CALL FOR PARTICIPATION:

Re-Invent Yourself: Cyborg Futures Technology & Art Collaborations

Open to Artists, Scientists, Designers, Programmers, Engineers, Makers and Technologists

Apply to: call2017@cyborgfutures.com

Deadline: December 19, 2016

Location: New York City

How do you create a new sense or augment those that already exist in order to engender new forms of expression, creativity, and understanding? Cyborg Futures is an open call and collaboration between artists, technologists, designers, engineers, makers, and/or scientists to create and develop technologies that expand human capabilities and perception. Inspiration is drawn from the biosphere, where animals and plants relate through infrasound, radiation, sonar, as well as other forms of augmented realities.

Cyborg Futures will team together artists of any discipline with technologists and scientists to help build new senses, or expand those that already exist, in order to pursue new perceptive possibilities. These unique forms of experience are the basis for the creation of a new type of cybernetic art – one that redefines the relationship between technology and the human organism.

RESOURCES:

Meeting spaces will be provided at New Inc, Parsons/New School, and Pioneer Works. Access to specialized equipment, such as 3D printers, laser cutters, and other fabrication tools will be provided on a project-by-project basis. There will be funding available for materials up to $500 per project.

Additionally, the Cyborg Foundation’s Neil Harbisson and Moon Ribas, and a network of technologists, artists, and others will provide consultations. Each team will also be assigned student interns from Parsons/New School MFADT program to provide assistance and document their collaborative progress.

All applicants must be consistently available for meetings and collaborations at least once a week through the duration of the workshop, which begins the week of January 23, 2017, and concludes the week of May 8, 2017, most likely on Tuesdays from 7PM – 9:40PM.

HOW TO APPLY:

To apply, individuals or teams should send their ideas now to call2017@cyborgfutures.com. Artists of any discipline should propose a project idea that utilizes a new sense, or augments those that already exist. The new sense or form of augmentation does not necessarily need to exist yet. Designers/engineers/makers and others should propose a project idea that explores the conception, design, and fabrication of cybernetic or wearable devices that develop a new sense or augment those that already exist. Individuals or teams can apply as both artists/designers or technologists/engineers/makers/scientists. Describe a project idea you want to try, the technologies you’d like to get into, or the skills you have to contribute.

● Please include info about your background you would like us to know about

● If you can program/fabricate, please tell us what languages you work with

● If you can’t program but are are an artist, let us know what you are thinking about creating

● If there are social issues you are interested in, and would like to highlight those with tech, let us know

● Please confirm that you are available for the dates listed above

When we receive your applications, we will match you up with others who have complementary skills. This will help you all achieve something together as a team. This process is quite ad-hoc, and depends entirely on the mix of applications we receive. We group people together around the most compelling ideas. This means your idea may not be selected, but you may be invited to participate nevertheless. Because we prioritize the creation of teams with complementary skills and ideas, sometimes we wont’ be able find the correct match for your skill sets. Those selected will be notified by January 3, 2017.

ABOUT:

Cyborg Futures introduces the human mind to new perceptual states through cybernetics and other technologies in order to expand creative, explorative, and communicative potentials. This project furthers the Cyborg Foundation’s mission to support the use of cybernetics as part of the body and begin to introduce the diverse possibilities for artistic practices that utilize extended sensory capabilities. There is a rapidly expanding public interest in cyborgism and augmented realities, especially as technology comes closer to delivering more immersive media experiences and advanced brain/computer interfaces. Cyborg Futures thus encourages acts of creation that can confound both a sense of self and the outside world in order to diversify the possibilities of human experience.

The Cyborg Foundation, cofounded by Harbisson and Ribas in 2010. It assists humans in becoming cyborgs, promotes the use of cybernetics as part of the human body, and defends cyborg rights. Harbisson’s work is focused on the relationship between color and sound, and humans and color. Born with achromatopsia, a condition that causes him to see the world in grayscale, Harbisson developed a cranial implant antennae connected to his occipital bone allowing him to hear colors by transforming light waves into their tonal frequency equivalents of sound, using what he refers to as a sonochromatic scale. He also hears spectrums that overstep the bounds of normal human perception such as infrared and ultraviolet. His antennae has integrated into his cognition and perception over the past ten years. Ribas, a choreographer and dancer, has been experimenting with different cybernetic devices that allow her to perceive movement in a deeper way. Ribas’s main research consists in developing the seismic sense, perceiving the movement of real-time earthquakes all around the world. Ribas then translates this new sense on stage, where choreographic pieces highlight movements inspired by the addition of a new sensory extension to her body.

Sensorium Works is a creative studio that operates at the intersection of documentary, art, and technology. It produces cinematic, photographic, and virtual reality content for a wide range of media platforms, exhibitions, and installations.

Pioneer Works is a center for research and experimentation in contemporary culture. Through a broad range of educational programs, performances, arts and science residencies, and exhibitions, Pioneer Works seeks to transcend traditional disciplinary boundaries, foster community, and provide a space where alternative modes of thought are supported and activated in tangible ways.

The Volumetric Society, founded in 2010, is a 2800 member organization with thirty-one sponsors that connects the body, brain and the physical world of natural user interface in our volumetric age.

Parsons/New School Master of Fine Arts in Design and Technology program provides a dynamic, challenging, and idea-driven environment to address the expanding influence of design within society and the increasing role of technology within design.