Call for Residency Curator-Mentor
XR Artist in Residencies Program, Alberta Media Arts Alliance Society
Application Deadline: December 15, 2021
Term: January 15, 2022 – July 15, 2022 (Approx. 20 hours/month)
Location: Remotely from Alberta
Honorarium: $5000.00 flat fee
About the position
Reporting to the Executive Director, and working with the Residency Coordinator and contracted consultants, the Residency Curator-Mentor will help select and mentor the three artist-in-residencies that will research and utilize eXtended Reality (XR) technologies for presentation on June 23-26, 2022 in St. Paul, Alberta.
They will oversee the research and project creation from concept to dissemination and will act as a sounding board for all curatorial and artistic decisions. The Residency Curator-Mentor will also work with XR consultants in the community to provide specialized technical expertise. Monthly team meetings with staff and artists are expected, with individual artist meetings scheduled as needed. The position can be done remotely, as long as they are Alberta-based, with at least one trip to St. Paul, Alberta for research and project development (expenses covered).
Qualifications:
- Working knowledge and experience with XR technologies, including virtual reality and augmented reality technologies.
- Experience with mentorship and/or curation is an asset.
- Excellent organizational, verbal, written and interpersonal communications skills.
- Keen understanding and appreciation of the media arts community.
- Must be Alberta-based, but able to work remotely.
About the XR Artist in Residencies Program
There will be three artist-in-residencies based in Alberta that research and utilize eXtended Reality (XR) technologies, including Virtual Reality (VR) and Augmented Reality (AR). With gathering in-person restricted during the pandemic, artists have been delving into virtual and online spaces to host their work and now is the perfect time to explore and research making media art outside the constructs of the gallery and theatre spaces. The presentation of the research and projects that are developed through the residencies will be held during the conference, and our main goal is to develop and share these tools and skill sets to our media artists and media art organizations, so that they can continue taking this work into their own communities. The conference would be a platform for them to share their research and ideas through panels, workshops and presentations. The creation/presentation aspect of the residencies will be an accumulation of this research and provide the media artists who are attending the conference, a template of what they can potentially access with this emerging technology, while also providing media art organizations a template of the technical and logistical aspects of presenting this type of work.
These residencies will act as research residencies for artists to take on the task of exploring relevant XR technologies with the help of three other XR consultants in the community, in the form of additional mentorship and workshops.
The three residencies may include a:
- Virtual Reality (VR) research and project.
- Augmented Reality (AR) research and project utilizing St. Paul’s UFO Landing Pad (see below for more details)
Publication.
In addition to site-specific and virtual spaces that will host the research and projects, we are also hoping to develop a publication that will utilize AR technology, to further disseminate the research to media artists and arts organizations. This project will be presented as a complementing piece to the conference where attendees and those who are unable to come to the conference can still take part in the research at their own leisure. The publication will include images that have AR components that will build on its context and writings. This ensures that the themes and discussions that come out of the conference are accessible beyond the actual conference dates, for other media artists and media arts organizations to reference from for future projects and presentation models that use XR technologies.
About St. Paul, Alberta
St. Paul, originally known as St-Paul-de-Métis is a town in east-central Alberta. Cree, Dene, and Metis Peoples first lived in relationship with the land. Blue Quills First Nation and Residential School is also located in the area. The area also housed Ukrainian internment camps during World War I.
St. Paul is home to the world’s first UFO landing pad, built as part of the 1967 Canadian Centennial celebrations in an effort to attract both tourists and Martians to the community. The pad consists of a 30-tonne raised platform with a map of Canada embossed on the back stop, consisting of stones provided by each province of Canada.
About Alberta Media Arts Alliance Society (AMAAS)
AMAAS is a provincial service organization that celebrates, educates, and advocates for the media arts sector. We have been serving the media arts community and raising awareness to the public for over 25 years. AMAAS represents and is composed of independent media artists, artist-run organizations, and supporters of the media arts. We believe that Media arts are foundational to Alberta’s identity, culture, and our stories and perspectives are valuable to the public in Alberta, nationally and internationally. The Society promotes initiatives that facilitate equitable access to the organization and participation in its programs and services. Currently the membership base and member organizations represent over 6,000 Albertans.
AMAAS hosts approximately 60 media artists at a biennial conference which we believe is one of THE most important activities we undertake. The conference provides professional development and organizational capacity building opportunities, as well as excellent artistic content for media artists and media arts organizations. The conference has a wide and positive reputation for providing opportunities for shared learning and networking, resource exchange and other forms of collaborations.
To apply
For your application, please include a cover letter/expression of interest that outlines what excites you about this residency project and themes explored. A resume should also be included that outlines any skills and experience relevant to the residency program.
Please submit these documents by email to air@amaas.ca by December 15, 2021.
AMAAS recognizes that a diverse staff benefits and enriches the organization and arts community. We strongly encourage diverse applicants including Indigenous, Black, and/or People of Colour, people with disabilities, people of minority sexual orientations and gender identities, to apply. If you need assistance applying, or would like to provide an alternative mode of application (video or verbal), or for any questions regarding the role, please reach out to Vicki Chau, AiR Coordinator at air@amaas.ca.
