The Berlin Institute for the Foundations of Learning and Data (BIFOLD), together with the Science Gallery at Technische Universität Berlin, has announced a new artist in residence program called “Art of Entanglement”. The goal of the program is to combine artistic and scientific perspectives of artificial intelligence. The program is endowed with a gross total of 30,000 euros. The open call was published on sciencegallery.submittable.com. Applications are open to artists based in Berlin who are interested in working intensively with topics and scientists in the fields of Big Data Management and Machine Learning as well as their intersection. The selected artist will have the opportunity to realize an artistic project of their choice at BIFOLD, the national Berlin Center of Excellence for Artificial Intelligence at TU Berlin, and the Science Gallery platform.

The Berlin Competence Center BIFOLD was created in 2019 by merging and expanding the Berlin Big Data Center (BBDC) and Berlin Center for Machine Learning (BZML). BIFOLD conducts agile foundational research at the intersection of Big Data Management (BM) and Machine Learning (ML), the key innovation drivers of artificial intelligence (AI) applications.

The advertised artist in residence program establishes the partnership between BIFOLD and the Science Gallery initiative in Berlin. TU Berlin is the newest member of the Science Gallery International network – the world’s only university network dedicated to public engagement with science and art. The selection process and the residency are curated and accompanied by the Austrian curator Dr. Claudia Schnugg. Claudia Schnugg is an experienced curator in the field of art and science. Parallel to her curatorial work, she conducts research at the intersections of art and aesthetics with science, technology and organizations.

“The scientific knowledge and potential of these new technologies is constantly growing. In parallel, BIFOLD is keen to fuel social, cultural and artistic engagement with these topics,” explains BIFOLD Director Prof. Dr. Klaus-Robert Müller.

“From the ‘Art of Entanglement’ program, we hope to gain new perspectives on how AI systems are used to solve problems, but also how they can undermine or highlight asymmetries and inequalities,” adds Prof. Dr. Volker Markl, also BIFOLD Director.

The residency program provides a framework to explore the role of the artist, art and culture in the rapidly evolving wave of AI innovation in the vibrant AI metropolis of Berlin. The open call closes on April 26, 2022. By the end of May, a jury consisting of curator Dr. Claudia Schnugg, members of BIFOLD, Science Gallery Berlin and external experts will select and notify the artist. The actual residency will begin in September 2022, and the artworks created during the residency will be exhibited starting in February 2023.

The selected artist will receive a gross total of EUR 30,000 to cover the artist’s fee, time at BIFOLD, fees for presentations and workshops during the residency period, as well as material and production costs for the artwork.