Open Call - Xu Bing Space Art Residency Program

Dear all,

We are pleased to present you to the Xu Bing Space Art Residency Program. Since its launch on February 3, 2024, the program has produced 44 artworks by 38 artists, conducted 66 filming sessions, and has continued to draw interest from international art institutions and curators.

With the retirement of the SCA-1 art satellite, the project embarked on its second phase, opening its doors to a wider circle of participants through an open call. This residency program is centered on the fourth artificial satellite of the Star Chain of Arts Project (hereinafter referred to as “SCA-3”). SCA-3 was successfully launched on February 3, 2024, at 11:06 a.m., aboard the Jielong-3 (Y3) Rocket from the waters near Yangjiang, Guangdong, and entered orbit smoothly. The satellite is designed with a three- year operational lifespan.

The Star Chain of Arts Project, led by artist Xu Bing, focuses on launching a series of satellites to create an independent and interconnected space art platform. The initiative aims to fully utilize the capabilities of each satellite to explore and expand the possibilities of interstellar curation. Its goal is to break down boundaries between Earth and outer space, technology and art, and across other disciplines.

Guided by the principles of participation and sharing, Xu Bing has envisioned the Xu Bing Space Art Residency Program as a platform that welcomes artists and individuals from diverse fields, both in China and internationally. Participants are granted shared access to the satellite to realize their art projects, fostering a collaborative environment in which they can develop their own work while collectively exploring and advancing the field of space art. The residency program is jointly organized by Xu Bing Studio and WanHoo Culture Media Co., LTD, with technical support from Beijing Ubinexus Technology Co., Ltd and Chengdu Guoxing Aerospace Technology Co., Ltd

Resources and Commitments

Following review by the organizing committee, selected proposals will be invited to join the residency program. Once an agreement is reached with the artist and the project is established, we will assign the access associated with the use of the satellite to the project based on the conditions required for the artist and the creation of their artwork.

All artists will be asked to sign an agreement, which will set appropriate terms for the scope and duration of the project, the expected results, the involvement of third parties, intellectual property rights, licenses and ownership. All electronic files uploaded to the satellite screen will be up-annotated via a private satellite measurement and control center in mainland China. The satellite project team will try to accommodate the artist's creative requirements as much as possible.

The program does not require any participation fees.

Technical details

A. The low Earth orbit satellite is currently operating at an altitude of approximately 335 kilometers, completing one revolution around the Earth every 90 minutes.

B. The satellite body has a display screen facing the space along with a selfie camera, which can upload all kinds of electronic documents, including images and videos, to the screen of the satellite body through the ground control station and take photos or images of the same frame with the space environment through its selfie camera.

Satellite screen and selfie camera parameters:

1. Display side: a 10.1-inch screen with the resolution of 1280 * 800 pixels

2. Shooting end: a camera with the resolution of 1920*1080 pixels

3. Upload video and image formats: mp4 or jpg sequence, 800*1280 pixels, single-track duration 180 seconds, 25 frames per second

4. Download single-track video footage (mp4) or continuous image sequences (jpg), 1920*1080 pixels, duration 180 seconds, 25 frames per second

5. 72 hours between each shooting track

6. A platform that supports program uploading and can run on the satellite platform equipment, with the display screen showing the running process and results synchronously.

C. The satellite is equipped with numerous functions such as AI programs and on-board computers, which can interact with artists or record their creative process in outer space by video recording the whole process.

System Development Environment Constraints

Development Environment Constraints

1. Operating System

The operating system installed for the Satellite Screen System is Ubuntu 18.04 with a graphical interface.

2. Embedded Development Environment

The Satellite Screen System utilizes an embedded system, requiring the use of toolchains and development environments suitable for this system architecture during development.

Software Constraints

1. Software Compatibility

The Satellite Screen System runs on the ARM architecture with the NVIDIA Tegra processor (Jetson TX2). Ensure software compatibility with this architecture and note that software designed for x86 architecture is not applicable.

2. Software Size Requirements

The total size of the software should not exceed 200MB, and the software's runtime memory usage should not exceed 2GB.

3. Software Library and Driver Compatibility

Ensure that the selected software libraries and drivers are compatible with the hardware and system of the Satellite Screen. (NVIDIA provides the JetPack software development kit for the Jetson platform, which includes necessary drivers and tools.)

Possible Forms of Collaboration

We welcome a wide range of collaborative possibilities and look forward to exploring innovative ideas with participants. In addition to utilizing satellite resources for entirely new, independent art projects, other potential forms of collaboration will also be considered:

A. Integrating satellite resources with the artist’s existing or ongoing art projects on Earth to foster interaction and dialogue between the two.

B. Collaborating with the artist’s exhibitions on Earth to create “Earth Space interactions” in collaboration with their partnering museums, galleries, or institutions. This may include simultaneous exhibitions held both on Earth and in space. We are open to working with the artist’s partners, with the period and methods of collaboration to be jointly determined by all three parties.

C. We support academic exchange in the field of space art and are open to assisting curators in utilizing the satellite to further their research projects.

D. The satellite project has successfully collaborated with The Education University of Hong Kong, Space Art and Astronomy Society of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, and Beijing Moonshot Academy. We continue to seek partnerships with more educational institutions, encouraging young people to carry out diverse experiments using the art satellite to inspire interdisciplinary thinking between art and technology. We also welcome schools to collaborate on the development of related courses and extracurricular clubs.

E. To foster exchange among resident artists, multiple artists may share satellite resources during their residency to create collaborative works or produce individual pieces that engage in dialogue with one another.

F.......

Xu Bing Space Art Residency Program Team

June 30, 2025