The Opportunity
Metal are looking to commission an artist to create a new AR (Augmented Reality) digital artwork for NetPark – the worlds first digital art park in Chalkwell Park, the well-used, popular municipal park in Southend on Sea.
The artist will be invited into residence with Metal at Chalkwell Hall, to co-create and develop ideas for the work in collaboration with academics (in Computer Science / Theatre) from the University of Kent and University of Essex.
The new artwork will be launched as part of Estuary 2020 in September 2020.
This project is supported by EIRA (Enabling Innovation: Research to Application) to research the impact and benefits of AR technology on our perception and use of outdoor spaces.
Introduction and background
This commission is offered by a partnership between Metal and the Universities of Kent and Essex, enabled through a grant from EIRA. It is linked to two Metal projects, NetPark, the world’s first digital art park based at Chalkwell Park in Southend on Sea and the large-scale festival Estuary 2020 (both these projects are explained further below – with links to their respective websites).
The commission will be developed in partnership with a Computer Science academic and students from University of Kent, alongside a theatre academic working in the area of audience participation at University of Essex.
Metal’s well-established Artists-in-Residence programme will bring the selected artist, academics and students into a period of research and development on site at Chalkwell Park, with follow-up residency time for co-creation, development and testing. The ambition is to create a site-specific AR idea and artwork that will appeal to a wide range of audience and at the same time increase our understanding of how digital and work with the outdoors can encourage new audiences, activity, longer periods of time spent outside and the resulting impact on wellbeing and behaviours.
Through the commissioning of the work we will ask a number of research questions to explore the use, and effect, of Augmented Reality (AR) in our real-world environments and the benefits to wellbeing.
- How and to what extent can digital apps increase the time people spend outdoors? How does using the AR change the way we perceive our surroundings?
- Is it possible to develop an AR app with user-generated or user-enhanced content that would gradually develop and encourage repeated use?
- The collaborative process between artists and technologists. How could we narrow the gap between the different ways artists and specialists work?
About NetPark
NetPark is the first digital art park in the world. Developed by arts organisation, Metal working with artist and curator, Simon Poulter it was launched in 2015 as a new visitor attraction for Southend. It hosts a collection of specially commissioned, site specific, GPS located digital artworks and stories for Chalkwell Park in Southend-on-Sea and free WiFi for the park. The works are engaging and playful. Each takes you on a different journey around the park, providing a variety of experiences of the park environment that are in turn surprising, funny, informative and thought-provoking. Designed for a variety of audiences, the range of works ensures that there is something to enchant all ages and allows for a shared experience or individual contemplation. All the works are experienced through a smart device, either iPad, iPhone or Android. NetPark was initially funded through an R&D Digital Art Fund (Nesta, Arts Council England and AHRC), ROH Bridge and Southend Borough Council.
NetPark also has a well-established Wellbeing Programme that links being in the outdoors, experiencing the digital artworks and creating your own work to improve health outcomes for adults living with mental health diagnoses.
www.netpark.zone
About Estuary 2020
A month-long, curated festival of visual art, literature, performance, film & discussion, Estuary 2020 will be the second edition of the large-scale festival that celebrates the spectacular Thames Estuary. Taking place on the river itself, and along the 60 miles of South Essex and North Kent coastline, it is an ambitious programme of new and existing artworks and events that explore and respond to powerful themes resonant to the Estuary, connecting communities from Shoeburyness to Rainham on the north banks (South Essex) and Ebbsfleet to the Isle of Sheppey on the South (North Kent). Estuary 2020 will build on the success of Estuary 2016. A broad constituency of partners across the Thames Estuary, have now come together to support the Estuary festival on a four year cycle, linked by a commitment to shared cultural development aims looking towards 2050, that are underpinned by the concept of the Thames Estuary Production Corridor (TEPC). The TEPC will create a world-class industrial hub for the creative and cultural industries, creating jobs and developing new talent to benefit the Estuary region, London and the wider South East.
The Estuary sea and landscape looms large in the daily emotional and practical life of South Essex and North Kent, with the ebb and flow of the tides impacting on the rhythm of life, leisure and work. One of the world’s most iconic and ‘hardest working’ rivers, often referred to as the liquid highway, its waters bind and connect the communities along its banks. Across the Estuary, we share the sensibilities, the challenges, as well as the opportunities that living close to such a force brings. The work for 2020 will be commissioned and curated in response to the Estuary and its myriad of histories, landscapes, seascapes, stories, myths and realities, but with two clear ‘prisms’ through which to view lines of enquiry running throughout. The first being Climate Change and The Environment. The second will be The Digital River responding to the a huge amount of data (both formal and informal) held on the Thames Estuary.
www.estuaryfestival.com
Who can apply / Criteria for artists:
This opportunity is open to:-
- Artists currently living or working in the EIRA funded regions of Norfolk, Suffolk, Essex or Kent. Or artists who are alumni from the following educational institutions:
- University of Kent
- University of Essex
- University of East Anglia
- Harlow College
- Norwich University of the Arts
- University of Suffolk
- Writtle University College
- Established artist’s with a proven track record and at least 5 years in practice
- No specific digital skills or prior knowledge are necessarily required. Metal works in an interdisciplinary way encouraging artists to experiment and blur boundaries.
- Artists who can demonstrate how their work might respond to the site and to the themes of Estuary 2020 – and to have given some thought as to how these might translate into digital form.
- Artists who are prepared to fully commit the time necessary to the partnership and process and to ensure that the opportunity is maximised.
The commissioned artist will be expected to:-
- Spend time in residence at Metal’s house, Chalkwell Hall which is on site at Chalkwell Park in Southend-on-Sea.
- Attend collaborative meetings with partners – these could happen in Southend, London, Kent – or by skype.
- Work to achieve the partnership aims for the project, including the research aims.
- Work within an agreed technical/software framework
- Work to set deadlines
- Be prepared to be open about their process and share/show work in progress.
- Be prepared to make a contribution to Metal’s websites and social media campaigns (e.g. images/video podcast / written contribution)
- Be prepared to make a contribution to Metal’s ongoing programme (e.g. give a talk at Future Park meeting / contribute to an event / or other.)
Examples of artworks might include:-
- AR Visual works that may have some form of the narrative element or not
- AR that brings objects or features within the park to life.
- AR Fictions and stories that can be listened to or viewed within the park
- Works that are trans-locational, ie an experience from one or more locations in the park
- AR Digital works that utilise code or input from viewers in a performative way
- AR Design based works that use colour, code or locative media in some form (including digital comics)
- Or other…..
We are not looking for:-
- Physical artworks, ie sculpture
- Works that require interventions physically into the park
Selection process:-
This opportunity is advertised as open submission – i.e. any artist who meets the above criteria can apply. A selection panel made up of representatives from the project partners will select.
The selection panel will be formed of representatives from:-
- Metal
- University of Essex
- University of Kent
How an audience will access the AR work:-
The final work will be geo-located within NetPark at Chalkwell Park and will be accessible to audiences 24/7 via mobile or tablet SMART devices. Works can incorporate sound, text, video and GPS.
Metal has an ongoing audience development and education programme as well as our well established NetPark Wellbeing Programme. NetPark is linked to all of these.
Budget
This commission has a fee of £6,000 for the artist (incl. VAT), paid in two stages:-
Stage 1: £1000 for the initial residency period to work up an initial proposal
Stage 2: On acceptance of full proposal a further £5000 to realise the work, paid in instalments agreed within the full contract.
N.B. An additional £1000 will be made available to the selected artist to cover travel and day to day expenses.
The costs for the technical realisation are funded through EIRA through the time and expertise of the academic and students at University of Kent – and are separate to the above fee for the selected artist.
The research part of the project is funded through EIRA and will be provided by the academic and students of University of Essex – and is separate to the above fee for the selected artist.
Metal will provide accommodation, as well as a working space and use of a digital studio with sound, editing and other selected software capabilities. This is separate to the above fee for the selected artist.
How to apply:-
Please complete the application form below:
NB: Please note that this application form does not automatically save. We strongly advise that you prepare your answers in a word file and copy and paste when you are ready.
APPLICATION DEADLINE: Friday 21 June 2019 (23:59)
For a full Commission Brief, please click here.