Application deadline: November 29, 2021
Located in Switzerland, the Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne / Swiss Federal Institute of Technology Lausanne (EPFL) is a leading university and one of Europe’s most vibrant and cosmopolitan science and technology institutions.
EPFL hosts more than 350 labs at its international campus in the Lausanne area.
Initiated by EPFL College of Humanities (CDH), and amplified by EPFL Pavilions, the EPFL CDH Artist-in-Residence (AiR) Program reflects the CDH mission of fostering transdisciplinary encounters and collaborations between artists and EPFL’s scientific community, by supporting up to four artists in residence per year.
The program invites emerging and established international artists and creative practitioners for three- to four-month residencies to realize innovative and visionary projects at the intersection of art, science, and advanced technologies.
EPFL CDH AiR Program 2022: Enter the Hyper-Scientific
The goal of the program is to further various interpretative and aesthetic avenues around the manifold scientific landscape of the EPFL through specific artistic productions. Forging encounters between artists and scientists in different disciplines, the program aims to establish a dynamic, critical, and inspiring platform for propelling new approaches and aesthetic investigations within the exponentially developing scene at the intersection of art, technology, science, and the humanities. The program functions as a facilitator and promoter of investigations in multiple directions, many of which will be discovered through the submitted projects themselves.
For its first comprehensive edition, the EPFL CDH AiR Program offers four paths:
Open Transdisciplinary welcomes international artists and creative practitioners from all disciplines and media to propose projects which investigate the fluid intersection between art, humanities, science, and technology and leaves applicants free to suggest the specific direction they would like to explore.
Wearable Technologies in collaboration with EPFL Nanoelectronic Devices Laboratory (NANOLAB) and Laboratory of Integrated Performance in Design (LIPID), invites innovative artists and designers, including fashion and jewelry designers, to explore the potential of apparel technology and wearable accessories and to imagine the next generation of smart wearables through creative approaches to fashion in general or specific items such as gloves or jewelry.
Interface Design and Digital Animation in collaboration with EPFL Reconfigurable Robotics Lab (RRL), prioritizes artists and designers working in the field of emerging technologies. We invite innovative artists and designers to submit a project to be developed in collaboration with the RRL, and which explores, reinvents, and questions the new frontiers of interface design and their applications in prosthetics and robotics.
Scientific Imaging in collaboration with the EPFL Center for Imaging, prioritizes artists familiar with imaging technologies, CGI, digital practices, and visual arts more broadly. We encourage projects that aim at exploring this unique repository of transdisciplinary and cross-scale scope, and to investigate its scientific aspects as well as its aesthetic and visual potential.
Regardless of these suggested profiles, artists coming from different fields are welcome to apply if they can present a clear rationale for doing so in their project.
Who do we want to reach?
Emerging and established Swiss and international artists, with a proven career path or clear potential, who are interested in harnessing science and technological interventions in their artistic endeavors.
We welcome projects in diverse fields: visual and media arts; film, digital, mixed-media and imaging; musical composition, sound, and experimental forms of music; experimental design and fashion; literature and critical and speculative writing.
What do we offer?
Travel costs and accommodation within the Lausanne region. Preferably, applicants will reside in the region during the entire period of the residency.
Monthly stipend and production budget.
Curatorial mentoring and supervision for the whole duration, including the final presentation of the project.
For detailed information about the program and the application process please visit our website or read the application guidelines.
Applications (in English) should be submitted by November 29, 2021 (midnight CET) at the email address: applications.CDH-AiR@epfl.ch preferably as one single PDF.
