Intro
By developing new practices to connect digital innovation directly to citizens’ physical participation, DIALOG CITY aims to increase access to culture through a dialogical approach.
Our DIALOG CITY ART FOR PUBLIC RESIDENCY PROGRAMME invites professional artists to develop ideas for urban interventions dealing with local or global topics that are of great significance for the respective urban society based on participatory approach. By developing new practices on how to connect digital innovation directly to citizens’ physical participation, the European cooperation project DIALOG CITY aims at contributing to increasing access to culture through a dialogical approach. Co-creation is at the core, encompassing a CITIZEN ARCHIVE PLATFORM for the cultural heritage sector and an innovative design thinking toolkit on FUTURE LITERACY.
Annual FUTURE FESTIVALS serve as physical and digital cultural platforms to reach diverse audiences. Participating European cities are Mondoví (IT) in 2023, Graz (AT) in 2024, Aschaffenburg (DE) and Montpellier (FR) in 2025. The resulting art works of the respective residencies will be shown locally during the FUTURE FESTIVAL as well as online.
The Call for 2025 is now open for the art residency in Montpellier (France).
For the Montpellier residency we aim to question how human identities and bodies are increasingly shaped by the digital data we produce and consume. Being fed by data, our online profiles reflect analog humans and are continuously constructed through micro-targeting and digital profiling, where personal data is used to tailor content and experiences. In return, this blending of the digital and analog worlds creates new opportunities for self-expression and understanding, yet also raises concerns around identities and self-development. With an uncanny feeling, this flow of information can both expand and limit how we perceive the analog world and ourselves, depending on how we engage with it.
DIALOG CITY GUIDING PRINCIPLES
For approaching the future, it is crucial enabling people to process memory, collect cultural heritage and to create future literacy skills. Dialog City aims at empowering citizens to imagine, design and deal with their own analogue and digital future before others do it for them. To embrace all these aspects, the artistic residency project may approach four categories. The artist shall target one or more of the topics below:
LIVING CITY
Focusing on minimising environmental impact while promoting social equity and economic viability, incorporating renewable energy, efficient resource use, green spaces, and resilient infrastructure to ensure long-term well-being for both residents and the environment. Sustainability is at the core of the Living City which intends to take care of all living beings in the past, present and future. How may digital infrastructure enable humans to (re)connect with all sorts of living beings within cities?
EDIBLE CITY
Data is food for thought and humans seem hungry for data. Yet, our bodies and human condition remain. Questioning our relation to our own self and to nature, the edible city calls for reclaiming a bodily experience within urban spaces. By questioning food production into the city’s infrastructure, public and private spaces, it emphasises on sustainability and greater self-sufficiency. The edible city supports citizens to engage in food-growing activities within their own neighbourhoods thus attempting to promote greener, more resilient cities in an era of predation toward natural resources. Microbiotes prove that our body is an ecosystem, the digestion process is collective. How do humans as body and digital twin process the ongoing data deluge they live in?
HUMAN & NON-HUMAN CITY
Gathering bodies existing here and there in the physical space as well as digital twins within the web, the human / non-human cities question the day-to-day experience of intertwined beings and our modes of existence as Bruno Latour proposes. Living beings, objects, technologies, material and immaterial artefacts such as institutions have their own agency, shaped by its own will and infinite connections to other beings, humans or not. Challenging the traditional human-centred standpoint, the human and non-human city assumes that connections play a crucial role in shaping social and political life. Between free will and unconsciousness, how can we shape the ongoing digital memories?
COLLABORATIVE CITY
Originally, the web was intended to be a collaborative space as Tim Berners-Lee states it. Enrooted in the city making, nowadays, the internet plays a crucial role in the possibility of creating collaborative cities where citizens, local governments, and stakeholders work together, co-create and manage public spaces, services and infrastructure. Embracing participatory governance and decision-making, as well as collective action, how may the collaborative city build more inclusive, resilient, and socially connected urban environments?
BASIC TIMELINE FOR APPLICANTS
- Application open – November 8, 2024
- Application due – 20:00 (GMT+1) December 8, 2024
- Shortlisting – December 12, 2024
- Interviews – December 16 to 19, 2024
- Announcement of final selection – December 20, 2024
- Residency start – April 21, 2025
- Final Presentation during the FUTURE FESTIVAL Montpellier
in close connection with the Festival des Architectures Vives – June 10 to 15 2025 - Residency end – June 20, 2025
HOW TO APPLY
Applications are only accepted via online form, please see here.
For your application process you will need:
- a project proposal (3000 characters max.),
- a short text on what digital transformation means to you and how your project fits to the guiding principles of DIALOG CITY (1500 characters max.),
- a short text on how your artistic work activates citizens and policymakers to imagine the future of their cities (1500 characters max.),
- a short biography (250 words, written in third person),
- Two-page resume, highlighting education, work experience, awards, and exhibition/ performance history.
- Up to 10 digital work samples, which may be any combination of still images, video, audio, and writing (for video or audio we prefer a pdf or document providing us with the links).
WHO CAN APPLY
DIALOG CITY ART FOR PUBLIC RESIDENCY PROGRAMME is open to all artistic disciplines (e.g., visual arts, writing, performance, new media, etc.) and other creative practices including, but not limited to, design, architecture, gardening, food design and education. We strongly encourage applicants with interdisciplinary and participatory / socially engaged art practices.
Education and Training: We do not require any particular level of education or training to apply. Our residency programme is open to emerging, mid-career, and established artists and creative practitioners who have a dedicated studio practice and professional demeanour. Artists of all nationalities can apply, but they must reside in the European Union or in one of the accession countries.
ACCOMMODATION
Free accommodation in a single room with a private bathroom and kitchen. It does not provide canteen or food service. Meals are not included.
ARTIST FEE
3.500 € including profound preparation of the residency after the final selection and presentation of the result during the HYBRID FESTIVAL in Montpellier. Per diems are included in the fee.
MATERIAL COSTS
Up to 2.000 €, proposal subject to be reviewed by the internal commission according to the value given in terms of scenography and visibility during the Hybrid Festival. This must be specified in the application.
TRAVEL COSTS
Will be covered up to the amount of 1.300 €, including return ticket from the origin and local transport in Montpellier. According to the Memorandum of Understanding “Green Deal” we urge project participants to avoid air travel. Train, bus or car are preferred.
FURTHER INFORMATION
Artist Fee and Artistic Material Costs can be paid only through invoice process. The artist must have a VAT number or an institution it relies on, for invoicing correctly.
Payment details: at the arrival in Montpellier, the artist will be given an initial instalment of 50% of the artist fee, while the balance will be paid at the end of the residency (within 60 days).
English speaking and preferably basic knowledge of French language (non-compulsory, please note that no professional translation services will be provided).
Specific questions may arise during the decision-making process, which the DIALOG CITY consortium will then clarify directly with the applicants.
CONTACT