Computational Arts Residency
by Goldsmiths Computing + V&A Digital Programmes
Overview
Goldsmiths’ Department of Computing and the V&A Digital Programmes team announce their inaugural Computational Arts Residency.
Awarded to two computational artists, the residency includes:
- three months’ access to state-of-the-art computing facilities at Goldsmiths, University of London
- mentorship from Irini Papadimitriou, Digital Programmes Manager at the V&A
- rich interaction with the academic community at Goldsmiths Computing
- a £500 stipend
Each artist will research and develop new work during Summer 2018, and produce a piece that will feature in the V&A’s Digital Design Weekend in September 2018.
The three-month residency is open to artists who have a strong interest in producing computational art. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, from performance, visual art and literature to science. What we are interested in seeing is how their background has been combined with their interest in computation.
If you're interested in participating, please read the eligibility criteria carefully, before completing the short application form.
Application deadline: 1 March 2018
Start date: Summer 2018 for 3 months (dates flexible within reason)
If you have any questions, contact Dr. Theo Papatheodorou at theo@gold.ac.uk
About the Computational Arts Residency
Stipend
We offer a one-off stipend of £500 per resident.
Mentorship and community
You will receive consultation sessions with Irini Papadimitriou, Digital Programmes Manager at the V&A and you’ll engage in rich interaction with the academic and research community in the Department of Computing at Goldsmiths, University of London.
Work space and equipment
Goldsmiths’ state-of-the-art space for makers, the Hatchlab and other facilities feature state-of-the-art technology such as laser cutters, 3D printers, microscopes, vinyl cutters, a ton of electronic equipment, a fully featured woodshop including with CnC mills, drills, saws and a lot more. We also have access to two VR studios, a motion capture suite, a black room with six projectors covering 360 degrees of the room, and more. Residents will have access to all these resources for three months. You will also have access to the V&A Digital Programmes expertise and advice and opportunities to work with the collections.
Show space
The work you make will ultimately be presented in the Digital Design Weekend at the V&A but there will be other opportunities to show your work there or in the Department of Computing.
Further opportunities
The Department of Computing is the fastest growing department at Goldsmiths. We are always looking for bright, talented people to work with. While there is no automatic progression into a job from this residency, the department has previously hired talented graduates for various research and teaching posts. We would also encourage residents to use this opportunity as a springboard by applying for various arts or science related grants, with the support of Goldsmiths.
What we expect
Show up! Work on your stuff! We want you to join a dynamic department and have the opportunity to focus on your work while being supported by the infrastructure. Of course, we don’t expect you to come in all the time – just whenever you want to work on your art practice in a supportive environment with great facilities. At the end of your stay here we will want to see some tangible results (which belong to you).
Give back, mix and mingle. We will make an effort to integrate our residents into the life of the department, and we expect them to participate in a limited number of activities such as: running a couple of workshops on their practice and leading a crit session for our students. To maintain your legacy after you leave the residency, we will also ask you to document your work so that something you learned can be passed on to other students and researchers.
Don’t be a jerk. We expect you to be respectful of the space, and especially of your fellow residents, students and staff. You’ll be sharing facilities with an eclectic mix of people with different backgrounds, beliefs, genders and orientations. We expect you to handle this comfortably and professionally.
About Goldsmiths' Department of Computing
Goldsmiths, University of London is a special place to study computation. The Department of Computing is steeped in creativity and art, with many of the teaching and research staff identifying both as artists and as computer scientists. With undergraduate degrees including Digital Arts Computing, Music Computing and Games Computing, and postgraduate courses including MA Computational Arts, MA Indie Games & Playable Experience Design and MSc in UX Engineering, Data Science and Computational Cognitive Psychology, it’s a department that thrives in its multidisciplinary faculty and students.
One of our missions is to explore the relationship between art and computation, and to foster an environment for innovative and interdisciplinary computational art research. Our BA and MA degrees offer practising computational artists the time, space and tools to make great work.
As a research institution we’ve been awarded over £15 million in research grants in the last five years and we have a unique vision of computing research as an interdisciplinary set of practices, methods and techniques. As a result, our research renews and invigorates computer science as a discipline through a range of unusual forms of engagement and activity: artistic works, musical performances, social science studies, alongside the more traditional peer-reviewed paper outputs. Some of the areas of research:
- Art and music computing
- A.I., robotics and cognition
- Data and social computing
- Games and graphics
- Human-computer interaction
Read more about the research themes and research groups in the department.
Our students develop an unconventional view of computing as well and they engage in a variety of practices. Here are some of the things our students on the MA in Computational Arts made last year
Have a look at the MA in Computational Arts blog for a taste of things happening relating to art and computing in the department as well as the departmental blog.
The campus is very lively with events mixing science, art and technology such as the recent sex tech hackathon run by our student tech society Hacksmiths.
About the V&A
The V&A is the world’s leading museum of art and design, housing a permanent collection of over 2.3 million objects that span over 5,000 years of human creativity. The Museum holds many of the UK's national collections and houses some of the greatest resources for the study of architecture, furniture, fashion, textiles, photography, sculpture, painting, jewellery, glass, ceramics, book arts, Asian art and design, theatre and performance.
The Digital Programmes at the V&A, which was formed in 2008, has been engaging visitors of all ages in a range of free activities and events. From workshops, talks and monthly digital design drop-in events to an annual festival celebrating contemporary digital design, the Digital Programmes enable visitors to explore, learn and be creative with technology empowering them to be makers and not only consumers.
The annual Digital Design Weekend festival explores and promotes contemporary digital art and design presenting cutting edge work and research projects, giving audiences the opportunity to meet the practitioners and find out more about processes, engaging in dialogue, critical debates about the impact of technology and the creation of culture.
Eligibility
Assessment
The selection of successful applicant will be based on the following criteria:
- Quality of the project proposal/area of research for the residency
- Portfolio of work
- Reasons for applying
- Experience of working collaboratively
- Expected wider impact that the residency will have
The final selection will be based on interviews with shortlisted artists.
Eligibility
The residency is open to computational artists (or artist-duos, but not collectives) who have a strong interest in producing computational art. They should have some technical expertise and will probably be able to code in at least one language which they use in their practice. We welcome applications from people of all backgrounds, from performance, visual art and literature to science. What we are interested in seeing is how their background has been combined with their interest in computation.
How to apply
Please send us a two-page document to theo@gold.ac.uk and the subject "RESIDENCY" containing the following information. We won't judge you on your English or your ability to write essays. We'd like to find out who you are and what you would like to work on.
Page 1: Core Application
Send us the following:
- A one to two paragraph bio, focused on what you’re interested in and passionate about artistically.
- One paragraph on your practice and what draws you to interactive art. This might be your artist statement.
- A link to your portfolio website
- Your contact details
- A brief summary of your work history/experience (mini CV)
- How you found out about the residency
- What times you could come out to Laboratory during the residency timeframe, and for how long. We would like your stay with us to have an impact on the students.
Page 2: Project proposal
Send us a project proposal that tells us what you plan to do.
You might be interested more in production and be focused on making something cool. Tell us what you want to build. This should include some kind of preliminary idea of what technologies you want to use, and a rough schedule/timeline for how you’ll implement your project.
Alternatively, you might be more interested in research.and want to focus on pushing the boundaries of interactive art, whether that be creating new tools and techniques, or studying what it means to interact on a deep level. Tell us how you want to develop new knowledge! Give us an idea of what kind of tools and supplies you think you’d need, and paint us a picture of what you’re trying to have by the end of your project here – will it be a new piece of software? A new hardware hack?
Feel free to use images and sketches to show us your plans, as these don't count towards the 1 page allocation.
Application Deadline: 1 March 2018
Contact us: If you have any questions that are not covered here contact Dr. Theo Papatheodorou at theo@gold.ac.uk