In July 2024, Somerset House Studios, in partnership with UAL Creative Computing Institute (CCI), opened applications for our 2024 Creative Technologies Fellowship. The Fellowship offers a unique development and commission opportunity for an artist who is looking to explore the ways in which computational systems can be used as part of a critical practice exploring social or environmental questions. Over the 12-month residency across both sites commencing September 2024 and running in parallel with the academic year, the artist will receive practical and technological support to develop a new work, which will be presented at Somerset House in Autumn 2025. The opportunity includes access to workspace, labs, technical expertise, and academic support to facilitate practice-led research, along with curatorial advice, producer support and studio facilities. Artists were invited to demonstrate an interest in one or more of the creative computing research areas outlined below, highlighting how this opportunity might benefit their practice, and propose a project they would like to develop throughout the Fellowship, with relevant and achievable aims using the chosen technology.
The artist was selected via a panel, including Marie McPartlin (Director, Somerset House Studios), Dr Eva Verhoeven (Programme Director, Creative Computing & Robotics (UG), UAL Creative Computing Institute), Murad Khan (Course Leader & Senior Lecturer, UAL Creative Computing Institute), and Studios Resident Xin Lui.
WHAT THIS FELLOWSHIP INCLUDES
- £7,500 artist fee, £7,500 production budget
- Shared studio at Somerset House and access to workspace and labs at UAL
- Research mentorship and academic expertise from CCI: Creative ML / Robotics, XR, Philosophy of Technology, Critical Design & technical support, including access to Slack / UAL channels
- Curatorial support for the development of the new commission at Somerset House
- Access to project space (including rehearsal space and recording studio) and year-round artist development and social programmes at Somerset House Studios
- Participation in public outcomes at UAL Creative Computing Institute (CCI), which could include a symposium, public lecture, workshops, etc.
MAIN AREAS OF CREATIVE COMPUTING RESEARCH
- Creativity, Machine Learning and AI: This platform explores how a foundational technology of the 21st century can be used in creative ways and examines how people will act with such technologies in deploying their personal and collective creativity.
- Human Computer Interaction: This platform explores how we behave with emerging technologies and what they will mean for products, services and culture.
- Platforms, Big Data and Digital Citizenship: This platform explores how the huge amount of data aggregated to the key platforms of our time can be understood, explored and contribute to a public discourse of a globalised and networked society and associated equalities dynamics.
2024 TIMELINE
- September 2024: Fellowship artist selected & Fellowship commences
- Autumn 2025: Presentation of new work at Somerset House
