Art(ists) On the Verge 4 Fellows

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Northern Lights.mn announces the recipients of the fourth round of Art(ists) on the Verge commissions (AOV4). AOV4 is an intensive, mentor-based fellowship program for 5 Minnesota-based, emerging artists or artist groups working experimentally at the intersection of art, technology, and digital culture with a focus on network-based practices that are interactive and/or participatory.

Artists: Christopher Houltberg, Sarah Julson, Mad King Thomas, Asia Ward, and Anthony Warnick

Congratulations from the jury: Steve Dietz, Artistic Director, Northern Lights.mn; Ben Heywood, Executive Director, The Soap Factory; Ana Serrano, Chief Digital Officer, Canadian Film Centre; and AOV4 Co-Director, Piotr Szyhalski.

Thanks to artist mentors: Melinda Childs, Jeff Crouse, Alexa Horochowski, Matt Olson, Sarah Peters, and Marcus Young,

AOV4 artists will exhibit their work at the Soap Factory, May 4-26, 2013.

Art(ists) On the Verge is generously supported by the Jerome Foundation.

Creative City Challenge at the Minneapolis Convention Center

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The Minneapolis Convention Center (MCC), Meet Minneapolis Convention & Visitors Association, and the City of Minneapolis announce a new, $50,000 “Creative City Challenge” to create and install a temporary, interactive, site-specific, eco-focused “portal” to the City of Minneapolis on the Plaza of the Minneapolis Convention Center beginning summer 2013.  This challenge is intended to encourage exciting proposals and thoughtful discussion about how to make our downtown more vital, dynamic, livable, walkable and environmentally friendly. Moe information.

Art(ists) On the Verge 4 submissions

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Applications for the Art(ists) On the Verge 2012-2013 program are due Monday, March 19 by midnight CST. The online submission form is here.

Northern Spark open calls close Tuesday, Feb 7.

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Two calls for Northern Spark close on Tuesday.

DataVisualization in collaboration with Eyeo

Inter/National call

Application form

Art(ists) On the Verge – 4(!)

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Northern Lights.mn announces a fourth round of Art(ists) on the Verge commissions (AOV4). AOV4 is an intensive, mentor-based fellowship program for 5 Minnesota-based, emerging artists or artist groups working experimentally at the intersection of art, technology, and digital culture with a focus on network-based practices that are interactive and/or participatory. AOV4 is generously supported by the Jerome Foundation.

Full call here.

Calling all artists

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Northern Spark 2012

We are happy to announce a number of calls for participation in the 2012 edition of Northern Spark, which will take place June 9-10, 2012. For some background on this year’s Northern Spark see here. The new website will launch later this week at northernspark.org.

Please note that the deadlines for submission are different for different calls.

1. Call for a project in any media/discipline – inter/national

We are looking a  project that is sited/performed in public space and engage a broad public audience in that space. Projects can be in any medium or discipline. This call is funded in part by the NEA is for artists living or working outside of Minnesota. Application deadline: February 7. The call is here.

2. Call for Data Visualization project

This is an open call in collaboration with The Eyeo Festival for a data visualization project. Application deadline: February 7, 2012. The call is here.

3. Call for “platform” project

This is an open call in collaboration with ZERO1 Biennial for a “platform” project. Application deadline: February 13, 2012. The call is here.

4. Call for project in any media/discipline

We are looking for up to 10 projects that are sited/performed in public space and engage a broad public audience in that space. Projects can be in any medium or discipline. Look at the project line up for Northern Spark in 2011 to see the wide range of works presented. Application deadline: February 27. The call is here.

4. Call for Minnesota Center for Books Arts project

Minnesota Center for Book Arts (MCBA), in collaboration with Northern Lights.mn, is accepting proposals for an all-night event in MCBA’s gallery and studio space as part of NorthernLights.mn’s Northern Spark Festival (June 9-10, 2012). Application deadline: January 30. The call is here.

More Calls

More calls will be announced in the coming days. Subscribe to the Northern Lights mailing list (at the bottom of the page), Like us on Facebook, follow us @Northern_Spark or get the tumblr feed to stay informed.

Links

Call for Brass, Percussion, and Piccolo

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Trumpet, Trombone/Baritone/Tuba, Percussion, and Piccolo

Performance opportunity on the Stone Arch Bridge

for dawn or dusk // homeward is a 10-15 minute sound work  for 100+ local musicians playing brass, percussion, piccolos and tiny whistles. The site specific performance will take place on the Stone Arch Bridge, stretching across the Mississippi playing overlapping melodies derived from the route of the river. The piece follows the route of the river south past St. Louis, Memphis, New Orleans and into the Gulf of Mexico. The piece is written by Los Angeles based composer Chris Kallmyer who will come out to work with the group on June 3 + 4.

Participating Musicians

We are looking for musicians age 10 – 110 (amateur and professional) who love playing their instrument, are not afraid to play loud, and have an interest in engaging with their community via music. Folks need to be willing to participate in three rehearsals prior to the performance at the Northern Spark Festival on June 4 at 9:05. Participants will need to provide their own instruments, and percussionists are encouraged to bring two instruments from this list: marching snare drum, marching bass drum, glockenspiel, metal junk, and bells.

Time Commitment

Two rehearsals with your section leader prior to the June 4 concert.

  • Friday, June 3. 6:00 – 8:00 pm // rehearsal at the Stone Arch Bridge
  • Saturday, June 4. 9:05- 9:20 pm // Walk-through at 7pm // Performance at the Stone Arch Bridge

If you would like to participate, please contact the event coordinator, Phil Snyder.

AOV3 Fellows

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Northern Lights.mn announces the recipients of the third round of Art(ists) on the Verge commissions (AOV3). AOV3 is an intensive, mentor-based fellowship program for 5 Minnesota-based, emerging artists or artist groups working experimentally at the intersection of art, technology, and digital culture with a focus on network-based practices that are interactive and/or participatory. AOV3 is generously supported by the Jerome Foundation.

Drew Anderson
Michael Hoyt
Caly McMorrow
Anthony Tran
Aaron Westre

Congratulations from the jury: Steve Dietz, Artistic Director, Northern Lights.mn; Ben Heywood, Executive Director, The Soap Factory; and Amanda McDonald Crowley, Eyebeam Art & Technology Center. And from AOV3 Co-Director Christopher Baker.

More information.

ReGeneration deadline extended to May 16

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The deadline for submissions to ReGeneration has been extended to May 16.

Proposals for ReGeneration can be for gallery installations or public projects on the grounds of NYSCI or in surrounding areas for the duration of the exhibition or for one-week modules exploring a particular concept or idea. Six of the projects will be juried based on this open call, three for installations and three for workshop modules. Collaborations are encouraged but should be confirmed with a letter of support in the application. More information here.

Artports Departs – a stylish, if cautious, Terminal 2 at SFO

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Walter Kitundu: Bay Area Bird Encounters
His piece Bay Area Bird Encounters is dedicated to his father
Tom Tomkins from the Exploratorium tries out Walter Kitundu's custom instruments at SFO.
Young visitors at Charles Sowers' hands-on interactive Butterfly Wall
The cranks transport small "butterflies" to the top of the glass case, where they drop glittering to the ground.

A group of guest writers have been invited to contribute to Public Address throughout 2011. Our first “guest” post is written by Ulrika Andersson, an artist, designer and curator who splits her time between San Francisco and Berlin. Her work can be seen at The Exploratorium, The Fort Mason Center in San Francisco and at www.weststarland.com.

The opening of Terminal 2 at the San Francisco airport brings five new artworks to this site, which was accredited by the American Association of museums in 1999, a first among airports. Much has been written about the nature of airports and their place in contemporary culture and imagination: usually colored with great ambivalence towards these busy, commercially promiscuous and stylistically limited environments. While theorists have sometimes wrung their hands over the idea that these crass places can contain something as venerable and delicate as fine art; artists have let their imagination soar into the grand meeting places, parting places, cathedrals of rapidly evolving technology and finance, surrounded by a bazaar of bustling enterprise.

Airport-commissioned artworks have a certain role to play as celebrations of flight and the human longing to fly, to travel, to meet each other and to wax philosophical about it. In many ways they claim the position that a downtown would hold if passengers had the time to visit it, or that formerly was held by the grand railroad stations: inspiring pride in locals and confidence in visitors. It’s safe to say that airports in general have approached this task with mixed results, while the ever-expending expansions provides ongoing opportunities. At San Jose’s SJC there is a new series of data-driven works that are especially ambitious: blending input from weather reports, security cameras and passenger mood messages to surface in innovative places like the luggage carousel. The Hafermaas, Goods and Koblin piece eCloud (2010) uses switchable glass material to create a man-made cloud responsive to global weather reports. The Foreign Policy writer Walter Russell Mead called airports symbolic of “man’s triumph over the forces of nature” and claims that “not even farmers are as painfully exposed to the vagaries of weather as those who seek to travel by air”. It’s doubtful that this is literally true, but it’s a germinal statement and a nice accompaniment to a piece that considers both natural states and rapidly changing global human endeavors; the same factors that make airports and such potent sites for artists. It provides an impressive welcome hall to the Nation’s high-tech capital while leaving itself open to ambivalence, even fear of flying.

At SFO artworks have so far been of a more contained nature, and the new terminal offers no variation on that. Terminal 2, the new home of Virgin America is sure to be reasonably trendy and the terminal does offer a very representative welcoming hall; decked with local food and comfortable furniture (though the interior style would be more closely associated to Copenhagen than San Francisco). At the newly opened terminal there are five new artworks and twenty re-installed pieces from the existing collection: all selected by the San Francisco Art Commission. Also at at the Terminal 2 Community Open House on April 9th the art was joined by guest appearances by local musicians, seemingly as part of the ongoing You Are Hear program at SFO -a great idea that someone should get a raise for. From the entry hall visitors at the open house were first greeted with Janet Echelmans Every Beating Second, the swooping net construction in the ceiling that was most prominently featured in the press for the T2 project. Alongside the folk bands, local food and promises of sustainability it brought the mind to the macrame playgrounds of Bolinas from the seminal books on hippie aesthetic like Native Funk and Flash. This is as it should be in a trend-sensitive space: Native Flash and Funk is an increasingly hard-to-find book as it is being rediscovered along by a new generation of artists embracing the craft sensibilities of the early 70’s.

The cool of the terminal in contrast with the warmth of the artworks is enhanced in Walter Kitundu’s Bay Area Bird Encounters. This wall piece largely consists of images printed onto wood with the shading and grain of the wood panel outlining the rest of the shapes in this landscape piece. In front of the wall stands two low crescent shaped benches in the shape of birds’ wings. The wings feathers have been fashioned into blocks to be played by mallets like a xylophone, along with a corresponding instrument on the wings of one of the birds on the wall. Walter Kitundu is a devoted wildlife photographer and spends a great deal of his time studying these neighboring flying San Franciscans. So much so that he has tuned the instruments in the piece to mimic the birds’ calls when played on marked blocks left to right. At the T2 opening event he was watching delighted children pound the instruments, partially obscuring the devotion he has left at the lower right for his father: Dr. Peter Kitundu. This very much hand-made offering by an earthy, no-nonsense builder and musician is such a solid and dignified corner in the terminal, it made the familiar airport current of stress and alienation stand still.

Charles Sowers is emerging as an artist and designer of public art works; often involving elements of fluidity, materiality and currents. His work can be seen at The Exploratorium, The Randall Museum, The Fort Mason Center and the LIGO Science Education Center in Livingston Parish, LA. At T2 his Butterfly Wall makes an impressive presence: guarded as the butterflies are by thick, greenish plate glass and stainless steel footing. Like the massive time pieces at The Long Now Foundation, the ephemeral has a tendency of making itself known with the most solid of objects. Inside the glass tank twenty butterflies are hauled up on transparent cables as visitors to the piece crank the handles to propel them. As the cable stops spinning, the butterfly falls and glitters to the ground, its plastic wings casting blinding reflections around itself. The San Francisco Art Commission took some risk in commissioning this piece, as the rest of the artworks don’t contain moving parts. The piece delivers as it is the only piece in the airport collection that uses flight as an experience and as a medium, rather than as an abstract topic of inspiration.

SFO would do well in allowing for more interactivity and fluidity in the newly commissioned artworks, and it would have been nice to see more of the works embrace the data-driven and kinetic possibilities in exhibiting at an airport. While the craft-oriented artworks, Scandinavian furniture and wood paneling makes T2 is a significantly more fashionable terminal than your run-of-the-mill terminal, there is a lot of room for greater ambitions for the artworks at this site.

Open call for networked art

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Turbulence.org and Pace Digital Gallery announce an Open Call for Networked Art to be commissioned for the exhibition Turbulence.org @ PaceDigitalGallery 2.

The curators are seeking works that address the notion of “Levels | Hierarchies”, as in chains of command, levels of play, stages of life, degrees of comfort... Pace Digital Gallery is, itself, distributed across three floors of a building; within a broad stairwell to be precise. Practitioners are required to address the theme according to both the physical space and the distributed space of the Internet, where the works will permanently reside.

via Networked Performance

01SJ Biennial

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San Jose, California, is the 10th largest city in the United States. Surprisingly, it is not necessarily on everyone’s top 10 list of places to visit. If, however, you have even a passing interest in contemporary art, in particular the ways it intersects with contemporary (digital) culture and technology, San Jose is the place to be for the next two weeks.

Admittedly, as the current Artistic Director of the 01SJ Biennial I may not be an entirely unbiased voice in this matter, but let me share 10 reasons you should come to San Jose for 01SJ, September 16-19, and see at least some of 100 art installations, 46 commissioned works, 9 exhibitions, 20 workshops, 12 public artworks, 4 urban games, 1 drive-in movie theater, a nighttime street fair, a green prix of eco-locomotion, an epicurean multi-media dinner, a requiem mass for fossil fuels, audio ballerinas and robotic sitars, musical performances, operas, and more.

1. Largest DIY garage in the world

1. Largest DIY garage in the world

I don’t know if it really is the largest "garage" in the world, but Out of the Garage, Into the World takes place in the 80,000 sqaure feet (7,432 square meters) South Hall of the San Jose Convention Center. Essentially a domed parking lot, for two weeks, beginning September 4, 01sj.org/art/out-of-the-garage/ will publicly build their projects in and around a scaffolding structure designed by Madrid-based architect Angel Borrego Cubero. The projects run the gamut from a book-making workshop by Guggenheim fellow Monica Haller for war veterans the Eyebeam Roadshow to a contemporary hurache workshop by Pilar Aguero-Esparza and Hector Dionicio Mendoza to mobile archipelagos by Nova Jiang to a zipline "xAirport" wearing innovative wing designs over an artificial marsh "ark" for endangered frogs by Natalie Jeremijenko to public orchards, DIY solar sculptures , gift horses, i-weather, pirate radio, and much more . The entire "garage" is serviced by a full tech shop with laser cutters, CNC mills, shop bots, and industrial sewing machines.

Come often to see these works-in-progress September 4-14, admission is free, and only $5 for multiple visits September 16-19.

2. “Drive in” trip out

2. “Drive in“ trip out

As part of Out of the Garage, Into the World, artists Todd Chandler and Jeff Stark and cohorts will be constructing Empire Drive-In, a full-scale drive in theater using salvaged materials, including the cars for seating. There will be a daily film program and nightly live cinema performances such as Chandler and Dark Dark Dark’s Flood Tide Remixed, Graham Weinbren’s 50 Letters, Stephanie Rothenberg’s Second Life talk show Best Practices in Banana Time, Zoe Keating’s remarkable cello in collaboration with Robert Hodgin’s visuals on Into the Trees, the California premiere of Rick Prelinger’s latest archive mash up The Lives of Energy, Sheepwoman by SUE-C & Laetitia Sonami, and a series of telematic performances, Domain, curated by Rhizome’s John Michael Boling, by Jeremy Bailey, Petra Cortright, Constant Dullaart, and JODI.

3. Art in the streets

3. Art in the streets

Art is not just in the garage and theaters and galleries at 01SJ, it is also in the streets, everywhere. Luke Jerram’s acclaimed Play Me I’m Yours has 20 pianos throughout San Jose, which anyone can play – and decorate. Rigo 23 is producing a newly commissioned video projection, Oglala Oyate: Sister City for a Better Future. Chris Baker’s interactive projection, 01sj.org/2010/artworks/offscript/, will play nightly at Santana Row . Yung-ta Chang’s Signal Flow, in a nod to San Jose’s radio history, will greet visitors to South Hall along with Sabrina Raaf’s Meandering RIver. A half dozen works have been commissioned by the San Jose Public Art Program for 01SJ, and Chico MacMurtrie’s Inflatable Architectural Growth will expand on 1st Street during AbsoluteZER0 and the Green Prix.

4. City Hall reacts

4. City Hall reacts

Each Biennial San Jose’s Richard Meier-designed City Hall has been the canvas for a major public art commission. On Thursdsay, September 16, duirng the 01SJ Opening Ceremonies, the Rockwell Group LAB will power up Plug-in-Play, an interactive projection, which suggests a new type of environment where social interactions, citizenship, and personal activities are more dynamically reflected. Inside the City Hall Rotunda, Ken Gregory will present his sound sculpture, wind coil sound flow . During opening ceremonies, Benoit Maubrey and Ballet San Jose will perform Audio Ballerinas.

5. AbsoluteZER0

5. AbsoluteZER0

Now an annual event, AbsoluteZER0 is a vibrant street festival where the public can engage with art, music, science, and technology in new and compelling ways outside on city streets. From an Art Ark to CITY/SPACE/SHARE, a pilot project out of CCA intended to revitalize vacant storefronts and transform urban activity in the City Center of San Jose to Marcus Young’s solo dance program Can’t You Feel It Too? to Steven White’s two-person Ferris Wheel, Over the Top, AbsoluteZER0 is an event not to be missed.

6. Play in the streets

6. Play in the streets

"Go play in the streets" is not just something your mean uncle said. At 01SJ it is a new strand of programming where artists use the city itself as a playground for "serious play." The world premiere of Blast Theory’s A Machine to See With is co-commissioned with the The Banff Centre, and Sundance Institute’s New Frontier Initiative. It mixes documentary material, stolen thriller cliches, and the films of Jean-Luc Godard and invites you to become someone else. Step inside a film as you walk through the city, receiving phone calls. Are you the protagonist or a bit part player? Start making decisions and you will find out. Participation slots are limited, and you can buy tickets ($12) here. You can also become a Zoropathian or participate in an EST-like seminar, LevelFive in commissioned projecs by Ken Eklund and Annette Mees and Brody Condon. And don’t forget to transform your favorite hoodie for an interactive game of zombie tag during AbsoluteZER0.

7. Artful eco-motion – the Green Prix

7. Artful eco-motion - the Green Prix

The Green Prix is a parade and all day festival of sustainable, ecological friendly, and fun modes of transportation—artful “eco-motion.” It will include and Aeolian Bike Ride, Art Bikes, a burlap 1964 Ford, a Gift Horse, Maria del Camino, a video game concept car , a mechanical elephant on wheels , solar cars and much more. And It is open for EVERYONE: artists, designers, families, schools, and anyone else who has or wants to create a new mode of sustainable transportation. It is your opportunity to create, participate in, and cheer on innovative projects related to eco-themed transportation. So break out your banana-bikes, self-propelled jet packs, soapboxes, and solar cars to come out and strut your stuff in front of a cheering audience. The Green Prix Parade will begin at 11:00 am on Saturday, September 18th. It’s not too late to register here . The Green Prix culminates in a special mass by O+A at St. Joseph’s Cathedral, Requiem for fossil fuels.

8. After midnight

8. After midnight

During 01SJ, San Jose will be a 24/7 city. Three midnight concerts by contemporary sound artists curatd by artist and musician Stephen Vitiello will take place on Thursday, Friday, and Saturday night at midnight inside one of San Jose’s historic venues, Trinity Cathedral. untitled composition for piano, field recordings, sine waves by Olivia Block, Possible Landscape (for Donald Judd) by Steve Roden, and Untitled by Stephen Vitiello and Molly Berg . For other nighttime events check out the live cinema at Empire Drive-In, Randall Packer’s multimedia opera A Season in Hell , and KarmetIK’s symbiotic Robotic/Human Ensemble in collaboration with Abhinaya Dance Company.

9. Workshops and artist talks

At the heart of 01SJ is the artists, of course, and many of them will be participating in an artist talk series beginning Tuesday, September7, through Sunday, September 19. The full schedule is here. And you can do more than listen to many of the artists, as enlightening as that can be. Many are offering hands-on workshops open to the public from a barn raising to a biodiesel bus tour of San Jose’s urban orchards and farms to DIY solar sculptures to a youth workshop on future sounds to Imaginary Airforce Flight Attendant Training and much more. The complete listing of workshops is here.

10. Help 01SJ to continue

The 01SJ Biennial is one of very few similar events in North America. ZER01 receives very little support from government sources, unlike similar events in Europe, South America, and Asia. Help this important event to continue by chipping in whatever you can. Every $5 helps. Donate here.

Above all, come and visit. Tickets are online here.

See you in San Jose @01SJ.

Taiwan Public Art Installation Project Competition

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Taiwan Public ArtBureau of High Speed Rail, MOTC Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Access MRT System Construction Project
Taipei, Taiwan
Deadline: August 30th, 2010

The Department of Urban Development, Taipei City Government (DUD) along with the Bureau of High Speed Rail, MOTC is holding an international competition that invites art consultation / advisory teams to submit artist proposals for a public art installation project, to correspond with the “Bureau of High Speed Rail, MOTC Taiwan Taoyuan International Airport Access MRT System Construction Project.” The selected art installation project will be located somewhere along the new airport MRT route—the specific location to be determined by the artist. The project seeks a design that will be consistent with its surrounding site and that takes into consideration visual movement, public open space, and interaction between people and public art. The airport route serves as a unique platform for the artwork to be seen by a large range of people and the competition offers an amazing opportunity to truly express the meaning of public art.

More Information: Please refer to the DUD website (http://www.udd.taipei.gov.tw/) or the tendering notice on the Council for Cultural Affairs’ public art website (publicart.cca.gov.tw).
Contact: Miss Rou-lan Hung in the Urban Design Division
ruolan@udd.taipei.gov.tw
886-2-27258285 (Phone)
886-2-27593318 (Fax).

Looking for aurora borealis.2

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Photo: Stephen Vitiello

Photo: Stephen Vitiello

From:     Stephen Vitiello
Subject:     Re: financial update (so far)
Date:     October 14, 2009 11:18:29 AM CDT
To:     Steve Dietz
Cc:     Matt Flowers

Photo: Stephen Vitiello

Photo: Stephen Vitiello

no NL to be seen. We went to visit this guy Stu Ross last night. We paid him $40 each for an evening at his cabin. Not to sleep but to have a sort of speed-education in the Northern Lights, as well as a slide show and then access to his lakefront view to the sky. He does these “Aurora Tours” which have produced incredible photographs. The tourism brochures and websites make it seem like you just come here and the sky is filled with color but that’s not always true at all. He said on a great year, you may see lights 20 nights out of the month on the ‘peak’ months. This was predicted to be a big year and season for the lights but the predictions haven’t come true. He’s barely seen anything and nothing in the last week at all. It sounds like 2012 is supposed to be the high-point on the 12-year cycle. We took lots of pictures. There was too much interference from phone lines to do VLF recordings but there’s one spot I can return to today to do those. Stu said that there’s a chance of NL activity tonight but it may be too cloudy to see – prediction is for snow today, rain and snow tomorrow. If it looks good, he’ll call us and we’ll jump in the car. Otherwise, we may go close to his place without paying him and just get our last shots tonight. Matt stays for one extra night. I can certainly make something but it’s more of a “waiting for the lights” piece. Sadly, Fort McMurray is not a pretty town at all but if you go 30 minutes out on the lake, where Stu lives is at least more rural, charming and dark at night. best, Stephen

See Looking for aurora borealis.

Announcing Art(ists) On the Verge 2

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Northern Lights announces a second round of Art(ists) on the Verge commissions (AOV2). AOV2 is an intensive, mentor-based fellowship program for 5 Minnesota-based, emerging artists or artist groups working experimentally at the intersection of art,  technology, and digital culture with a focus on network-based practices that are interactive and/or participatory. AOV2 is generously supported by the Jerome Foundation.

Deadline

Monday, November 16, 2009

Application Online

Go to http://tylerstefanich.com/clients/northernlights/aov2/apply

Informational Meetings

An informational session (optional) will be held Friday, October 9 at 12:30 pm in the Influx room at the Regis Center, U of M, Monday, October 26 at 12:00 pm in the small auditorium at MCAD, and Tuesday, October 27 at 1:00 pm at Common Roots in the Common Room.  Additional dates and times for informational meetings will be announced soon. Sign up for the Northern Lights newsletter or subscribe to the Public Address blog to ensure you are notified.

Art(ists) on the Verge Background

In 2008-2009, the Jerome Foundation partnered with Northern Lights to commission six new works by Minnesota-based emerging artists. For more information about the first AOV program, see http://tylerstefanich.com/clients/northernlights/programs/aov1/ and related pages. The AOV2 program is based on the experience of and lessons learned from the first Art(ists) On the Verge program, and its core goal remains to support network-based, experimental art practice by Minnesota-based emerging artists with the following key elements: critical support and evaluation, monetary and technical resources, audience development through presentation and exhibition, and institutional recognition.

AOV2 Fellowship Program

A total of five $5,000 commissions will be awarded with some additional support for technical development and public presentation available.  Each commissioned artist or artist group will participate in an intensive 9-month fellowship program from January 2010 to September 2010, culminating in programming and exhibition opportunities at the Spark Festival in October 5-10, 2010. The fellowship program will consist of several elements:

  • At least monthly meetings with individually selected mentor/advisors
  • Every other month meetings of all fellows with guest speakers covering specific topics such from determining your technical specifications to marketing and promotion to installation planning, as well as topics to be determined by the group
  • Every other month meetings of all fellows with Northern Lights’ Artistic Director and guest critics to be determined.
  • At least two formal critique sessions with outside evaluators
  • Participation in at least one public prototyping opportunity
  • Co-organizing bi-monthly programs open to the public

Participation in the fellowship programming is not optional and can only be done in person.

“Exhibition”

The AOV2 Fellowship is not a research grant per se. It is expected that all AOV2 Fellows will publicly exhibit or otherwise present a final project as part of the Spark Festival October 5-10, 2010. Other options are acceptable upon consultation. Limited funding is available for public exhibition or presentation.

AOV2 Project Criteria

AOV2 is for artists or artist groups working experimentally at the intersection of art, technology, and digital culture with a focus on network-based practices that are interactive and/or participatory.

  • Experimental. How does your proposed project fall outside – or straddle – traditional and discipline-based notions of art practice? Note. This is not a research grant and personal experimentation with a practice that is new to you does not in itself constitute experimental practice.
  • Intersection of art, technology and digital culture. This grant is not for software development per se, and your practice should incorporate technology in a meaningful way. It does not have to be “new” technology, but if your technology is the pencil, it should be an innovative use. “Art” is broadly defined in relation to digital culture. For example, video games or Twitter can be your art, and/or you can eschew the term art for a broader concept of cultural production.
  • Network-based practices. Primarily, this means the Internet and any related or dependent platform or protocol from Second Life to Facebook to FTP. Your project does not have to be network exclusive, however, and we encourage hybridity, particularly in relation to physical public space.
  • Interactive and/or participatory. Your project should have some significant, dynamic component to it, which is not fixed.

The goal of the AOV2 fellowships is not to be prescriptive but to support artists’ practice that often falls between the cracks of traditional programming opportunities. We’re convincible. However, AOV2 is not a program in which technology is used to expand upon, distribute or document work in other disciplines.

Eligibility

Applicants must be:

  • Minnesota residents at the time of application and during the fellowship program, January 2010 – September 2010.
  • Considered an emerging artist. An emerging artist shows significant potential, yet is under-recognized by peers, curators, producers, critics and administrators. Evidence of some professional achievement is expected, but not an extensive record of accomplishment. Full-time students are not eligible, with one exception. If an artist enrolls in an undergraduate or graduate degree program or takes classes while maintaining a current and active professional practice of creating and presenting work to the public, she/he is eligible. Artists may be supported as individuals or as equal collaborators.
  • Committed to participating fully and regularly in the fellowship program.

Selection Process

Artist proposals are sought through an open call.

Jury

A jury consisting of Darsie Alexander, Chief Curator, Walker Art Center, Steve Dietz, Artistic Director, Northern Lights, and Kathleen Forde, Curator for Time-Based Arts at the Experimental Media and Performing Arts Center (EMPAC) in Troy, NY, will make the final selection. Five projects will be selected by the jury.

Evaluation

Proposals will be evaluated primarily based on their excellence and applicability to the program (see “Project Criteria”). In addition, each proposal should demonstrate and will be evaluated on:

  • Quality of past work as demonstrated through work samples. Note, this does not mean that the artist is required to be expert in all the technology or fields required to successfully complete the project.
  • Ability to artistically accomplish in a timely manner an artwork for public presentation as demonstrated in prior work
  • Articulated interest in participating in a creative and critical process with peers and mentors. Note, it is acceptable but not required to have a mentor in mind you would like to work with. Mentors receive a small honorarium for their participation.

Notification

Selections will be announced by December 15, 2009.

Checklist for AOV2 Application

(Include all of the following. All files should be sent as .PDF files.)

  • Artist Statement
  • Proposal
  • Work samples descriptions and URLs
  • Bio + Résumé
  • Budget and Timeline
  • References (optional but recommended)

Artist Statement

Your Artist Statement (2 pages max) should articulate both your interest in participating in an intensive fellowship program and how your artistic goals match the program criteria.

Project Proposal

Your project proposal (2 pages max) should discuss your project’s core concept, your approach to realizing it, the kind of support you think you will need, and what the public outcome will be. The project proposal should be as specific as possible about goals and outcomes. It is less critical to know exactly how these will be accomplished. In any case, the project proposal is considered a starting point, and we recognize that it may change radically over the course of the Fellowship.

Work Samples List

Provide a list of your work samples with title, date, medium, link, and a brief description for each sample.

All work samples should be accessible via the web. They can take any form, as long as they are accessible via the web. You may include up to 8 minutes of work samples. Note: more is not necessarily better, and you should include only work samples relevant to your proposal. If one of your work samples is a website, include specific pages to view and how to navigate to them, if there is no direct URL.

Bio + Résumé

Include a short narrative bio, 150 words max, as well as a complete resume of exhibitions and related work. If you are applying as a collaborative, include résumés of all involved equal collaborators, noting the role of each person’s involvement in this work (no more than 2 pages per person.) You do not need to but may include the names of supporting collaborators, such as a programmer or performer, for example. Note: In the case of collaboratives, the artist honorarium will be split amongst the collaborators, and all equal collaborators need to participate in the Fellowship programming.

Budget and Timeline

Include your best estimate of a production timeline and project budget, which can include your own fee. The budget is not determinative, and both it and the timeline can and probably will change, but the scope should roughly match the resources and timeline of the Fellowship program.

References

References are optional. Include up to three letters of reference. The references are most useful in relation your ability to work in a collaborative environment and follow through on commitments. Your works samples will be your primary indicators of artistic excellence. Ask your references to write about their experience with your process and their estimation of your ability to benefit from the AOV2 program. Actual letters should be provided.

Contact

Email AOV[at]northern[dot]lights[dot]mn with any questions.

Support

Jerome Fdn.