Call for Artists to reinvent innovation and disrupt disruption! =============================================
What? ----------------- ArtUp Escalator is an international program with an innovative, mentor-based curriculum, curated for the crisis-era artist. The program aims to provide artists with the tools and knowledge necessary for transforming their artistic ideas into global market disruption. The program is based on the tech industry’s standardized startup-accelerator model and provides a unique set of tools for artistic interventions in the market. Why? ----------------- The many crises the art world is currently dealing with—economic, artistic, conceptual—were not initiated by the Covid-19 pandemic. The pandemic merely reveals them as it accelerates the collapse of the entire cultural sector. This now brings the art world to a critical state: while some museums and galleries were forced to close their gates, those who remain open are experiencing a sharp decline in visitors (related to decline in tourism). What’s more, with the looming severe global recession, art budgets worldwide are expected to undergo extreme cuts. It has become painfully clear that in order to survive, artists must reposition themselves, across all areas of (art) making. Exhibition venues and strategies, audience interaction, medium of production, and, of course, funding, all need to be re-thought and revised. This moment of crisis is an opportunity to realize some of the “ideas that are lying around”, unnoticed, or so far deemed impossible to execute. We propose ArtUpism as a gallery exit strategy (seeing how those remain closed anyway), driving artists to explore new modes of artistic exploration and new arenas to interact with audiences. How? ----------------- The ArtUp Escalator program is a 6-weeks program, bringing together contemporary art and technology market experts, as mentors. Each week will host two sessions. Monday sessions will focus on the industry-standard themes as outlined in the program, provided by industry professionals. Thursday sessions will analyze the themes from the point of view of ArtUpism, accompanied by artists and theoreticians. *BUT WAIT, WHAT IS AN ARTUP?* -------------------------------------------------- An ArtUp is a startup embedding artistic ideology into market logic. An ArtUp is the process of taking an artistic idea out of the museum, finding the use-value of this idea while maintaining its artistic core, and re-positioning it in the market as a product. An ArtUp follows the startup model in that it is a company or project initiated by an artist in order to seek, develop, and validate a highly-scalable business model based on an artistic idea. OKAY, SO WHO ARE WE LOOKING FOR? -------------------------------------------------------------- The ideal participants in the workshop are artists (working across performance, new media, and conceptual art), non-artists, and critical thinkers who work individually or in groups, in spaces between art, design, programming. WHAT TYPE OF PROPOSALS ARE WE LOOKING FOR? ------------------------------------------------------------------------------------ Are you unsure whether your project is an artwork or a product? Are you certain no company would want to develop it? Do you hear the question “but why is this art?” once too often? The ArtUp Escalator program is looking for artistic ideas that are and can be implemented in bigger platforms than the art institution. Maybe your idea can be a product! Maybe your work is best experienced as a service in the market! Inspiration can be found—but not limited to—projects and collectives like: Google Will Eat Itself (Ubermorgen), MSHCF.xyz, The Yes Men, Peng Collective, New Ealam, Dis Collective’s streaming platform, Shmoogle.world. WHAT WE ARE NOT: -------------------------------- We do not teach artists how to better showcase their art, nor do we teach grant proposal writing or digitization of existing portfolios. While all these are very important tools for today’s artists, there are several other programs and resources for these purposes. EXPECTED OUTCOME OF THE PROGRAM: --------------------------------------------------------------- The goal of the program is to teach artists how to initiate their own ArtUps, and to provide them with the set of tools necessary for such a venture. Once our artists master those tools, they will analyze them critically to examine how these standard market tools can be subverted and manipulated at the service of the ArtUp. By the end of the program, every project will receive the necessary tools to continue its path towards unicorn glory, or opt for the artistic aura, subverting market culture altogether. https://www.wemakemoney.art FB @ArtUpEscalator ln ArtUp Escalator IG artup_escalator DATES AND DETAILS: -------------------------------------- Application period starts: July 27th Application ends: September 13th, 23:59 CEST The decision of the board will be communicated via email in Mid September A Zoom Q&A session, for those who are interested in applying to the program, was held on 13.8.20, see the recording in this link Escalator start: Mid October (tba) Program duration: six weeks Weekly requirements: 2X3 hour online sessions. Home assignments. Working language: English Participation fee for the program is 110 euros, to be transferred upon admission to the program (special consideration will be given for individual cases). You can find more about our mission and program in the following videos: Wemakemoney.art: Exit Through The Appstore Aleksandra Artamonovskaja (.art Domains) talks to Tsila Hassine, Yoav Lifshitz and Gabriel S Moses (ArtUp Nation) about blurring the boundaries between artistic action and market disruption ArtUp Escalator launch meetup (including a Q&A session) For more details about us visit www.wemakemoney.art For inquiries please contact y...@wemakemoney.art -- rohrpost - deutschsprachige Liste zur Kultur digitaler Medien und Netze Archiv: http://www.nettime.org/rohrpost http://post.in-mind.de/pipermail/rohrpost/ Ent/Subskribieren: http://post.in-mind.de/cgi-bin/mailman/listinfo/rohrpost/