Jun 3 2013
CERN1 and Ars Electronica2 today launch an open call for artists working in the digital domain to apply for the third Prix Ars Electronica Collide @ CERN3. The winner will receive a fully funded residency at CERN and Ars Electronica to create new dimensions in their artistic practice by encounters with the world of science. This is the third year of the collaboration between CERN and Ars Electronica.
“Applying for this residency was just irresistible,” said the sound sculptor Bill Fontana4, winner of last year’s award. “It promised to immerse me into the unknown world of particle physics. As an artist, these experiences into the unknown and unexpected are vital for us – even at 65. You never grown out of this need if you wish to develop as an artist.”
Bill Fontana starts the first part of his residency at CERN this July, and will preview some of the sound pieces he makes there at this year's Ars Electronica Festival, Total Recall – The Evolution of Memory, from 5 September to 9 September.
"After two very successful years of creative collisions between the arts and science with our Collide @ CERN programme, we are looking forward to discovering even more extra dimensions in these powerful interactions thanks to our unique and special cultural partnership with Ars Electronica, Linz," said CERN Director-General Rolf Heuer.
"Sound is one of the most powerful and immediate senses connected to memory which we have,” said Ars Electronica Director Gerfried Stocker. "So we will be really interested to see what Bill Fontana, one of the world’s most renowned sound sculptors, presents at this year's Ars Electronica Festival, which is dedicated to the evolution of memory. How will Bill use sound to remember the impact CERN has on him? Come and find out."
Last year's Prix Ars Electronica Collide @ CERN open call attracted hundreds of entries from 44 countries around the world. This year, like in the others, artists from every field of the arts are encouraged to apply: architecture and new design, visual arts and sculpture, experimental sound work and music, generative art and film, and social media projects that explore how people relate to science and technology are all welcome. The only proviso is that applicants must use digital techniques in the production and/or the development of their proposed project. The closing date is 15 September 2013 and applicants should submit their entries online, including a short personal-testimony video outlining why they want the award.
"Bill on his 4-day introduction visit to CERN this January created a 24-track recording piece because he was so inspired by his experience here," said Ariane Koek, CERN's cultural specialist. "For a world renowned artist to react like Bill did shows the value of what we are doing. We all can’t wait to discover the next artist whose imagination is going to be blasted by interacting with the new ideas of particle physics and to see what s/he does as a result of the experience."
Online submissions open 3 June 2013 and close 15 September 2013: http://collide.aec.at/
Footnote(s)
1. CERN, the European Organization for Nuclear Research, is the world's leading laboratory for particle physics. It has its headquarters in Geneva. At present, its member states are Austria, Belgium, Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Denmark, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, the Netherlands, Norway, Poland, Portugal, Slovakia, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland and the United Kingdom. Romania is a candidate for accession. Israel and Serbia are associate members in the pre-stage to membership. India, Japan, the Russian Federation, the United States of America, Turkey, the European Commission and UNESCO have observer status.
2. Incorporated in 1995, Ars Electronica Linz GmbH is in charge of planning and producing the Ars Electronica Festival and the Prix Ars Electronica, and responsible for the operation of the Ars Electronica Center and the Ars Electronica Futurelab. Funding is provided by the City of Linz, the Province of Upper Austria and the Republic of Austria.
3. The Prix Ars Electronica Collide @ CERN is the digital arts strand of the 3-year Collide @ CERN artists residency programme initiated by CERN in 2011, under CERN’s new cultural policy, Great Arts for Great Science. The residency is at CERN for two months and Ars Electronica for one month. The work emerging from the residency will be showcased at the Ars Electronica Festival 2014. Ars Electronica, Futurelab provides €10,000 prize money. The residency is fully funded thanks to Exclusive Friends of Collide @ CERN who are private donors and UNIQA Assurances SA Switzerland who is the exclusive sponsor of all artists' insurances for the Collide @ CERN programme.
4. Bill Fontana (born USA 1947) is an American composer and artist who developed an international reputation for his pioneering experiments in sound. Since the early 70’s, Fontana has used sound as a sculptural medium to interact with and transform our perceptions of visual and architectural spaces. He has realized sound sculptures and radio projects for museums and broadcast organizations around the world. He has created works around some of the world’s most iconic buildings and locations including the Arc de Triomphe, the Golden Gate Bridge San Francisco and Big Ben, London. His work has been exhibited at many of the world’s leading museums including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, the Art History and Natural History Museums in Vienna, both Tate Modern and Tate Britain in London, and featured at the 48th Venice Biennale.