Open Call for Creative Technologists/Media Artists/Creative Coders: The Data Fluencies Theatre Project

Open Call for Creative Technologists/Media Artists/Creative Coders: The Data Fluencies Theatre Project

The Data Fluencies Theatre Project at Emerson College seeks creative technologists/media artists/creative coders to join an artistic research team that will co-create a participatory, devised, hybrid multimedia performance that engages with AI systems. Creative technologists/media artists/creative coders will be involved as engaged collaborators and co-creators in the development process of the performance and of the online and/or in-person performance environments. 

The performance will seek to imagine and enact alternative socio-technical systems that strive towards pluriversal future-presents and ways of world-making. The performance will be developed in Boston and online and will be performed in person in Boston and Vancouver as well as online. The performance’s hybrid format, including both in-person and online components, aims to expand access and engage the Internet as both a stage for performance and an object of investigation and critique. Key collaborators on the performance include Ioana B. Jucan, Katherine Helen Fisher, CultureHub, and Sydney Skybetter.

https://digitaldemocracies.org/data-fluencies/

The Data Fluencies Theatre Project is part of the multi-institutional Data Fluencies Project based out of the Digital Democracies Institute at Simon Fraser University in Vancouver, Canada and funded by a grant from the Mellon Foundation. The Data Fluencies Project investigates the impacts of mis- and disinformation on society by combining analytical techniques from arts and humanities with tools from data science to better understand and engage with our data-filled world. 

To Apply: 

For best consideration, please fill out and submit this application form no later than April 1, 2023. Short-listed candidates will be invited for interviews, which will take place online.
https://forms.gle/ujn6r7wcw6W3bSzf9

Skills and Qualifications:

• We invite applications from creative technologists/media artists who engage with technology across a diverse range of media and creative-critical perspectives. 

• Experience with creative coding, machine learning, and/or broadcasting in the context of a live multimedia performance is highly desirable. 

• The ability to conduct research and apply it in the context of an artistic performance is required.

• Being based in the Boston area is welcome but not required. Given the possibility of working remotely, creative technologists/media artists who are not based in Boston or the United States are welcome to apply.

Responsibilities:

• Commit to attending all of the meetings and participating in all the activities outlined in the “Timeline” section below.

• Co-design and engage in a devising process with an interdisciplinary team of collaborators that will result in a devised theatre performance to take place both online and in person.

• Develop technology for and/or facilitate engagement with AI systems in ways that incorporate and respond to other disciplines on the project team and contribute to the goals of the project.

• Develop the online environment for the performance and/or facilitate the translation of the performance for online environments.

• Other responsibilities as devised.

Timeline*:

• May 2023-August 2024: Monthly meetings/rehearsals (one or two days a month for a maximum of 4 hours per month total), except for the months during which there is a performance development intensive. Depending on where the team members are based, the meeting may be held either online or in person.

• November 2023: A one week online or hybrid performance development intensive.

• Summer 2024: A one week hybrid performance development intensive. 

• Fall 2024: Rehearsals. 

• Spring 2025: Performances in Boston and Vancouver, Canada. 

*Except where otherwise specified, the exact production schedule—including meetings, rehearsals, intensives, and performances—will be determined in consultation with the performance venue and team*

Compensation: 

A $5000 stipend will be provided for participation, with $1000 being paid in September 2023, $1000 in January 2024, $1000 in September 2024, $2000 in March 2025

Questions?

For any questions or more information, please contact data.fluencies.theatre@gmail.com.