Call for proposals for art residence at FBAUP: Technical Unconscious Project

Deadline for applications: The 30th of December 2013 at 23h59 (GMT).

Welcome to our open call for an art residency in Porto, Portugal, at the Fine Art School of University of Porto (FBAUP) for the year 2014. The participant — whether a single author or a collective — shall develop a new work in Porto and follow the curatorial lines of the Technical Unconscious Project. The residence (one month) shall consider a dialogue with students and researchers from FBAUP. The new work is to be exhibited in 2014 at the collective exhibition of Technical Unconscious Project (part of SoftControl European Culture project).

Porto is a City in the North of Portugal whose contemporary reality links with an Industrial and Commercial past with a strong axis in Technical knowledge. Technical Unconscious project focuses in this particular condition and explores it as a XXI century practice: how to review the analogical condition in a technological society? How does a digital epistemology (XX century) inform our relations with the analogical apparatus (XIX century)? And today, how can we suggest a new dialogue revisiting the analogical? These three questions frame a critical position to conceive practical research within an academic context. The program explores different artistic practices so to expand on the potential of the artifactual. A special concern will be given to technique as human agency, namely through the recovery of authors like Simondon, linking the thrill with the modern and the technological of both XIX and XXI century societies.

The residency is curated by researcher and curator Inês Moreira, who has a long history in interdisciplinary and research based art projects.

Eligible projects:
New or ongoing art, or design, project exploring applied research on “obsolete” technical materials exploring it for a new creation. The project shall explore a conceptual dimension as well as material and technical skills, as the notions of repair, reuse, and transformation.
It is expected from the project to be developed at FBAUP that it includes the access and the use to wood, stone and/or to metal workshops; and it may include a collaborative processes with art and design students.

Eligible authors:
Artists and designers, whether individually or as a collective, with a relevant artistic portfolio and/or research experience, willing to spend one month in Porto so to explore the guide lines of Technical Unconscious Project. Open to artists of all ages, based in Europe. Portuguese artists are eligible and must complete the same application process.

Duration:
The residence lasts one month, any month from February till September 2014.

Conditions:
1. The artist, or collective, has to be based in Porto for the duration of the residence.
2. Technical Unconscious Project will contribute with (amounts before taxes):
— Artist fee: 1.500 euros.
— Accommodation in Porto for a month and work space at FBAUP.
— Production costs: 1.000 euros.
— Use of FBAUP equipment and some technical assistance (to define).
3. Travel costs up to 450 euros..
4. The author(s) selected from this open call will give a Master Class open to FBAUP students during the residency period.
5. The new work will be exhibited in Porto at Technical Unconscious exhibition during Fall 2014.

Selection procedure:
The application must be presented in a single .pdf and must include:
1. Artist´s biography and academic curriculum (up to 1000 words).
2. Description of previous research projects (500 words + up to 10 images).
3. Description of the proposed artistic project, with technical description (500 words + up 10 images).
4. Non-mandatory: catalogues, books or other material considered necessary shall be shipped to FBAUP/Softcontrol Project. After the selection process, all the application materials will be offered to the school´s library for future consultation.

IMPORTANT: Applications must be submitted in English, for review by selection committee.

The Selection Committee is composed by:
— Gonçalo Leite Velho, Technical Unconscious/SoftControl project coordinator at FBAUP
— Inês Moreira, Technical Unconscious/SoftControl project curator at FBAUP
— Franciso Laranjo, Diretor of FBAUP
— Marta Gracia, research project coordinator at Hangar, Barcelona
— Ksenija Orelj, curator at MMSU — Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art, Rijeka

Calendar:
Deadline for applications: 30th of December 2013 at 23:59h (GMT).
Announcement of the results: 15th January 2014.

For further submitting the application, please contact:
SoftControl/FBAUP: softcontrol@fba.up.pt