Mural art open call

The high-tech research and innovations project PROGENY is calling for mural artists and mural collectives worldwide

 

TOPIC: The Socioeconomic & environmental impact of current electronic production and waste

 

PROGENY project is working on using soap bubbles/films for developing high-tech sensors and devices based on controlled conduction of protons and ions in contrast to only electrons. Progeny is a European funded Research & Innovation project which aims to resolve the unsustainable production of electronics and the consequential toxic waste: https://progeny-project.eu/

As part of the Dissemination and Communication, we are interested in funding a mural project in Sofia, Bulgaria.

 

The Mural should convey the following:

  • Electronic waste is a serious ecological and human health hazard that no one talks about.
  • There is power in the simplicity of a soap bubble: its molecular architecture is profound.
  • All forms are temporary like a soap bubble but the temporal nature of forms is their strength as they can alter and mutate into evolved forms as parts of a holistic system.

 

More context on the topic:

Socioeconomic impact: For most of humanity’s history, mining technology focused on maximizing profit by minimizing the cost of extracting materials. This is achieved by paying workers from developing countries about $0.65 per day. While at work, oppressed women, men, and children inhale lethal mineral dust from the severely polluted air.

The environmental impact: E-waste contains hazardous amounts of toxic substances such as lead, cadmium, mercury, polychlorinated biphenyls, and brominated flame-retardants. Its informal disposal and low-technology recycling generate additional toxic pollutants and heavy metals. Other negative externalities include deforestation, erosion, contamination, and alteration of soil profiles. Many developed nations have regulations to limit the pollution from mining activities, however, emerging economies lack such regulations.

The solution / The potential solution: Within a century of fascinating progress in electronics, viable proton-based devices are yet to be developed. Nature has given us efficient and intrinsically sustainable biological systems that are fundamentally protonic. Taking a cue from recent advances in organic electronic and protonic devices, Progeny targets for the first time, a radical, foundational, and sustainable breakthrough in device & sensor innovation, exploiting unique properties of designer soap films as advanced functional materials in proto-opto-electro-mechanical systems (POEMS). This has the potential to finally put an end to digging deep into Earth for materials. Rather we can use materials on the surface of the Earth - such as water.

{Please, see the attached file HERE for more information.}

INFORMATION RESOURCES:

 

HOW TO APPLY?

Applications are submitted only through the online form: bit.ly/progeny-muralart-opencall

Please, prepare the following:

  1. Your portfolio (website, Instagram account, Behance account, or a file)
  2. Short biography resume (up to 200 words)
  3. Your motivation and inspiration to work on this project (200 words)
  4. Text description of your artistic idea/concept (200 words)
  5. A rough sketch* to accompany your text file with the artistic idea`s description.
    *The sketch could be a collage, a scanned pencil drawing or a digital sketch (without getting too detailed). The applied sketches won`t be considered final. The portfolio and the text description of the concept are leading.

 

WHAT`S NEXT?

1-15.02.2023  – evaluation period;

15-28.02.2023 – 6 applicants** will be selected for a Q&A session and a detailed brief by PROGENY representatives;

1-20.03.2023 – sketch development of the 6 artists` ideas/concepts that they applied with – colored and detailed;

21-31.03.2023 – selection of 1 artistic idea.

**Each of the 6 artists will receive a 150 EUR artistic fee for the sketch development.
*** The same 6 artists and their sketches will be featured in PROGENY`s 2024 calendar.

Only 1 project will be funded.
Project implementation May - August 2023.

 

WHAT WE PROVIDE:

  • transportation costs to Sofia and back;
  • accommodation in Sofia for the project implementation;
  • artistic fee of 4700 EUR (gross amount including tax);
  • per diem;
  • painting materials, consumables, and a cherry picker (elevator);
  • professional photography and videography;
  • media coverage.

 

DEADLINE: JANUARY 31st, 2023

(!) Wall location, size, and format will be communicated only with the short selection of artists.

(!) It is required the applicants have experience in painting big-scale murals and working at height with a cherry picker (elevator).

(!) Every artist could apply with not more than 2 ideas.

 

For questions, please drop a line to:
opencall@visionary.foundation

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The mural art open call is part of the outreach effort of the Progeny project, funded by the European Commission under grant agreement #899205. The project is coordinated by TU Dresden and is managed by Wasabi Innovations LTD.

www.progeny-project.eu