Racor: research resdiency grant in the fields of art, science, technology and society between Donostia/San Sebastián and Barcelona

Aim of the call for applications 
The Hangar centre for art research and production in Barcelona, the Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) and the Tabakalera international centre for contemporary culture in Donostia/San Sebastián are now accepting applications for grants for the RACOR cross-artistic research residency programme.

The research residency programme is open to artists working in any creative discipline anywhere in the world who are carrying out an art research project which, due to the medium or language used or the concept on which it is based, in some way involves the technical and scientific world.

The selected artist or group will receive a grant to carry out a cross-residency split between Barcelona (Hangar and CCCB) and Donostia/San Sebastián (Tabakalera). The residency will last two and a half months, with five weeks in each city.

Between the announcement of the result of the call in April 2023 and the start of the residency programme in October 2023, the three institutions (Hangar, CCCB and Tabakalera) will draw up a work plan to optimize all their resources for the project chosen for the residency and plan a set of studio visits and interviews with agents and institutions that may be of interest to the chosen artist, as well as a carefully designed support plan for their processes.

About RACOR
RACOR is a pilot programme driven by Hangar, CCCB and Tabakalera to support any stage of an art research project in need of the three centres’ settings, networks and/or services that is to be carried out at the point where art, science, technology and society converge. The cross-residencies will also involve a research layer for the entire process that will seek to extract the learning shared during the pilot project.

This programme is part of the RED ACTS initiative driven by the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya (UOC), the new Barcelona Art, Science and Technology Hub Hac Te and the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation to create a common space for the whole of Spain that provides a fluid collaboration environment for institutions and projects that, despite their differences, share common interests and goals in relation to art, science, technology and society.

About the centres
Hangar is a centre engaged in maintaining (generating, updating, reviewing and supporting) the necessary conditions to facilitate art research and production in the sense of critical forms of speculation and practices capable of addressing the urgent issues and debates currently facing society. For Hangar, art is a way of producing knowledge. In view of this, it defends art research as a research category in its own right, with its own way of finding and producing knowledge. Hangar seeks to support content creators at every stage of their art research and production processes by providing them with a whole host of tools and services (some of which are managed by Hangar and others by its resident collectives) to help them access the conceptual, contextual, semiotic, material and technical resources they need and provide a setting for experimenting and for the free transfer of knowledge.

The following resources for shared use will be provided for the residency by Hangar, subject to availability:
• Software/hardware and interaction lab
• Interface and network lab
• Construction lab
• Audiovisual editing booth
• Workbench
• Accommodation in La Caseta, a house for Hangar programme participants and residents. The two-storey house contains two double bedrooms, one bathroom and a living room and kitchen on each floor. The residency is for up to four artists at a time
• Spaces: Ricson room, multiuse room, workshop room
• Relevant networks: Hac Te, XarxaProd, Xarxa de Fàbriques de Creació de Barcelona [Barcelona Art Factories Network]

The Centre de Cultura Contemporània de Barcelona (CCCB) is a creation and experimentation venue that seeks to encourage critical thinking on the main issues causing tensions in today’s world. The CCCB uses great freedom of form and a combination of different disciplines to carry out a programme in which thematic exhibitions are intertwined with research projects, series of debates and lectures, film or literature, and a wide-reaching mediation mechanism aimed at opening up the centre and actively linking it to its surroundings and wider ecosystems. The CCCB has been developing its BETA line of activities, with exhibition, creation and mediation projects at the exact point where the sciences and the humanities meet, for over 10 years. From this work space, the CCCB provides resident artists with access to its archives (the CCCB archive and the Xcèntric experimental film archive) and the opportunity to connect with its networks of collaborators and explore, together with its programming teams, the possibility of taking part in its public programmes.

Tabakalera is an international centre for contemporary culture in Donostia/San Sebastián that seeks to support the cultural and creative sector, help develop creative and critical capabilities in Basque society and promote access to culture and its enjoyment.
As a centre for creation, Tabakalera’s main goal is to boost talent, socialize contemporary creation and help the cultural and creative sector contribute to other sectors and society in general.

As a centre for artistic production, Tabakalera boasts various resources to encourage creation and the professionalization of the artistic sector. Furthermore, it has an international artistic residency programme under which participants are provided with accommodation, material and technological resources and support and advice from professionals in the sector.

Available resources for residencies at Tabakalera, subject to availability:
• Image and sound editing booths
• Photography lab
• Electronics, electricity and soldering station
• Digital fabrication station
• Design station
• Laser cutting station including other tools
• Dirty workshop
• Wetlab station
• Access to the collections held at Medialab’s media library
• Access to audiovisual equipment
• Shared office and work studio in the residency area
• Spaces: the Plató, the Workshop space, the Z Hall, the Patio and the Medialab spaces.
• Accommodation at the One Shot Tabakalera House hotel: a double room for single use with access to a shared kitchen and living room.

NOTE: RACOR is a research grant, not a production grant. Its resources and services are there for research and consultation purposes.

Intended recipients and fields of interest
The RACOR residency grant is for artists of legal age, regardless of gender and nationality and working in any discipline, who are carrying out an art research project which, due to the medium or language used or the concept on which it is based, involves the technical and scientific world and fits under one of the following fields of interest:

– Practices addressing the world’s current troubles from structural and political points of view in connection with the environmental, economic and social crises.

– Practices proposing settings for the arts, sciences and society to meet each other, work together and form hybrids, with the aim of conceiving and building fairer and more sustainable futures.

– Practices that unexpectedly involve technical and scientific paradigms and give rise to methodological innovations and ways of generating, transmitting and confirming knowledge that is different from the knowledge acquired in the world of academia and complements it.

– Practices that use and develop open source tools and methods in a broad sense, stressing the joint involvement of public, common and community matters.

– Practices whose languages and forms of expression are capable of creating new imaginations, sensibilities and aesthetics.

– Practices that are honest with their place of enunciation and provide a framework for situated critical thinking.

Duration
The grant lasts two and a half months, running from 1 October to 15 December 2023. Participants will spend the first five weeks in Donostia/San Sebastián and the last five in Barcelona.

• Terms and conditions
  1. Applications must be submitted in a single PDF file after completing the form on the Tabakalera website.
  2. Each candidate may include no more than one project in their application.
  3. Group projects may be submitted provided that one member of the group is chosen to represent it.
  4. The chosen participants will receive from the organizers:
  – Fees: €2,500 gross.
  – A research/production grant of up to €1,500 gross. This will include the cost of public presentations, which shall be designed by the artist on the basis that they provide research settings open to the public.
  – A travel allowance of up to €600 gross
  – Up to €1,500 gross for living expenses
  – Accommodation and 24/7 work spaces at Hangar and Tabakalera, including the use of both centres’ resources.
  – Research support and technical advice
  – Health insurance where required for non-EU residents.

Commitments
– To hold a public presentation of the project in each of the two cities.
– To deliver a final report of the project and an assessment of the residency within the two months after completing it.
– To include the following organizations’ logos in the communication of the project: Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation, Hangar, Tabakalera, CCCB, Hac Te and UOC.

Selection process
Applications must be sent in a single PDF document (attached to an email with a subject matter that follows this format: Beca_RACOR_FIRST NAME_SURNAME) using the form on the Tabakalera website.

The following information must be included in the document:
1. Personal details:
– First name and surname
– Full address (including city and country)
– Telephone number
– Email address
– Date of birth
– Nationality
2. A brief biography of the applicant setting out their main lines of work and research (maximum 500 characters, including spaces).
3. The applicant’s CV (maximum 1,500 characters, including spaces).
4. A description of the project, including:
– A summary of the project (maximum 2,000 characters, including spaces)
– Aims of the project (maximum 1,000 characters, including spaces)
– Expected results (maximum 1,500 characters, including spaces)
– Methodology (maximum 1,500 characters, including spaces)
– How the project will be documented and shared (maximum 1,000 characters, including spaces)
– Work plan and calendar
– Technical requirements
5. An explanation of why the project has to be carried out in collaboration with Hangar and Tabakalera (maximum 1,000 characters, including spaces).
6. Up to five images of the project.

* IMPORTANT NOTE:
– Applications that are missing any of the required information and/or are longer than the stated limits will be rejected.
– Applications may be submitted in Catalan, Spanish, Basque or English.
– Shortlisted artists may be contacted by the selection board for an interview.
– The selection board reserves the right to declare the call null and void.
– Applications may be submitted by natural persons only, either individually or in groups, in which case they must designate a representative, whom the other members of the group must authorize to represent them, and who will deal with all contractual matters.

Selection board
The selection board will be composed of the following members:
• a member of Hangar
• a member of Tabakalera
• a member of CCCB
• Clara Piazuelo, a researcher who works with RACOR

Assessment criteria
The selection board will consider each project based on the following criteria:
– How well the proposed research matches the above fields of interest.
– The project’s feasibility and development potential.
– The project’s relevance, importance and interest.
– The applicant’s artistic background or research experience.

Calendar
Application submission period: from 24 March to 12 noon (GMT+1) on 24 April 2023.
The results of the selection process will be announced in early May 2023
Residency programme: two and a half months, from 1 October to 15 December 2023.