Digital Artist in Residence Exchange
Project Name
Digital Artist in Residence Exchange
Project Partners
The Centre for Creative Technology, University of Galway, Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology, Virginia Tech, TULCA Festival of Visual Arts and Solas Nua Irish Arts Festival, Galway Culture Company
Role of Galway Culture Company
Partner and Funder
Strategic Aim
This project falls under our third strategic aim;
Provide Supports to the Cultural and Creative Sector
Project Description
This two-week residency programme involves an artist exchange between Galway and Washington D.C and invites the successful applicants to explore new ways of engaging with digital technology in their creative practice. Beginning in July 2024, the Digital Artist in Residence Exchange will involve a two-week residency in Galway for a US-based artist and a two-week residency in Washington DC for an Irish-based artist.
The Centre for Creative Technology will invite applications from artists who have not previously engaged with digital technology in their practice, as well as those who wish to engage with new modes of technology or develop their existing engagements.
The successful applicants will be expected to bring their practice into dialogue with knowledge or research questions from the sciences or social sciences during their residency, including, but not limited to, climate science, data analytics, urban planning, etc.
Project Outcomes – what we expect from this project
The successful applicant will spend two weeks in the partner institution; at the Centre for Creative Technologies in the University of Galway and at the Institute for Creativity, Arts and Technology, Virginia Tech. While in residence they will have access to a range of creative technologies, including VR and AR headsets, motion capture technology, spatial audio and virtual production technology, and will be given technical support to the extent of the Centre’s capacity. During their two-week residency they will be expected to give a masterclass that will be open to the public, as well as to exhibit a work-in-progress at its conclusion. This final exhibition will take place in collaboration with the partners and will involve a virtual exchange element with the other artist on the programme.
The selected artists, who were in residence at Virginia Tech, were Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty.
Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty are collaborative artists living and working between counties Sligo and Leitrim in Ireland. They use performance, video, sound installation and storytelling, along with a detailed research process, to convey visions of transience and resistance. Their recent work tests the possibility of creating a new narrative identity for Ireland that will acknowledge our struggles, admit our complicities and build our capacity for solidarity.
Their project, titled ‘A Collection of Disarticulated Bones’ comprises short film, installation and a touring performance that intends to create a polyvocal response to different foundation myths of the Global North: institutional, pop cultural and embodied. Ruth Clinton and Niamh Moriarty are interested in how decisions relating to preservation and presentation can shape national and individual identities, in the context of imperialism, late capitalism, rising ethno-nationalism and polarised public debate on both sides of the Atlantic. This new body of work will be presented at TULCA Festival of Visual Arts, Galway, Virginia Tech New Music + Technology Festival and Solas Nua, an organisation for Irish contemporary arts in Washington D.C..
Ruth and Niamh gave a talk as part of the TULCA Festival at Galway City Museum, 2pm Tuesday 5 Nov.
See their talk at Virgina Tech here.
The selected US artist, who was in residence at the Centre for Creative Technologies, was Chelsea Thompto. Chelsea is a transdisciplinary artist and educator working at the intersections of art, trans studies, and technology. Her research based studio practice spans a variety of media which often include code, video, sound, writing, and sculpture and her work has been shown nationally and internationally. Born and raised in Iowa, she has spent most of her life between the Midwest and California and is now an Assistant Professor of Creative Technologies at Virginia Tech and serves as the Executive Editor of Media-N: Journal of the New Media Caucus. She received an MFA in 4D Art and an MA in Gender and Women’s Studies from the University of Wisconsin Madison.
As a research based transdisciplinary artist working across digital and traditional media, Chelsea Thompto uses questions to guide her explorations into the politics of visibility, and the trans body as a site of political violence and potential. Chelsea hosted a combination artist talk and workshop on November 15 where participants were introduced to the artist’s studio art practice and were invited to consider questions that drive their own research and academic/creative interests.
The Centre for Creative Technologies has received funding from the Fulbright Commission to develop this programme for next year, thanks to Galway Culture’s Company’s support.
How this project is funded
The Galway Culture Company, which is supported by the Government of Ireland under the National Development Plan through the Department of Tourism, Culture, Arts, Gaeltacht, Sport and Media.
Duration
July – November 2024
