Open Call for Media Art Residency in Creative City Košice

Posted: Wednesday Apr 03, 2019

Košice – the Creative City of Media Arts offers media artists a two-month stay in Košice in autumn 2019. The residency is organized by the NGO Creative Industry Košice – a focal point of UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts, and K.A.I.R. Košice Artist in Residence.

About Košice – UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts

Never a place of the biggest names, insane cashflows or Top 10 Lonely Planet’s places to visit. Some say it’s just the last ten years since Košice changed its mindset, became open to different ideas and started to define itself as rather cool and vivid. A hundred years ago, it was a mere speck of a creative center compared to what defines the city today.

Slovakia’s second city stands firm on its foundation for a bright future. The European Capital of Culture 2013 literally redesigned the cultural infrastructure of the town, spread culture to the suburban areas and formed exquisite places for the exhibition. Diverse bottom-to-up and up-to-bottom locations, emerging galleries displaying young art, active citizenship initiatives, world concerts and over 15 cultural centers piled with interesting people and nutritious talks.

Size-wise, 250.000 thousands of inhabitants are topped by several thousands of those commuting from the rural areas, feeding the city’s buzz. Gone are the days of being known as a steel city. Now with a booming ICT industry and a growing creative sector, Košice has been slowly transforming into a cauldron of culture. Although we wouldn’t dare to guess what one-quarter of a million people here do, one thing we know for sure. The creative and cultural scene here is small but pretty solid and zealous.

In 2017, Košice joined the prestigious UNESCO Creative Cities Network in the field of Media Arts to develop this niche industry on the local level. If you are an artist flirting with an idea to come to Košice – do come in autumn. Last months of the year tend to be most generous for the media arts and digital culture showcase. Starting with White Night, followed by the festivals Moon Ride, Art & Tech Days and DAAVS. All have much to offer for the eligible distinction of the Creative City of Media Arts.

About CIKE & K.A.I.R.

The NGO Creative Industry Košice (CIKE) is a focal point of UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts, which aims to inspire new generations through the interdisciplinary and innovative language of media arts. The organization started as a daring project Interface – European Capital of Culture 2013 and brought a major transformation of the city. One of its key projects was K.A.I.R. Košice Artist in Residence, which started in 2011 and got a stable ground to develop the international activities and network of partners. In 2016 K.A.I.R. became an independent association.

K.A.I.R. is international Artist-in-Residence programme for the artists from all over the world and out of all artistic disciplines and expressions. It is strongly focused on international cooperations between the Slovak and foreign artists and art organizations. Artists have the possibility to work in the inspiring environment of Košice‘s singular cultural surrounding to realize art projects, collaborate with the agile local art scene and present themselves to the local and European public.

Media Arts Residency 2019

This specific residency seeks to create space for a media artist from one of the UNESCO Creative Cities to develop his/her own artistic project. The residency is an opportunity to create a new project or to continue work on something in development by shifting its perspective.

The Open call is limited to the artists who are either born, live or work in any of UNESCO Creative City.

By the end of the residency program, the artist will provide a public exhibition and a final presentation of the work created over the 60-day residency period. The exhibition and presentation will be a part of the international festival of media arts, technology, and digital culture Art & Tech Days.

Topic: Language in the context of arts and technology

The new digital era is changing the use of language and communication. Technologies brought new ways in which humans interact, whether it is through e-mail, social media or instant messaging and these are based on machine languages.

Technology has also influenced art, and programming languages have made an impact on the creation of contemporary art. Many artists incorporated code into their practice. A code is a medium or the „canvas and paint“ of digital artists.

During the residency, the artist should explore the language in the context of art and technology.

An artist can search for answers to questions:

• How computer language establishes the connection between code and art?
• How it enables artists and coders to communicate?
• Aesthetic/artistic language and code are two kinds of language. How they can interact in the media arts?

The deadline to apply for the residency is 22 April 2019.

Timeframe

Open call announcement: 20 March 2019

Deadline for the applications: 22 April 2019

Study visit in Košice (optional): summer 2019

Residential stay in Košice: 23 September – 22 November 2019 (60 days)

APPLICATION for the Košice Creative City of Media Arts Residency <- DOWNLOAD HERE

What we offer

• Scholarship 2000 EURO (gross)
• Covering of transportation costs to and from Košice
• Providing accommodation in Košice
• KAIR Atelier
• A budget for technical production (up to 5000 Euro)
• An opportunity to participate in the art and community life of the city and to promote own work in Košice

Please, send the Application with the attachments by e-mail to kosice@cityofmediaarts.sk.

Deadline for submitting the applications is 22 April 2019, 23:59 (CEST)

The residency program is supported using public funding by Slovak Arts Council.