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OPEN CALL | ArtScience Workshops
The FUNKEN Academy is organising three interdisciplinary ArtScience workshops together with the MERGE, MAIN and METech research clusters at Chemnitz University of Technology and experts from the fields of art and science. Participants gain access to the partners' high-tech laboratories, receive mentoring from experts in art, research and technology and develop their own artistic experiment.

FUNKEN × TUC – Workshopprogramm

In keeping with the Capital of Culture motto “C the Unseen”, the MERGE, MAIN and METech research clusters at Chemnitz University of Technology are opening their doors to three interdisciplinary ArtScience workshops in collaboration with the FUNKEN Academy as part of the European Capital of Culture Chemnitz 2025. Students and graduates from Saxon universities of art and music will work together with technology pioneers and scientists to develop artistic projects that make research visible, audible and tangible. The results will then be presented at the FUNKEN Space in Chemnitz.
Three workshops will be held in parallel – one each in cooperation with TU MAIN, MERGE and METech. The FUNKEN Academy acts as a cultural interface and creates spaces in which artistic positions are given access to high-tech infrastructures. The thematic focuses are based on the core competences of the clusters and are accompanied on site by mentors from the fields of art and research.
The workshops are aimed at students and graduates of the Saxon universities of art and music; participants from all disciplines are welcome.

WORKSHOPANGEBOT

From nano to art: physics as an experimental material

with Sanja Star

What happens when physics meets creativity? This workshop invites students to explore physical phenomena and transform them into their own artistic practice. The laboratories of the MAIN Research Centre in Chemnitz offer both inspiration and raw material that participants can interpret in any form.

Students work in diverse, interdisciplinary teams and develop experiments with analogue or digital media, video, sound, performance or installation. Under the guidance of artistic mentor Sanja Star, the participants translate scientific concepts into original forms of artistic expression, combining different perspectives and approaches.

(c) Sergei Gavrylov

ELIZA’s Ghost – Sociality as Simulation

with Lenn Blaschke

The workshop with media artist Lenn Blaschke examines how robots and AI create illusions of subjectivity via language, movement and sensory interfaces. With systems such as MAiRA or Panda, artistic experiments are created that open up new scope between technology, perception and cultural projections.
Lenn Blaschke works at the interface of media art, virtual worlds and digital simulation. His practice combines VR, installations and games with questions of perception, reality and cultural norms.

(c) Lenn Blaschke

Common Matter – Researching together, designing speculatively

with Yana Zschiedrich

The workshop with artist Yana Zschiedrich focuses on experimental work with GEOBRIS – a bio-based and speculative material made from mealworm faeces. Participants will explore its aesthetic, technical and narrative potential, develop their own applications and document their experiments in a shared material archive. Both everyday tools and machines provided by MERGE – including 3D printers – as well as various techniques for moulding the material will be used.

Yana Zschiedrich works at the interface of art, material research and speculative practice. With GEOBRIS, she is developing an open family of materials that links ecological, feminist, ethical and poetic questions with technological processes.

(c) Marco Dirr

WE OFFER:

  • Participation in an interdisciplinary art-tech workshop as part of the Capital of Culture
    Chemnitz 2025
  • Mentoring & exchange with experts from art, research & technology
  • Access to laboratories/infra of the participating clusters (according to safety and usage rules)
  • Production budget for the exhibition production (lump sum; details upon approval)
  • Public exhibition of the results (12 November 2025) in the exhibition villa
  • Documentation (photo/video) and visibility in the FUNKEN network
  • Accommodation option if required (artist flats, limited capacity)

Requirements for participation:

  • Availability: 20-24.10.2025 (workshop) and 10-12.11.2025 (installation) and 12.11.2025 (exhibition)
  • Willingness for interdisciplinary work (sound/image/performance/code/painting/material)
  • Openness to documentation (photo/video) and compliance with laboratory safety rules
  • Presence in Chemnitz during workshop, set-up and exhibition
  • Max. 15 places per workshop
  • Rolling Admission: Incoming applications will be reviewed and awarded on an ongoing basis – by 10 October 2025 at the latest (or until the places have been allocated)
  • Degree or ongoing studies at a Saxon university of art or music (all disciplines are welcome)

APPLICATION

By e-mail to christoph@klubsolitaer.de – one PDF (max. 5 MB) by 10 October 2025

  1. Short motivation (max. 200 words): Which questions/approaches would you like to pursue in the context of MAIN/MERGE/METech or Art-Tech?
  2. Portfolio selection: 2-3 works or sketches
  3. Skill-Snapshot: Tools/Instruments/Interests
  4. Availability: 20-24 Oct, 10-12 Nov, 12 Nov (please confirm)
  5. Technical requirements (preliminary)