COLLIDE International Award | art and science proposals call

COLLIDE International Award welcomes proposals from artists from any country who are inspired by the ground-breaking research environment at CERN. From all the applications received one artist will be selected to receive a prize of CHF 15,000 and a two-month residency at the lab during 2017. Moreover, the prize comprises a following one-month residency at FACT, the UK's leading media arts centre, to further develop the awarded proposal and to move into a funded production.

Established in 2011, Arts at CERN, the official arts programme of the European Organization for Nuclear Research in Geneva, engages with art at the cutting edge of scientific research. In the second year of a successful collaboration with FACT - Foundation for Art and Creative Technology in Liverpool – we are proud to announce the sixth edition of COLLIDE International Award.

COLLIDE is a unique opportunity for artists to spend dedicated time in one of the most important laboratories in the world, where crucial questions about nature are addressed. Ultimately, COLLIDE proposes to transform the way art and science encounters are understood, to encourage a deep and critical understanding of art and science collaborations, and to challenge new modes of dialogue and enquiry across disciplines.

Criteria of the call

The competition is open to artists of any nationality or age. Their proposal should reflect upon encounters between art and science, and offer challenging methods of collaboration and enquiry between artists and scientists at CERN. The scope of this proposal should also consider a second developmental phase at FACT, where the artists will have the opportunity to expand their research and test its applications through FACTLab’s facilities and engagement with a wide range of communities. The ultimate goal for the residency will be the research and development of new concepts in laboratory contexts.

COLLIDE Open Call for Entries encourages the participation of artists interested in the ideas described above, complying with any of the following criteria:

Artists interested in the cultural significance of fundamental research and scientific knowledge.

Artists working with scientific ideas, technology and concepts as inspiration for their work.

Artists engaging with an innovative discourse on contemporary culture, following ambitious standards of creativity.

Artists demonstrating an active interest in the institutional visions, research methodologies, and cultural engagement of CERN and FACT.

Artists pushing the traditional forms of collaboration between the artistic and scientific fields, approaching science and research from diverse angles of enquiry, and asking innovative and provocative questions in this respect.

Prize conditions

COLLIDE International Award grants an artist with a fully funded residency at CERN and FACT. The artist will spend the first two months at CERN, Geneva, followed by a one-month stay at FACT, Liverpool (not necessarily consecutively). The period of the residency will be defined after the announcement and it will occur not later than October 2017.

An individual artist or collective will be the recipient of the award. Two honorary mentions will be selected among the finalists.

The award for the winning artists comprises includes the following conditions: