SPATIAL AFFAIRS. Extended Reality Experiences, is a creation and research project that will promote proposals to develop prototypes for performances in physical space that interweaves body, space, technology in synergetic ways to foster collective lived experiences.
The project is a two-year joint programme between the cultural institutions HEK (House of Electronic Arts) in Basel (Switzerland), MAP - Museum of Art and Photography in Bangalore (India), Tabakalera - International Centre for Contemporary Culture in Donostia/San Sebastian, in collaboration with the technological and research partners iart, studio for media architectures and metaLAB (at) Basel (Switzerland), and the technological research centre TEKNIKER in Eibar.
Developing prototypes will either be based on the new XR (extended reality) platform AIRE, developed by iart, a platform based on a game engine that uses location tracking to design hybrid experiences in real time, supporting the residencies in Basel and Bangalore. Tech partner TEKNIKER supports projects that are exploring contexts of collaboration between physical non-human agents in confined spaces and the humans that also inhabit those spaces (including collaborative robots, machine vision, AI, XR). This residency is intended for artists with experience in working with XR (extended reality) or clear potential in this field, and who are interested in integrating research and technological interventions into their artistic endeavours. Ideally, applicants should have some experience working in performance or installation contexts with this technology.
A substantial part of the project will be to support the creation of the prototypes, which will be developed in residencies in the three cultural institutions named above: HEK in Basel, MAP in Bangalore and Tabakalera in Donostia. The artists for the residencies will be selected by open call, with one open call per venue, and open to artists to decide in which venue to apply. During the residencies, the residency artists will be involved in internal and public workshops at the venue of the location to present their work/process to the group as well as to local artistic communities.
The residencies will take place between June and July, 2024.
Dissemination activities will take place in the different venues in 2025.
A creation and research project that will promote proposals to develop prototypes for performances in physical space that interweaves body, space & technology.
