Program Overview

Introduction to the Research-Creation Residency Program

The University of Montreal's Gallery is invested in research-creation initiatives, which take the form of artist residencies in the university's scientific facilities. A new project, in partnership with IVADO, aims to bring together artists and scientists to explore the possibilities of responsible and inclusive artificial intelligence.

Context

The project emerges from a desire to collaborate between art and artificial intelligence research, reflecting on the production of responsible, inclusive, feminist, and queer knowledge. IVADO is an interdisciplinary and intersectoral research consortium that aims to build and promote robust, rational, and responsible artificial intelligence.

Call for Applications

The Gallery of the University of Montreal is calling for professional visual and media artists to participate in a research-creation residency program. The selected artists will have the opportunity to develop documents or works that explore various objects or practices related to artificial intelligence.

Eligibility Criteria

To be eligible, applicants must:

• Be professional visual or media artists
• Have availability during the residency, production, and exhibition periods
• Submit a research intention, artist statement, curriculum vitae, and selection of images or videos

Evaluation Process

The applications will be evaluated by a peer committee composed of partners from the Gallery of the University of Montreal and IVADO. Shortlisted artists will be invited for a brief interview to assess the needs and feasibility of their proposed projects.

Support for Artists

Selected artists will receive:

• A residency fee of $4,000
• A production budget of $1,000
• Access to the infrastructure of participating artificial intelligence laboratories
• Exhibition rights according to CARFAC-RAAV tariffs
• Accompaniment by the Gallery of the University of Montreal and IVADO

Preliminary Calendar

• Application deadline: September 30, 2024
• Interviews with shortlisted artists: week of October 14, 2024
• Response to artists: late October 2024
• Residencies: series of meetings from November 2024 to February 2025
• Production and funding period: March to October 2025
• Exhibition: November 2025 to January 2026

Commissioner's Statement

The project aims to generate artistic articulations that explore the notion of responsibility in science, particularly in relation to artificial intelligence research in Montreal. The commissioner, Christelle Proulx, invites artists to submit proposals that interrogate aspects of artificial intelligence through a feminist intersectional lens.

Biographie of the Commissioner

Christelle Proulx holds a Ph.D. in art history and specializes in the study of digital culture through images, art, and vision. She has published several works, including the book "L'Agir en condition hyperconnectée: art et images ŕ l'uvre." Proulx is a lecturer at the University of Montreal and a member of the research team for the "Art et site" project.