Irakli Sabekia and Špela Petrič win ArtScience Residency

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Ars Electronica Blog

(Linz, 31.03.2022) Ars Electronica and the Art Collection Deutsche Telekom have announced two ArtScience Residencies in 2022. The winners are Irakli Sabekia (GE) and Špela Petrič (SI).

In his project “Archive of Spatial Knowledge,” Georgian artist Irakli Sabekia encourages people who had to leave their homeland due to the Russian occupation of Georgia to tell their experiences and stories. These memories are located on an experimental digital platform. Submitted even before the war in Ukraine began, this work is unfortunately highly topical. The second ArtScience Residency is awarded to the Slovenian artist Špela Petrič, who focuses on the use of artificial intelligence in healthcare in “AIxxxNOSOGRAPHIES.”

“Archive of Spatial Knowledge” will be developed this year at the Sustainable AI Lab in Bonn and presented at the Ars Electronica Festival 2022. In 2023, it will be Špela Petrič’s turn with her project.

About Irakli Sabekia (GE)
Irakli Sabekia is a Georgian designer and art researcher living in Amsterdam. A graduate of the Design Academy Eindhoven, he has a background in natural sciences and visual communication, and his work explores the role of humans in relation to artificial and natural systems. By engaging with politics, society and technology, he aims to create spaces for alternative narratives and the re-evaluation of existing structures. Using both artistic and scientific methods, he creates installations, interventions, and interactive experiences to enter into dialogue with viewers and provide a multi-layered insight into the issues he addresses.

About Špela Petrič (SI)
Slovenian artist Špela Petrič has both an artistic and a scientific background. She holds a PhD in Biology and is currently an Art-Science Postdoctoral Researcher at the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. In her artistic work she combines science and performance to critically examine the foundations of our (bio)technological societies. Her work has been shown at numerous festivals, exhibitions and educational events, such as Centre Pompidou (FR), Nam June Pike Museum (KR), ZKM (DE) and Ars Electronica (AT).

ArtScience Residency 2022 and 2023 by Ars Electronica and the Art Collection Deutsche Telekom
Together with Ars Electronica, the Art Collection Deutsche Telekom is facilitating an encounter between artistic practice and scientific research as part of the ArtScience Residency. The Art Collection Deutsche Telekom addresses the social and political changes that have taken place since the fall of the Iron Curtain and aims to promote a broader understanding of Europe’s cultural diversity through art. The focus is on contemporary art from Eastern and Southeastern Europe. The ArtScience residencies are dedicated to artists from this region who work at the intersection of art, technology and science and are interested in exploring the social impact of technological development. Research and development around “Archive of Spatial Knowledge” and “AIxxxNOSOGRAPHIES” are supported by the Sustainable AI Lab at the University of Bonn.