Applications Open for Arts Residency in Ireland & France

Applications are now open for Cybernate, an online and in-person research residency programme for three Irish artists and three French artists who specialise in Digital Arts and have presented or wish to present work in public spaces. The deadline to apply is 14th October, 2022, so find out more here...

The programme will take place from November 2022 to March 2023 including two 2-week in-person residencies in Lyon (FR) and Galway (IE) respectively. The aim of this research residency is to offer participating artists time, space, and networking opportunities. A call for submissions selects the candidates according to the proposed project idea the artists would like to develop. Participating artists will then develop the project idea in Digital Arts for public space and present a work in progress at the end of the residency.

Cybernate was launched as a response to the Joint Plan of Action (2021-2025) between Ireland and France. The Plan aims to strengthen and deepen relations between the two countries across a range of cultural, educational and political activities. Among the aims of this plan is to foster the digital economy and to jointly promote cultural exchanges, including the creation of several new cultural fellowships and residency programmes between Irish and French institutions.

Cybernate aims to provide artists working in digital arts with the time and space to interrogate access to public space through artistic/digital means and seeks to explore what it means to create digital artworks in the public space in the current climate of societal change. Societies were shaken during the pandemic, and definitions of concepts such as freedom of movement, public space, social ties, communal ground, shared cultures and collective imagination were questioned. Digital arts and place-based research have much to offer to this conversation, as they provide mechanisms for discourse, celebration, reflection, community-building and coping with pervasive change.

Fête des Lumières 2021, Visions Luminariste Colline De Fourviere, ©muriel chaulet

Galway Culture Company has launched Cybernate in partnership with Pôle PIXEL, HACNUM Network, CREW, the French Embassy in Ireland and ATU and is funded by The Arts Council. The residency is produced by Culture Works and is funded by Arts Council Ireland’s pilot International Residency Programme. Galway Culture Company was established to create opportunities to engage with EU and International partners and local place-based programming which builds on Galway’s many European and Global designations including; UNESCO City of Film, European Green Leaf, European Region of Gastronomy and European Capital of Culture.

Galway Culture Company brings together key agencies and stakeholders to drive forward a collective creative vision for Galway through meaningful partnership and collaboration to better support cultural placemaking, artists, and those working in Culture and Creative Industries in a more sustainable manner.

Find out more and apply at cybernate.ie.

The feature image for this article is Kari Kola’s Savage Beauty at Lough Na Fooey on the Galway/Mayo border. Image by Christopher Lund