S+T+ARTS4AFRICA
The S+T+ARTS (Science+Technology+ARTS) initiative can be understood as the core crystal of Ars Electronica Platform Europe. Ars Electronica’s long-standing involvement in STARTS is part of our wider commitment to designing and testing transdisciplinary practices and sustainably integrating art-thinking and artistic practice as innovation catalysts for research processes and technology development.
STARTS4Africa is the first STARTS residency program entirely dedicated to promoting African innovation at the nexus of Science, Technology, and Arts. African change-makers in partnership with European players (with experience in STARTS) run 8 artistic residencies in Nigeria, Senegal, Ghana, and Tanzania. The residencies bring local and international artists together with regional stakeholders to highlight the rich, intricate, and locally shaped relationships between technology, arts, and culture.
STARTS4Africa puts us in dialogue with an all-but-forgotten continent in the conversations about technological development and innovation. It opens the possibility of a digital transformation that considers and incorporates local or regional specificities. This allows for new understandings of transdisciplinary practice, as well as alternative socio-political, technological, and planetary narratives.
In the context of this project, Ars Electronica organises the first STARTS Prize Africa, the African edition of the well-known STARTS Prize. A €15,000 Grand Prize and five €3,000 Awards of Distinction honour regional initiatives that promise a positive social, humanitarian, economic, environmental, or political impact, foster digital transformation within the creative sector or exemplify visionary pathways toward a diverse and sustainable society. Ars Electronica also coordinates the project’s dissemination events, including the annual STARTS Exhibition that showcases the winners and artists-in-residence at the Ars Electronica Festival.
In addition to STARTS4Africa, current STARTS projects with active involvement of Ars Electronica include STARTS in the City and STARTS Ec(h)o. In the past, Ars Electronica led the STARTS Prize projects and participated in STARTS Regional Centers’ activities such as Repairing the Present.
#starts4africa
- S+T+ARTS Exhibition (Ars Electronica Festival 2024)
- Re-build Together: Digital, human and arts-driven innovation in Africa (Ars Electronica Festival 2023)
- S+T+ARTS PRIZE AFRICA | Call for submissions (2024)
- STARTS4AFRICA Residencies | Call for artists (2024)
- STARTS4AFRICA Residencies | Call for hosts (2023)
Duration: 1 May 2023 – 31 October 2024
Partners (Consortium): INOVA+ (coordinator), Ars Electronica, GLUON, Association for Culture and Education PiNA
Associated Partners: Emerging Communities Africa, Buni Hub, hapaFoundation, Picha asbl, Goethe Institut
STARTS4AFRICA is funded by the European Union under the STARTS – Science, Technology and Arts initiative of DG CNECT under grant agreement LC-01960720. Views and opinions expressed are those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or DG CNECT. Neither the European Union nor the granting authority can be held responsible for them.