In the second half of the Capital of Culture year Chemnitz 2025, the FUNKEN Academy and Chemnitz University of Technology (TUC) are launching a workshop program for graduates of Saxon art and music colleges.
We are looking for artists who want to lead these workshops and are interested in the topics of Chemnitz University of Technology as well as in an interdisciplinary exchange with scientists and technology experts. In close cooperation with the project consortium and after a short research residency in the rooms and laboratories of Chemnitz University of Technology, you will design and implement a workshop program lasting several days for students of the art and music universities. In the subsequent maturation phase, they will supervise the resulting artistic works and accompany the exhibition on November 12, 2025.
In three interdisciplinary workshops, central research areas and core competencies of the MAIN research center , MeTech and the MERGE research cluster will be made accessible for artistic reflection and practice. Under the motto “C the Unseen”, innovative technologies and scientific methods will be used as impulses and tools for aesthetic and poetic creation. The project promotes transdisciplinary perspectives and makes the research activities of Chemnitz University of Technology visible as contemporary relevant topics for artistic debate and the public.
MeTech – Researching human-technology interaction
How can humans and technology communicate better with each other? In the MeTech lab, everything revolves around the question of how technologies such as virtual reality, sensor technology and artificial intelligence can improve the interaction between humans and machines. The aim of the researchers is to develop new methods and systems that not only make this relationship more understandable, but also more usable. How do these technologies affect our relationship with the environment, our social interaction and our cultural forms of expression when interfaces are created that are increasingly intuitive, understandable – and perhaps even empathetic?
MERGE – Rethinking materials and processes
This is where plastic, metal, textiles and smart systems meet: MERGE researches how different materials and production processes can be combined in order to produce more sustainably and conserve resources. It offers artists an exciting field in which to experiment with materials, shapes and industrial processes – from injection molding to high-precision pressing processes. Of interest here are not only the aesthetic phenomena of materials and mechanical production as a field of investigation for artistic craftsmanship, but also the speculative examination of the shape of materials – or their absence – in a state of formlessness.
MAIN – The world of flexible nanomembranes
The focus here is on a new class of materials: wafer-thin, flexible membranes that make tiny components possible – for example for technologies close to the body or wearable electronics. These structures range between the atomic layer and the micrometer range – and open up fascinating scope between science, design and future visions. Diving into the sphere of the nanoworld – through simulation technologies and data processing to make the invisible visible – opens up enormous potential for the development of technical utopias.
Application deadline: not specified