Text by CLOT Magazine
SPACE was established by artists Bridget Riley, Peter Sedgley, and Peter Townsend in 1968, and since then has been a leading visual arts organisation. With its HQ in East London, SPACE provides creative workspace, advocacy, support and promoting innovation, running 20 artist studio buildings across 7 London boroughs and Colchester. SPACE has developed an Art + Technology programme with exhibitions and residencies.
Now, they are looking for the next round of artists for the Focus – Next Residency: a three-month residency at their new Art + Tech studios at SPACE Ilford, Redbridge. This year’s residency theme is Deep Play. Smartphones and wearables, gaming has infiltrated every aspect of our daily lives. We live in a simulation with virtual and augmented realities, artificial intelligence, and Machine Learning. These (new) technologies are making us move fast into a digital life that makes our lives look like a game.
Gaming is a tool used for consumption purposes. Considering the unparalleled exploitation of gaming as a consumer tool and its prescription as a remedy against the emptiness of post labour, can we make gaming into a tool that questions the ethical implications of these futures? SPACE would like to hear from artists who will build the worlds for post-labour futures, turning gamification upside down and showing us how to subvert or better understand the game’s rules.
UK-based artists and artist duos are invited to apply with proposals looking at, but not limited to, the following themes: gaming and gender, gamification and labour, post-labour societies, and gaming and the environment.
The application deadline ends Monday, 24 June 2019.
