Open Call: Wild Bits – Technological Art Outdoor Exhibition

Residency duration: up to 3 weeks
Residency dates:  June-July 2025
Residency location: Estonia, Maajaam
Application deadline:  24th of March 2025 (included)
Results of the open call: mid April 2025

Wild Bits is an exhibition concept that proposes a temporary art park in the wilderness. The exhibition seeks points of contact between people, technology, and nature. Through this open call, the technological art farm Maajaam is seeking proposals for installations, interventions, or processes to be placed in natural landscapes that explore the human condition in a contemporary technological society. The artworks should be able to withstand outdoor conditions. We encourage artists to consider energy-sustainable solutions, such as alternative sources (e.g., solar panels), and to be as economical as possible.

The first edition of the technological art outdoor exhibition Wild Bits piloted in 2018. The next open call was launched in 2021, and the project spanned three years across the Baltic countries, with smaller outdoor exhibition collaborations in 2022 in Kaunas, Lithuania, and in 2023 in Savvala, Latvia. The main exhibition culminated at Maajaam in 2024, showcasing 15 new works of art from artists worldwide and becoming one of the highlights of the European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 official program.

Wild Bits 2027

After exhibiting a large-scale outdoor technological art exhibition over the summer of 2024, Wild Bits is transitioning into a triennial format, with the next edition planned for 2027. This ambitious project aims to establish a recurring platform for artists exploring the intersection of nature, technology, and human interaction within outdoor settings.

Within this triennial format, Wild Bits seeks to foster new artistic collaborations, expand its international reach, and offer audiences a continuously evolving experience of cutting-edge technological art in natural environments. The event will serve as a meeting point for artists, researchers, and visitors, encouraging dialogue about the role of technology in shaping our relationship with the world around us.

To diversify the curation selection and schedule residency camps for preparatory periods, additional open competitions will be announced.

Residency

The residency duration at Maajaam is up to three weeks, depending on your production plan. The residency will take place between June and July 2025 at Maajaam, Estonia. During the residency, you will be expected to produce your artwork using the workspaces and available tools (see the list here). You will be accommodated in the Maajaam residency house. If you wish to apply as an artist group, Maajaam can accommodate up to 3 people per collective. Two meals per day will be provided and covered by the host during your residency.

Exhibiting

The produced works will remain in the possession of Wild Bits and Maajaam until 2028. By participating in this open call, the artist agrees that their works may also be displayed in satellite exhibitions co-organised or co-curated by Wild Bits.

We encourage artists to submit location-specific works, as well as works that are adaptable to different natural environments, as one of the selected projects will also be exhibited, in addition to Estonia, Maajaam, also in Finland, North Ostrobothnia.

Budget

The selected projects will receive an artist’s fee of 3000€ (per collective, gross salary, all taxes included) for participating in the residency and carrying out the production of the artwork.

The production budget for the project is up to 5000€. Applicants are required to submit a preliminary budget.

The artists’ travel budget is limited to 350€ per person within Europe and up to 700€ for artists traveling outside the EU. Accommodation will be provided by the organiser.

Applying

Please include your artwork sketches and description of the idea, preliminary budget, creative CV or portfolio in your proposal.

Deadline 24th of March 2025

Selection criteria

• suitability of the idea considering the assignment
• feasibility of the production plan
• environmental impact of the project
• project’s ability to relate to the natural environment and outdoor conditions

Extra materials

To scout possible locations for your artwork at Maajaam, please take a look at the map
and panoramas from the Wild Bits 2024 exhibition.

For inspiration, have a look at short documentaries of Wild Bits 2024.

Main organisers

This Open Call is organised by Wild Bits and Maajaam.

Maajaam is situated in an old farmhouse, but is nonetheless operated as a media art experimentation residency. It lies on the frontier of these overlapping normalities, extending an invitation to contemplate, question and explore the aspects of a technological society, its influence on our behaviour, perception and thinking as well as on our surrounding environments.

European Capital of Culture Tartu 2024 is the main supporter of the current Open Call. Tartu was the European Capital of Culture in 2024, showcasing Estonia’s second-largest city, Tartu, and the surrounding Southern Estonian region. Tartu 2024 aims to leave a lasting impact by fostering creativity, innovation, and a sustainable cultural ecosystem that benefits future generations.

Partners

Kultuurikauppila Arts Center organises various artistic productions in Northern Finland. KulttuuriKauppila will be producing a high-profile arts program for the Oulu2026 European cultural capital year, including the Art Ii Biennial and the Northern Landscape art space.

Art Ii Biennial is an international art event held in Ii, Northern Finland, located 40 km north of Oulu, in June & July 2026. Held in the municipality Ii, known for its climate actions, the biennial is especially renowned for its environmentally themed artworks, reflecting both local and global ecological concerns. Northern Landscape is an artist residency and exhibition in Northern Finland. Northern Landscape 2026 introduces a temporary art space into the landscape of Northern Ostrobothnia. The exhibition consists of a series of environmental art works from Kuusamo to Hailuoto. One of the selected works will be funded by Kultuurikauppila Arts Center and exhibited in Finland, Northern Ostrobothnia, in the framework of Oulu2026 European Culture Capital program under the theme of ‘changing landscape’.

The European Union’s Creative Europe Cooperation Project “SPACE: Sustainable Production for Artistic Communities in Europe” will fund one of the selected works. The SPACE project partners are association “Ascendum” (LV), creative agency Kemmler Kemmler (DE), cross-disciplinary arts space Savvaļa (LV) and technological art exhibition Wild Bits (EE). Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.

The open call is supported by Tartu 2024, European Union, Kultuurikauppila Arts Center in Finland.