Call for Web Residencies No. 20 »Tools for Citation«

About

Each morning, Charles walks his dog, Lulu, and listens to an audio book. On one such morning, the book was Modern Occultism, read aloud by its author. For each page, Mitch Goldstein narrated the body of the text as well as the inline footnotes. Charles was struck that Goldstein didn’t relegate the footnotes to the end as a secondary text, but rather continued for the twenty-odd hours with this back and forth: body, footnote, body, footnote. The reference was treated with the same importance as the authored text.

Mindy considered a similar inversion. In 2020, with Laura Coombs, they led a publishing workshop on the asterisk that asked participants to punctuate primary sources with annotations of text, audio, and image. This co-authored publication suggested that revealing citations was as important as the body text. In their opening lecture, they introduced some references: Ursula K. Le Guin’s baskets, Octavia Butler’s »primitive hypertext,« and Ryan Gander’s loose associations. This might be part of their »learning trail.«

Later, at a Web3 conference held in the San Jacinto Mountains of California, Charles gave a lecture called »Here for the Wrong Reasons.« He prompted the audience to identify where one’s gaze is focused, but also understand why it’s focused there. It was an exercise in recognizing the learning trail. An environmental analogy that Charles and Mindy often mention is that of desire lines, or paths that pedestrians take informally, rather than taking a sidewalk; a desire line is a well-worn ribbon that one sees cutting across a patch of grass, or well-trod paths in the snow. We might take »footnotes« literally then – the »foot« creates »notes« that make the path. More feet make the path more defined. Our learning trail for citational principles might include Luiza Dale’s disruptive footnote, Legacy Russell’s theory »on footnotes,« Leslie Dick’s free associations, Damon Zucconi’s »thing-shaped holes,« among many others.

»Tools« have a connotation of usefulness and productivity, but a tool could also be a breaking point, a sieve, an index, a call to action, a publication, a web experiment, or an open-ended platform.

»Citations« often appear in academic and longform texts, but a citation can also be a tableau, a learning trail, a history, a library, and a focus on the »we.«

We’d love to see your tools for citation.

Your proposals will be reviewed by Charles and Mindy, and the Digital Solitude team. Charles Broskoski is one of the many co-founders of Are.na, a platform for connecting ideas and building knowledge. Mindy Seu is a UCLA Professor who makes work about technology-driven performance and publication. Both are very interested in expansive citational practices.

(If helpful, all links can be found here).

Text: Charles Broskoski and Mindy Seu

The Format

This open call encourages proposals of artistic projects that explore the practice of citation from a conceptual and theoretical frame.

Selected projects should be carried out in open-source formats that are well-documented, shareable, and consider the accessibility of its users, who may range in age, race, gender, economic class, and ability.

Grant

Six project proposals will be selected and rewarded with an online residency and a grant of 1.200 euros.

Timeline

Call release: mid November 2024
Deadline for applications: December 15, 2024 (midnight IDLW/ UTC−12:00)
Announcement of the jury’s decision (via mail): late December 2024
The Web Residency starts on January 27, 2025
Launch Web Residency projects: late March 2025

Web Residencies

In 2016, Akademie Schloss Solitude launched Web Residencies to promote young talents from the international digital scene and artists from all disciplines dealing with web-based practices. For each call, Digital Solitude, together with the curator or cooperation partners, selects four project proposals whose creators receive an online residency and a grant.

Artists, collectives, associations, and initiatives of all kinds are invited to experiment with digital technologies and new art forms and reflect on the topics set by the curators or collectives. Web Residencies are carried out online, and the works are presented online.

Artists of all disciplines as well as former Solitude fellows may apply. There is no age limit.

FAQ

Is it possible to apply with more than one project?
No. We accept only one submission per applicant (individual artist or collectives).

Is it possible to apply with an already existing project?
Yes, if the project is not finished, is process-oriented, and allows for embedding in Digital Solitude’s online environment.

How many projects will be selected?
For this year’s call, six project proposals will be selected and rewarded with an online residency.

Call Team

Charles Broskoski
Charles Broskoski is the CEO and co-founder of Are.na, a platform for organizing knowledge and connecting ideas. He is based in Hudson, NY.

Mindy Seu
Mindy Seu is a designer and technologist based in New York City and Los Angeles, currently teaching as an Associate Professor at University of California, Los Angeles in the Department of Design Media Arts. Her expanded practice involves archival projects, techno-critical writing, performative lectures, and design commissions. Mindy’s ongoing Cyberfeminism Index, which gathers three decades of online activism and net art, was commissioned by Rhizome, presented at the New Museum, and awarded a Graham Foundation Grant.

Digital Solitude
Since 2016, the Digital Solitude program of the international Artist-in-Residence Program Akademie Schloss Solitude in Stuttgart has focused on the interrelationship of physical and digital space. Digital Solitude promotes the public visualization and communication of the themes of the Solitude network and initiates innovative and alternative approaches in dealing with digital media and technologies. The program promotes the speculative and critical examination of artistic practice and media developments within digital culture. The application and transfer of knowledge about open-source practices, the design of low-threshold access and the enabling of collaborative processes and amplifying of polyphonic voices play a decisive role in this process. Akademie Schloss Solitude maintains lasting relationships with its international network of fellows.

Selection Panel

Charles Broskoski is the CEO and co-founder of Are.na, a platform for organizing knowledge and connecting ideas. He is based in Hudson, NY.

Sarah Donderer is Coordinator for Digital Cultures at Akademie Schloss Solitude. She is responsible for the program Digital Solitude, promoting international and local developments of contemporary art, transcultural and interdisciplinary exchange, and supporting artists and writers as they pursue critical artistic productions and new experimental directions and carry them out into the world. Donderer has previously worked as a curator at ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe, Germany, with focus on the intersections of art, science, and technology.

Mindy Seu is a designer and technologist based in New York City and Los Angeles, currently teaching as an Associate Professor at University of California, Los Angeles in the Department of Design Media Arts. Her expanded practice involves archival projects, techno-critical writing, performative lectures, and design commissions. Mindy’s ongoing Cyberfeminism Index, which gathers three decades of online activism and net art, was commissioned by Rhizome, presented at the New Museum, and awarded a Graham Foundation Grant.

Nataša Vukajlović
Nataša Vukajlović’s interdisciplinary background is shaped by her work intersecting production, curation, and communication of artistic and scientific projects. She is passionate about exploring how technology shapes our contemporary society.