AIR for European Resilience

The Air for European Resilience (AIR) project is making available for the first time the technology and know-how of two of Europe’s leading supercomputing centers in Stuttgart and Barcelona. In this way, AIR is born from the will of 8 organizations from 5 different countries belonging to different fields of knowledge – technology, research, industry, and culture – to establish new methodologies, processes, indicators, etc. that allow the incorporation of arts in science and digital innovation, so that collaborations are generated systematically and in the long term, valuing the role of art in science and industry and vice versa. Work is based on the concept of air, as a common and transversal theme. To this end, AIR will host a total of 10 S+T+ART residencies for artists.  

Domain

Biodiversity

S+T+ARTS / Funded by the European Union

Project page on starts.eu

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AIR for European Resilience

Details

About

In the context of an era led by science and technology that is disconnected from citizen participation and what is essentially human, the European Commission underlines the importance of including the cultural and creative industries in particular to increase Europe’s competitiveness and stimulate innovation. This is the way to move toward a more sustainable future, face new and systemic challenges, and anticipate the future of society.

Our role

In4Art will participate transversally in each Hub as an expert by mentoring artists and acting as co-production partners, following up on the outcomes (PESETABS), and showcasing/disseminating the results. In4Art will support and guide the project on the topic of art-driven innovation in its full breadth. This includes supporting the Hubs in becoming hubs for art-driven innovation. Making sure the residency projects are selected and executed with the desired outcome of art-driven innovation in mind and following up on those outcomes which are suitable for further development / scaling / implementation. To realize this ambition, we must make sure the residency projects are translated into other domains, such as the startup ecosystem, the venture capital ecosystem or the social impact ecosystem. In4Art will create linkages to these different ecosystems throughout the residency period to maximize the possibilities of innovation spill-overs to occur by the time AIR finalises.  

Artist/s

Antoine Bertin, Uncharted Limbo, Filippo Gregoretti, Filippo Nassetti, Jonathan Reus, Maria Arnal, Michail Rybakov, Natan Sinigaglia, Richard Vijgen, Hiền Hoàng.

Experiments

S+T+ARTS AIR Experiments overview

The AIR projects were formed around two key challenges:

As a larger share of humanity moves to urban areas, and technology changes drastically how certain industries and spaces work, our shared space becomes more difficult to navigate, manage, and sustain. The visible part of cities is filled and connected with the invisible: air, sound, smell, electrical fields, as well as societal constructs like safety, diversity, inclusiveness, closeness to nature, and others. AIR aims at joining artists and researchers for making these invisible urban structures visible and help explore the challenges that might define our quality of life and our sustainable future.

While AI-powered digital systems make the news by taking the world by storm, we are already in a world where we are surrounded by invisible algorithms that touch and influence our lives in almost every way: What we eat, what we enjoy, where we work, and how we live is decided or influenced by invisible networks of algorithms. As AI gets closer to us and more pervasive, we need to improve our way of living with them by equipping them with natural, spontaneous, intuitive behavior, leading to human-robot collaboration in creative activities but also its relevance for manufacturing / health / food / etc which improves productivity while decreasing ecological impact.

Each direction addresses unique challenges and opportunities for creating sustainable futures through innovative and artistic approaches. These themes encouraged the program to consider how air, beyond being a physical element necessary for life, can serve as a metaphor for interconnectedness, transformation, and communication. The artists engaged deeply with scientists, technologists, and experts from partner hubs, fostering new collaborations. Through these partnerships, they explored how air functions as a medium of physical existence and as a catalyst for dialogue, emotional resonance, and technological interaction. From exploring the hidden layers of urban ecosystems to investigating the potential of AI-human interactions, each project approached the theme of air with a unique vision.

Partners

Media Solution Center Baden-Württemberg (DE) / High Performance Computing Centre Stuttgart (DE) / Barcelona Super Computing Center (ES) / Sony Europe (IT) /  Fundacion Épica La Fura dels Baus (ES) / PiNA (SI) / RCR Architects 

Duration

April 2023 – November 2024

Investment

€1.740.623

Credits

This project is funded by the European Union from call CNECT/2022/3482066 – Art and the digital: Unleashing creativity for European industry, regions, and society under grant agreement LC-01984767. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union. The European Union can not be held responsible for them.

S+T+ARTS / Funded by the European Union

S+T+ARTS is about thinking out of the box and building bridges between Science, Technology and Arts.

STARTS is an initiative of the European Commission to foster alliances of science, technology, and the arts, that effectively implement a European approach to technological innovation centered on human needs and values.

Science, Technology and Arts form a nexus with an extraordinarily high potential for creative and reflective innovation.And such innovation is considered to be precisely what is called for to master the social, ecological and economic challenges that Europe is facing.

With disruptive methods of exploration and an accurate critical eye on the use of technology, artists decisively raise awareness of the societal challenges and global concerns we are tackling. The artistic practices are seen as innovative processes and have a wide-reaching potential to contribute to the development of new economic, social and business models.

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