Invitation/Call for artists

Access and Contribute – imagining alternative information and knowledge production
Residency and research project, Bologna Mai 22nd to June 01st 2009 (exact dates to be confirmed)

Would you like to think, discuss, experiment and produce with us? This invitation to an artistic and cultural research project is based on the assumption, that the traditional culture of information transfer is the one of those that supposedly have knowledge and information and those that are poor of it and therefore have to be educated, which is based on a relation of domination, regulation and hierarchies.

We want to ask who, in which perspective and for whom, produces which information.
How can we react to existing regulations, monopolization and commercialization in knowledge production and develop forms of knowledge sharing that go beyond existing alternatives; that make other practices of flows of information thinkable?

The key concepts we would like to discuss and work on are: artistic knowledge transfer, production and management of knowledge, research, self-organization, self-education/learning, empowerment, application of open source procedures in education, contemporary contexts as globalization, and commodification of knowledge, alternative knowledge and information production for an alternative society.

How can I take part and contribute? The application is primarily open to artists of all disciplines but also to i.e. activists, hackers, cultural producers, and others. We aim to involve young (without wanting to specify an age limit) people, that haven’t had the chance to take part in a similar project yet, but have a personal and professional need and interest in the research topic. This is why we ask the applicants to formulate their intensions in form of a statement, which is not a proof of your knowledge on the theme but a tool for us to understand, if what we have to offer is relevant for your research and your work.

Please send your statement (1-2 pages, Arial 10) in and let us know why you would like to contribute. Please give us some key words on the topics that you are concerned with in you’re work. You can also address some questions you would like to discuss. You are free to e-mail any additional material, image, text, video on ftp servers, etc. Please send you’re application via e-mail or by post to: office@sodaart.at (Subject: Application NOMAD 2009_Youre Name)
Deadline for the application is the 28st of December 2008!


The SODAart team and artists-advisors from the former NOMAD 2007/2008 program will choose six artists to work together with us in Bologna for ten days.
The participants will be announced here and via e-mail till January 12, 2009.
Everyone that is interested in contributing to the project can do this over the projects blog (opening in March 2009 on www.sodaart.at) or during the public program in Bologna.

NOMADnet inclusive. We understand the participants of the a.i.r. as collaborators and members of a network, keeping a non-hierarchical structure of collaboration. This networks structure does not imply a division of roles, but all participants can actively take part in all aspects of the project – organization, decision-making process, research, etc. in which SODAart is functioning as a preparation committee and part of the Think Tank.

The ten days residency will imply different elements such as a public seminar, a workshop, visiting local initiatives, working on a collaborative project and free time!

What is covered for?

Travel expenses
Flight or train ticket to the Residence
Flight or train ticket to return home

Accommodation
A sheered apartment during the residence
In some cases double rooms have to be shared. Shares kitchen, shared bathrooms

Means at the working place
Working places, Internet access (you will be handed out a complete list of technical equipment, hardware and software).

Production costs
NOMAD pays a contribution for the visualisatin of the research work. This could be an exhibition, publication, website, program, game, T-shirt, intervention or else. Additional fundraising might be needed.

Honorarium
NOMAD pays a small fee of € 400.- to each artist, in order to be able to pay entrance fees or buy food. This fee will be handed out on site. Damages to the apartments, studios or other property of the programme or the programmes partners can result in deductions of the honorarium.

What do you have to take care of?
A health insurance for abroad (we might need you to fax a confirmation in advance)
Technical equipment needed that is not on site (Photo cameras, Hardware, Software)
Meals (there is a shared kitchen available at the apartments)
Washing of Laundry
Please inform the SODAart administration in case you need an invitation letter for your Visa in time.
Leaving the apartments and studios in the same condition as found. The group of artists is responsible of the shared rooms. All rooms must be cleaned up before departure.

Bologna

The Municipality of Bologna has traditionally devoted strong efforts to improve relationships and communications in order to increase the quality of citizens’ participation to the Local Authority activities and to develop citizen-oriented communication methods and formats based on community needs. This led to the creation of the Iperbole Civic Network, an already operating project set up in January 1995 as a “telematic bridge” between the virtual community and the real city in order to build a “digital information society at local level”.
Moreover the Municipality of Bologna started the «Iperbole Wireless» project, offering free WI-FI Internet access to the cidizens, covering a wide area of thecity center.
Bologna counts on an experienced and developed educational system (University funded in 1088).
www.comune.bologna.it
www.iperbole.bologna.it

Some inspiring Literature for the start: here

PLEASE DON´T HESITATE TO CONTACT US FOR FURTHER QUESTIONS OR ASSISTENCE