SCIENCE GALLERY VENICE
CALL CLOSED
Open from
April 27, 2021 to July 1, 2021
Results by
November 2021
(Applicants will receive an email with the exact date)
The history of our Earth is written in the rocks and sediment in the landscape and which have been used for human culture. From the distinctive white Istrian stone and pink marble used to build the Doges Palace in Venice, to ancient organisms, plants and invertebrates preserved as fossils in sedimentary rock. Rocks are the Earth’s timekeepers. Their history is the witness and record of all activities on our Planet.
With Earth time stretching back billions of years, and one grain of sand with which we use to make glass or buildings having taken up to millions of years to form starting from erosion from the Alps, is what we are seeing with climate change partly a clash of experiencing and understanding time? The Earth’s perspective which privileges deep time versus human perspective which rewards speed and necessity? How can we make a re-connection with our Planet – including with its geology and vital sediments, such as dust and sand? And what can we learn from fossils, their evolution and adaptation, and the ancient beings which once lived here?
Join two leading environmental scientists from Ca’ Foscari University of Venice to be inspired to create a work which explores new notions of time and reconnection with our Earth.
Dr Elena Ghezzo is a vertebrate palaeontologist, and she is working as a Global Marie Curie Fellow on the REFIND project (www.unive.it/refind), a collaborative research between Ca’ Foscari and the University of Oregon. This major European project uses remote sensing and geographic data to detect large fossils on Earth from the sky by satellites using light and radiation (optic multispectral images).
Professor Emanuela Molinaroli is a sedimentologist and Senior Research Fellow at University of Ca’ Foscari where she also teaches. She has studied the Venice lagoon for many years and is an expert on the sedimentology and geomorphology of the Venice Lagoon and its coastal area. She has contributed to papers on the effects of ships in the lagoon as well as on the biogeochemistry of the Saharan dust to the sea in the area.
Earth Water Sky environmental science and arts residency programme are looking for an artist from any discipline who is truly inspired by thinking about time and connecting the geology of our Earth to humankind. The artist must also enjoy the research process as well as public engagement and be able to create imaginative, extraordinary new work which captures the public’s attention, senses, minds and hearts.
WHAT MAKES A STRONG OPEN CALL PROPOSAL?
What makes a good Science Gallery Venice open call proposal for the residency programme? We are especially looking for artists who propose an imaginative new project connected with exploring Earth and that also matches Science Gallery Venice’s three core aims: to Connect, Participate, and Surprise.
Some tips for strong proposals:
We love artistic works that invite visitors to participate, create and discuss.
Great projects bring together art and science, in a creative way. We avoid science that is evaluating art or art that didactically illustrates science.
Appeal to our core audience of 15-25 year olds is a factor in curatorial decisions
Defying categories is good. For example, perhaps your piece is “a kind of a hybrid sculpture, event, installation-puzzle, with a crowdsourced edible citizen-science archive, plus a performance component that will portray a speculative future organism… .” We like stuff like this.
We encourage you to take a moment to consider whether your ideas and interests fit before committing your valuable time and energy to the application.
Collaborations are great! However, you will have to share the funding which is strictly limited. There will be no extra funding for additional collaborators although of course they are always welcome
CRITERIA
● Quality of project idea and work shown in portfolio
● Quality of interest in the theme of Earth Water Sky, the ideas of environmental science, and the Science Gallery Venice mission
● Quality of imagination and curiosity shown in the proposed project and work
● Quality of achievement in making ideas happen within budgets and practical constraints
● Quality of originality of ideas and approach to contributing something new and exciting to the arts/science field
● Quality and ability to communicate and therefore become an ambassador for the Earth Water Sky residencies as well as be involved in any press, internal as well as public events connected with the residencies
BUDGET FOR THE RESIDENCY
The artist has a set fee for two months of 5000 Euros per month. In addition all travel, accommodation and subsistence are covered for that period on a fixed budget.
At the end of the residency, the artist will be invited to bid for a 26,000 Euro production budget to make an art work inspired by their research into wind and their interactions. This final work and the results will be exhibited during the Venice Biennale period.
SUPPORT
The Earth Water Sky residencies are generously supported by Fondation Didier et Martine Primat.
The Didier et Martine Primat Foundation is a swiss-based registered charity. Its purpose is to foster critical and creative thinking among adults and children from a very early age, whereby each one can enhance its individual capacity of discernment and reasoning and adopt more responsible societal choices and behaviors. To meet its objectives, the Fondation encourage scientists, scholars and artists and supports the programs of competent organizations to speak up and stand for a more sustainable and conscious ways of living for the present and future generations.
Earth Water Sky environmental science and arts residency programme is curated by Ariane Koek.
Please note that we are using a new system – called Submittable – to accept open call submissions. If you had an account with us on our old system, you will need to create a new account with Submittable in order to submit to current and future open calls.