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Website Regional S+T+ARTS Centers with all artists and their projects
Website Regional S+T+ARTS Center OÖ
(Linz, February 8, 2022) The 21 residencies announced at the end of 2021 as part of the European Commission’s “Regional S+T+ARTS Center” initiative have now been awarded. Berlin-based artists Kat Austen and Fara Peluso received the six-month residency at the S+T+ARTS Center Upper Austria, which is endowed with 40,000 euros. Together with experts from Ars Electronica, the JKU and Greiner, they will tackle the project “Circular Records,” which aims to make records from biomaterials rather than environmentally harmful vinyl.
Circular Records
Circular Records focuses on the environmental impact of media art, or more specifically sound art, and is looking for carbon-free or low-carbon ways to produce recordings. The goal is to offer an alternative to vinyl records, which are popular but also cause pollution. In the project, artists Kat Austen and Fara Peluso will develop, test, and combine biomaterials to attain the material properties needed for making records. The end result will be a prototype experimental music album (“This Land is Not Mine”) that addresses the issue of the fossil fuel industry.
About Kat Austen and Fara Peluso
Kat Austen develops media installations, music performances and participatory works. Her artistic practice focuses on environmentally relevant issues, drawing on extensive research to explore how to move towards a more socially and environmentally just future. As part of Circular Records, Kat Austen will be working closely with artist and designer Fara Peluso, who has a wealth of expertise in biology and biomaterials. Austen already has a number of residencies under her belt, including at the Institute for Advanced Sustainability Studies in Potsdam and the Cultural Institute (Climate Track) at the University of Leeds. Fara Peluso developed substantial expertise around biomaterials during a two-year art design residency “Mind the Fungi” at the Technical University of Berlin. Both artists are based in Berlin.
Regional S+T+ARTS Center
The regional S+T+ARTS Centers are part of the European Commission’s S+T+ARTS initiative, which explores and exploits the innovative potential of the interplay between science, technology and art. The program of regional S+T+ARTS Centers recently sought out interesting projects to be further developed during six-month residencies. The “Repairing the Present” project brings together 12 leading European cultural and art institutions as well as innovation and cleantech centers. 21 residencies reflecting pan-European or global issues have just been awarded. This year, artists such as Olga Kisseleva, Adriana Knouf, Filip Van Dingenen, Susi Gutsche, Penelope Cain, Markus Jeschaunig, Lugh O’Neill, Kat Austen and Fara Peluso, and others, were selected. The results of the S+T+ARTS residencies will be presented in exhibitions, curated in collaboration with Manuel Cirauqui, at the ZKM (Center for Art and Media) in Karlsruhe, at MAXXI, at the National Museum of 21st Century Arts in Rome, at the MEET Digital Culture Center in Milan, and at the hybrid conference S+T+ARTS Day at the Ars Electronica Festival in Linz this fall.
Photo:
Circular Records / Photo: Fara Peluso / Printversion
Photo:
Kat Austen / Photo: Kat Austen / Printversion
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Fara Peluso / Photo: Fara Peluso / Printversion
Video Circular Records
