Art & Technology grant program 2016/2017 concluded

On October 21, winners of the 2016/2017 grant program, organized by Garage in partnership with SDV Arts & Science Foundation, presented their projects to international experts at SDVentures art residencies in Riga, thus concluding the program.

In 2016, Garage expanded its grant program to include an Art and Technology section, which supports emerging artists and artist groups working with information and engineering technologies, and in the field of science art. As well as a monthly fellowship of 30,000 rubles, winning artists Natalya Egorova, Sergey Kasich, and Ippolit Markelov have also been awarded a two-week residency at the SDVentures residencies.

The concluding event took place at The Open Fields conference, an annual gathering for international scholars and artists working at the intersection of arts, humanities, and science, which is part RIXC Art Science Festival 2017. One of the prize winners, Petrozavodsk-based artist Natalya Egorova and co-author of her project, ornithologist Sergey Simonov spoke at Augmented and Virtual Reality: New Artistic Strategies session.

As well as attending the conference, the winners had the opportunity to present their projects to fifteen international experts, including: Katya Inozemtseva Garage senior curator, Anastasia Blokhina, Executive Director, Riga International Biennale for Contemporary Art, Renāte Prancāne, Executive Director, kim? Contemporary Art Centre, artists Wolfgang Strauss and Monika Fleischmann, and Inga Lāce Curator, Latvian Centre for Contemporary Art.

Natalya Egorova presented the results of her Martius interdisciplinary project, an interactive bionic structure imitating the vocal apparatus of birds.

Moscow-based sound artist Sergey Kasich focused on his current projects as part of the grant program, including FingerRing, a piece where a human becomes a multichannel mixing console, as well as numerous sound-art related events and workshops.

Moscow based biologist and researcher Ippolit Markelov showcased his technobionic MetabolA.I installation dedicated to the creation and control of new forms or life, as well as Mindcontrolled Mioperformance, an installation looking into the interaction between humans and machines via contemporary dance. One of his long-term projects Immortality examines this phenomenon through art and science.

For a year following the completion of the grant program, the winners will carry on their research and work.