Opportunities: Three Art Research residencies & one Production Grant.

We are thrilled to invite artists and collectives to participate in “Tilling Roots & Seeds”, an initiative offering four artistic grants. This includes one grant specifically dedicated to the creation of a groundbreaking artwork, and three grants for 6-week research-based artist residencies, with two residencies hosted in Bologna, Italy, under the supervision of Kilowatt Bologna, in partnership with Alce Nero  and Il Poggiolo Rifugio Re-Esistente, one residency will take place in Barcelona (Spain), supervised by Quo Artis, in association with Ferrer Sustainability, Tectum Garden, Fundació Catalunya La Pedrera and  Contorno Urbano.

Focus Areas:

The project seeks to illuminate the critical connection between planetary health and the evolution of our food systems, particularly in the context of the climate and biodiversity crisis. We encourage applications that integrate scientific and statistical data to offer fresh perspectives. 

We are looking for artists or collectives that delve into:

• new narratives or rituals regarding food production and consumption
• agroecology and other systemic approaches to agriculture
• transdisciplinary collaborations between disciplines aimed at better imaging the future of food; 
• food production as a practice of care 
• experiment practices of re-enchanting the world connected to the care of the land
• techno-agrarian society

 We welcome applications from artists and collectives centered around the exploration of land stewardship and the crafting of innovative speculative narratives, critical tools and experimental practices that challenge the status quo of current unsustainable food production. We also encourage the exploration of new rituals linked to the notion of land care and the collective empowerment of local communities anywhere in Europe. 

This Open Call will support:

• A & B) Three 6-week research-based artist residencies, targeting international artists residing in Europe. One residency will be hosted in Barcelona, Spain, and it will be divided into two periods of 3-week stays each time. These periods are to be scheduled with the hosting organization between November 2024 and May 2025, with mentorship provided by Quo Artis. Additionally, two residencies will take place in Italy, each divided into three different stays. These stays are to be scheduled with the hosting organization between July 2024 and May 2025, with mentorship provided by Kilowatt. All disciplines are welcome: architecture, IT, design, music, engineering, etc.
• C) One Artwork Production Grant aimed at international artists or art collectives, both established and emerging, residing in Europe and working with any kind of media and formats. The production of the artwork is expected to be completed by June 2025.

About Tilling Roots & Seeds

Tilling Roots & Seeds. Biodiversity Crisis and a better future for agriculture is an international cooperation project developed by Ars Electronica, Kilowatt, University of Barcelona and Quo Artis as lead partner. 

Tilling Roots and Seeds aims to enhance European cultural cooperation and capacity for artistic  research and practice on the topic of the plant biodiversity crisis and sustainable food system in  Europe. The  project also supports the role of art as a tool to awaken a critical understanding of climate change that sheds light on how humans generate and affect it through the current food consumption systems. The project assumes that innovative solutions require the engagement of those involved in farming and food production as well as the voice of communities, as innovation can derive also from traditional knowledge.
 

The overall objective of Tilling Roots and Seeds is to find collaborative ways to discover, regenerate and narrate the work of the farmers in every aspect, by working in a way that is interconnected and in harmony with the natural world and respectful of future generations.

This project builds upon the lessons learned through the EU funded project Roots and Seeds  XXI. It further expands the capabilities and opportunities of the EU creative sector to contribute to fight the biodiversity crisis and the environmental degradation of our times and opens up opportunities for artists to collaborate with the scientific and farming sectors to imagine future sustainable scenarios. It also transfers knowledge and disseminates good practices and results to the cultural and scientific sector as well as to the general public. 

Objectives

1. To experiment transdisciplinary collaboration between artists, researchers, local growers and consumers, to understand the relation between climate change and agriculture.
   
2. To build capacities on climate change and sustainable food production through art and creativity, building on the ability to reconnect humankind and Nature.
3. To present new narratives and rituals through artistic practices and research, that help building future sustainable food scenarios.