as well as into affective interfaces. What

kind of a sense and sensibility informs the data gatherer that connects

the information with a living environment? How can such contextual and

tacit experience be carried over alongside with the data? Artists,

activists and researchers are invited to bring along different kits for

sensing environmental data, yet more importantly, to engage in a field

and file note-taking experience of writing a mind map around how to make

data something to be felt. Is there perhaps a way in which affect of

environmental data may also become more political, an agent for change?

 

* Laboratory Life – hosted by Terike Haapoja

– amongst the working groups and in the study

The laboratory life group does research on all the other groups. The

group will disguise itself in the form of anthropologists in order to

look at how art&science projects on the field are created. The aim is to

critically look at the methods and practices of the field and to see

whether there are ethical or aesthetic questions specific to local

practices. The group uses the tools of ecocritisism, philosophy of

science, art history, interviews and documentation.

 

—

 

During one week the groups will organize themselves in working groups,

think tanks and workshops. They will carry out their work in the related

field environment as well as have common activities of lectures,

presentations and feedback sessions. Expected results include abstracts,

code, collaborations, data, documentation, future workshops, hardware,

ideas, knowledge, photos, presentations, prototypes, skills, sounds,

projects, videos etc. The languages used are Finnish and English

 

More information can bee found at http://bioartsociety.fi

 

—

 

We are looking for 20 artists, scientists and practitioners, which are

interested to develop, collaborate and work in one of the groups.

 

Please send your application including CV, Biography, group preference

and a max A4 letter of motivation and/or direction of possible

Field_Notes research/contribution to erich.berger@bioartsociety.fi

 

Deadline is the 30th of June 2011.

 

For the chosen collaborators Field_Notes will take care about the

expenses for a journey from Helsinki to Kilpisjärvi and back, as well as

full board and accommodation at the Kilpisjärvi Biological Station.

 

Best regards

 

Field_Notes executive team: Erich Berger and Terike Haapoja

 

Field_Notes advisory board: Laura Beloff, Prof. Antero Järvinen, Anu

Osva, Antti Tenetz, Leena Valkeapää