Activities // Open Calls

Immersive Media Art Residency at Museum and Science Centre Tiima, Oulu, Finland

Residency period: 16 November–17 December 2026

The City of Oulu invites a professional media artist or an interdisciplinary artist duo from the CreArt 3.0 network to a four-week residency in Oulu. The selected artist or duo will develop a concept for an immersive and spatial media artwork for Visio, the Deep Space environment at the new Museum and Science Centre Tiima.

We Are All Role Models

We Are All Role Models explores tolerance, inclusion and belonging through hope. It invites artists to weave together the voices, values and quiet courage of today’s young people and to consider equality and acceptance as lived realities rather than distant ideals.

In an inclusive space where generations meet, the work may reverse the traditional direction of role modelling: what can young people teach us about courage, community, equality and possible futures? The proposal may address social and political questions, including experiences of exclusion in one’s own city, but should do so thoughtfully and constructively, with attention to participants’ and audiences’ wellbeing.

Possible perspectives include bridges between generations, communities and cultures; everyday courage; agency and individual choices; mutual learning; and interactive encounters that encourage a more inclusive future.

The Residency Project

During the residency, the selected artist or duo will develop a concept design for an artwork intended for Visio. The application must present the envisioned final form of the artwork, or a clear concept aimed at its future realisation. The residency is a focused development and prototyping period: a fully produced final artwork is not required by the end of the residency.

The residency outcome must include at least, if not completed artwork:

• a developed artistic concept describing the intended final artwork;
• a demo or prototype demonstrating its immersive, spatial or interactive approach;
• a preliminary technical plan and description of the audience experience;
• an outline of the further production design.

The concept and demo should aim towards either an approximately 5–7-minute immersive audiovisual work or an interactive experience. Other formats may be proposed if they make convincing use of the environment.

Visio and the Deep Space Environment

Visio is part of the newly opened Museum and Science Centre Tiima in Oulu, where science, art, history and new technologies meet. Its immersive environment uses Ars Electronica’s Deep Space technology and follows the corresponding technical requirements. Applicants should familiarise themselves with the environment and specifications on the Ars Electronica Deep Space 8K website and DeepSpace · GitHub.

The environment supports large-scale wall and floor projection, audiovisual and 3d content, spatial experience and audience interaction. Experience of immersive environments, interactive media, projection-based art, game engines, spatial sound or large-scale audiovisual production is an advantage.

Community and Research

The selected artist or duo may work with local young people, communities or other groups during the residency. Applicants may, if they wish, outline the types of local communities or groups they would be interested in engaging with, and/or possible approaches to involving them in the development of the artwork. This could include dialogue, shared research, storytelling or other forms of exchange.

The precise working method will be developed together with the artist, the curator of Visio and the CreArt Oulu team.

The residency may also build on the artist’s previous community-based work, research or artistic material from their own city. Such material may be brought into dialogue with local perspectives in Oulu, creating connections between communities across the CreArt network.

Participation must be based on informed consent, respectful facilitation and appropriate handling of personal and audiovisual material. The artist should avoid placing an unreasonable emotional burden on participants when working with sensitive experiences such as exclusion, racism or discrimination.

Who Can Apply?

The call is open to one professional media artist or an artist duo whose complementary practices may combine media art with sound art, performance, choreography, storytelling, animation, game design or participatory art.

Relevant practices include moving image and audiovisual art, immersive or spatial media, interactive art, digital storytelling, animation or game-engine-based art, sound art, performance and technology, and interdisciplinary media art.

Applicants must be born, resident or professionally based in one of the following CreArt partner cities: Valladolid (Spain), Aveiro (Portugal), Lublin (Poland), Skopje (North Macedonia), Kaunas (Lithuania), Rouen or Clermont-Ferrand (France), Venice (Italy), Liepāja (Latvia), České Budějovice (Czech Republic) or Regensburg (Germany).

Also eligible are members of the Croatian Association of Fine Artists (HDLU); Ukrainian artists applying through Artists Council Dialogue in Lviv; and artists connected to the associated partners Atelierhaus Salzamt in Linz and Bluecoat in Liverpool.

What Should the Application Include?

All documents listed below must be submitted in English in a single PDF file:

1. Concept proposal, maximum 2-3 pages, presenting the central artistic idea and its connection to We Are All Role Models, including the envisioned final form of the artwork, its immersive, spatial and/or interactive approach, the intended audience experience, and any local or participatory elements. The proposal should also outline how the concept could be demonstrated during the residency through a demo or other work-in-progress presentation at the end of the residency. Applicants may include a storyboard, mood board, sketches, visual references or relevant links to support the proposal.
2. Preliminary technical idea, including the anticipated use of image, sound, interaction, software or equipment, maximum 1 page.
3. Outline work plan for the five-week residency, maximum 1 page.
4. Artist CV or CVs and a portfolio or links to relevant previous works, maximum 3 works.
5. Brief motivation for working in Oulu and in the Visio environment.
6. For duos, a short description of roles and responsibilities
7. A scan of your ID card or passport.
    

Selection

The selection will be based on the artistic quality and originality of the proposal, its relevance to the theme, its use of the immersive environment, and its feasibility within the residency period. The selection will be made by representatives of CreArt Oulu and Museum and Science Centre Tiima / Visio.

Residency Support and Artist Fee

The selected artist or duo will receive:

• artist fee of €3,500 for one artist or €6,400 in total for an artist duo;
• travel to and from Oulu;
• accommodation in Oulu for the residency period;
• daily allowances;
• local curatorial and technical support and access to Visio at agreed times;
• support in connecting with relevant local communities when needed.

Any later full production of the final artwork will be subject to a separate production agreement and budget.

Schedule

• Open Call published: 20 October 2026
• Application deadline: 1 November 2026 at 23:59 CET
• Selection: 2–3 November 2026
• Selected artist or duo notified: 4 November 2026
• Arrival in Oulu: 16 November 2026
• Residency: 16 November–17 December 2026
• Concept presentation and demo: 16 December 2026
• Final delivery and departure: 17 December 2026
• Optional departure date: 18 December 2026, subject to travel arrangements

The schedule is fixed because the CreArt 3.0 project period ends on 31 December 2026.

How to Apply

Submit the application through the CreArt Open Calls platform by the stated deadline.

For more information:

Taina Kulmala, Project Coordinator, CreArt Oulu, taina.kulmala@ouka.fi

Maria Gullsten, Curator, Oulu Museum and Science Centre Tiima, maria.gullsten@ouka.fi

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