S+T+ARTS Residencies
TBA21–Academy
Residencies
TBA21–Academy's collaboration:
We are delighted to be part of the STARTS4Water Consortium and collaborate on two of the ten upcoming residencies, hosted in Venice under the umbrella title “The Future of High Waters”.
The Future of High Waters: Nature-based Solutions for the Venetian Lagoon
Exploring nature-based solutions for salt marsh restoration and ecosystem regeneration, this challenge investigates solutions for climate change, rising sea level mitigation and natural carbon capture and storage in the lagoon. Current water management practices have proven unsustainable in terms of the city’s carbon metabolism. In the spirit of the UN’s Sustainable Development Goal 14: Life Below Water, the challenge strives to promote the reintroduction of sustainable practices, community-led initiatives and artistic research, exploring the possibilities of bringing nature-based and technological approaches into a shared space of coexistence and collaboration.
WINNERS: Sonia Levy, Heather Anne Swanson, Meredith Root-Bernstein, Alexandra Arènes
WINNERS: Sonia Levy, Heather Anne Swanson, Meredith Root-Bernstein, Alexandra Arènes
STATEMENT
“Our project explores Venetian reedbeds and the multispecies worlds that arise from their restoration, to imagine new ways of thinking and doing futures and relationships with the wetlands that surround Venice. Through speculative mapping, ethnography, ecological field methods, film, and reed crafts, we will probe forms of representations that question agency and processes of collaboration across art, science and technology, and across the human and the more-than-human.”
“Our project explores Venetian reedbeds and the multispecies worlds that arise from their restoration, to imagine new ways of thinking and doing futures and relationships with the wetlands that surround Venice. Through speculative mapping, ethnography, ecological field methods, film, and reed crafts, we will probe forms of representations that question agency and processes of collaboration across art, science and technology, and across the human and the more-than-human.”
Sonia Levy's research-led practice considers shifting modes of engagement with more-than-human
worlds in light of prevailing Earthly precarity. She is a 2021 commissioned artist at Radar Loughborough and Aarhus University. She has exhibited internationally, including shows and screenings at Centre Pompidou, Paris; Musée de la Chasse et de la Nature, Paris; Muséum d’Histoire Naturelle, Paris; ICA, London; and BALTIC, Gateshead.
Heather Anne Swanson is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Aarhus University and Director of the Aarhus University Centre for Environmental Humanities. She is a founding member of the Aarhus University Research on the Anthropocene group. She has a long-standing interest in more-than-human relations of fish, rivers, and oceans.
Meredith Root-Bernstein is a CNRS research scientist based at the Natural History Museum in Paris. An ecologist by training, she researches ecological, social, and multispecies aspects of restoration ecology, rewilding, and conservation.
Alexandra Arènes is an architect at S.O.C (Société d’Objets Cartographiques) and a doctoral researcher at the University of Manchester, focusing on the impact of the Anthropocene on landscape studies. She designed the installation ‘CZO space’ at the ZKM Museum, Karlsruhe, for the exhibition Critical Zones. Observatories for Earthly Politics, and co-authored Terra Forma, manuel de cartographies potentielles.
Heather Anne Swanson is Associate Professor of Anthropology at Aarhus University and Director of the Aarhus University Centre for Environmental Humanities. She is a founding member of the Aarhus University Research on the Anthropocene group. She has a long-standing interest in more-than-human relations of fish, rivers, and oceans.
Meredith Root-Bernstein is a CNRS research scientist based at the Natural History Museum in Paris. An ecologist by training, she researches ecological, social, and multispecies aspects of restoration ecology, rewilding, and conservation.
Alexandra Arènes is an architect at S.O.C (Société d’Objets Cartographiques) and a doctoral researcher at the University of Manchester, focusing on the impact of the Anthropocene on landscape studies. She designed the installation ‘CZO space’ at the ZKM Museum, Karlsruhe, for the exhibition Critical Zones. Observatories for Earthly Politics, and co-authored Terra Forma, manuel de cartographies potentielles.
The Future of High Waters: Geo-engineering Solutions for the Venetian Lagoon
What solutions can geo-engineering offer, not only to datasets but also to the understanding of the porous borders between solid and fluid, land and sea? How can practitioners bridge art and science through meaningful integration of technology in order to co-imagine solutions for a viable future? As exemplified by the controversial MOSE project, the conditions that surround water management in the lagoon have changed dramatically. Although human intervention into marine ecosystems is far from a new phenomenon, its intensity and scale require careful examination - as echoed by the UN's SDG 14: Life Below Water.
WINNERS: Leonor Serrano Rivas, Diego Delas.
WINNERS: Leonor Serrano Rivas, Diego Delas.
STATEMENT
“An expedition to set sail into the unknown at a point of imaginative exhaustion: Underwater Worlds conjure pre-enlightenment devices to scrutinize the juncture of geoengineering, art-making, and storytelling in Venice.”
“An expedition to set sail into the unknown at a point of imaginative exhaustion: Underwater Worlds conjure pre-enlightenment devices to scrutinize the juncture of geoengineering, art-making, and storytelling in Venice.”
Both artists, architects, and researchers, Leonor Serrano Rivas (1986) and Diego Delas (1983) obtained their Masters in Arts in London (Goldsmiths and RoyalCollege of Art) and studied their PhDArt Practice in the UK (Slade, UCL, and The Ruskin School of Art, University of Oxford).
Serrano Rivas’ sculptures, films, and installations are often used as a way to present layered sensorial experiences where the viewer must forget the narrative impulse, unlearn this desire for resolution and delve into the realm of the work. Delas’ paintings, textiles, and installations look at certain vernacular architectural motifs –those related to storytelling–that configures the idea of a house as a familiar body, sustained by memories, populated with amulets.
Both are currently working on two mayor solo shows opening next year: MNCARS Museo Reina Sofía, Madrid (Serrano Rivas) and CAB Burgos (Delas)International exhibitions feature Liverpool Biennale; E-Werk, Freiburg; Freelands Foundation, London; Matadero, Madrid; MUSAC, León; HAUS, Viena; C3A, Córdoba; Russian Museum St. Petersburg, Málaga; ICA London; Arcade, London; CAAC, Seville; Chisenhale Studios; BARCU, Bogotá; José La Fuente Gallery, Santander; Marta Cervera Gallery, Madrid; Lychee One Gallery, London; Tiro al Blanco, Guadalajara, Mexico;CentroCentro, Madrid; La Casa Encendida, Madrid; Galleri Rotor, Gothenburg; XI Venice Architecture Biennale, Venice; amongst others.
What are the residencies?
10 artists or artistic collectives have been chosen for the S+T+ARTS residencies that will kick-start a series of collaborative processes and generate projects that raise awareness and offer concrete solutions for regional water challenges in Europe.
Following an open call that was launched in July 2021, the STARTS4Water Consortium received 294 eligible applications from 56 different countries.
Each residency will address a different region-specific water management challenge and relates to the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals (especially SDG6 and SDG14). The challenges have been defined by the Consortium partners with the support of a regional expert network, including digital experts, entrepreneurs, regional leading art and research institutions, specialists in digital transformation, administration, and public governance.
The S+T+ARTS residencies will lead to tangible artworks that develop knowledge and raise awareness of water challenges, or to digital applications & processes that contribute to the local development of sustainable water use and management.
Residencies start from October 2021 to June 2022 for a duration of a maximum of 6 months.
About S+T+ARTS
S+T+ARTS is an initiative of the European Commission to foster alliances between science, technology and the arts, in order to cultivate technological innovation centered on human needs and values.
Bringing together art, technology and science, the pilot project STARTS4Water aims to tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our times: water management. The project supports artists, researchers, technology experts and other stakeholders in finding a common ground and language to respond to regional water-related challenges. STARTS4Water builds on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 and especially on SDG 5 ‘Clean Water and Sanitation’ and SDG14 ‘Life Below Water’.
Bringing together art, technology and science, the pilot project STARTS4Water aims to tackle one of the most pressing challenges of our times: water management. The project supports artists, researchers, technology experts and other stakeholders in finding a common ground and language to respond to regional water-related challenges. STARTS4Water builds on the United Nations’ Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) 2030 and especially on SDG 5 ‘Clean Water and Sanitation’ and SDG14 ‘Life Below Water’.