Within the framework of the European project S+T+ARTS in the City, Hac Te opens a call for three artist or artist collectives to stay in three research centers in Barcelona for a period of nine months. These artistic residencies aim to contribute to the resolution of scientific challenges through interdisciplinary collaboratio and they are endowed with €40,000 each.
The three partner centers of Hac Te that will host these residencies are: the Institute of Photonic Sciences (ICFO), the Institute of Robotics and Industrial Informatics of the Polytechnic University of Catalonia (IRI CSIC-UPC), and the Open University of Catalonia (UOC).
Each residency will be required to contribute to the resolution of one of the following challenges of the hosting center:
How does photosynthesis function at the molecular scale, and can we improve it? Unveiling the processes governing nanoscale energy transfer could advance sustainable agriculture, green energy, and carbon capture. We invite artists to support the scientific challenge of making plants even stronger allies in the fight of big cities such as Barcelona against climate change.
How might climate-aware and sustainable art practices help a city like Barcelona prepare for the climate crisis?
Barcelona’s historically privileged geographical position is quickly turning into a challenging one: pollution, rising temperatures, and the threat of sea level rise, to name a few, are now very pressing problems, and to look away is no longer an option. How can digital artistic practices and narratives be part of the solution?
How can the arts play an active role in improving the interaction between humans and robots?
In Catalonia, as a result of the aging of the population, the dependency ratio of the elderly will go from 28.9 in 2021 to 44.3 in 2040, and to 51.2 in 2070. As technology advances, robots will soon become ubiquitous in human environments. Their role will be particularly important for elderly people, providing not only a form of companionship and facilitating their independent lives, but assisting caregivers in monitoring wellbeing and watching out for accidents or falls in the home. While these advancements bring with them a number of exciting possibilities, a deep reflection is required to ensure we can safely reconfigure our lives to tackle issues such as privacy, trust, acceptance, transparency, and honest interactions.
These residencies are part of the S+T+ARTS in the City project, whose main objective is to connect and articulate the ecosystem of each of the six participating regions and connect European projects. Hac Te has been chosen as the catalyst for the Catalan ecosystem, and from April 2023 to November 2024, it will carry out a series of actions to promote ASTS practices.
STARTS in the City is the result of a consortium led by Gluon (Brussels), together with Meet (Milan), Ars Electronica (Linz), Inova+ (Matosinhos), Kersnikova (Ljubljana), and Hac Te. This consortium promotes a total of eleven artistic residencies where co-creation must solve a specific problem in each region.
The project also aims to strengthen ties with the academic world to promote a new curricular approach to teaching art, science, and technology. After the residencies, the entrepreneurial potential of the results will be explored, ensuring that the prototypes produced are viable and provide concrete solutions to the market. Additionally, the outcomes of the residencies will be showcased at various European festivals, reaching audiences throughout Europe.