CONSCIOUSNESS

Science Gallery Monterrey invites artists, researchers, community activists and critical thinkers to submit existing, interdisciplinary artistic and research projects for our next exhibition centered around the theme of CONSCIOUSNESS. The exhibition will open in October 2025.

Science Gallery Monterrey is a space where artistic and scientific modes of thinking collide to push the boundaries of knowledge, catalyzing novel ideas that offer innovative perspectives and solutions to current challenges. 

One of the most intriguing paradoxes confronting researchers today is the nature of consciousness. While scientific knowledge is generated by the activity of the conscious mind, science is still unable to understand what consciousness is, how it works, where it exactly resides or how it comes into being. 

The answers to these fundamental questions about consciousness have become increasingly urgent in the last few years. This derives not only from the fact that emergent AI technologies aim to produce self-conscious digital learning systems, but also from recent discoveries that vertebrates and invertebrates, across a range of sizes and complexities, have varying forms and degrees of awareness.

The quandaries the scientific community faces as it strives to understand consciousness have revived the discussion in disciplines that have examined it for much longer. Philosophy, theology, and the arts have explored the nature of consciousness and its relation to the body and the world for millennia.

With the urgency of these questions in mind, Science Gallery Monterrey invites artists, designers and researchers to be at the forefront of this discussion. We encourage them to explore consciousness from multiple interdisciplinary perspectives. Is it either as a purely spiritual phenomenon or as a simple byproduct of matter? Is the result of neurological processes or a computational organ that algorithms can replicate? Is it the aesthetic creation of a demiurge or the chance result of quantum accidents? These are just some approaches; we welcome other perspectives that open up the conversation. How can we talk about consciousness in AIs or robots when we do not even know what our consciousness is? 

Potential subthemes

• The mind-body duality vs. the AI-machine duality. 

• Can science objectively describe the subjective?

• Could a droid enjoy the taste of an apple? 

• Do plants experience forms of consciousness?

• The distinction between robot and human consciousness. 

• What is it like to be a fruit fly?

• The use of scientific tools to study the nature of dreams.

• Are quantum events the building blocks of consciousness? 

• Frankenstein’s creature or Hal: replicas of consciousness made of artificial neuronal organoids. 

Application guidelines

Who is our audience?

Our focus is on young people between the ages of 15 and 30, especially students who want to learn different perspectives and ways of thinking about issues that are most important to them. For example, how we can understand various forms of consciousness, including plant, animal, human, and robotic forms of awareness.

70% of our audience is under 30, and CONSCIOUSNESS will be created with young people in mind. It’s important that you think about how this audience will connect with your work.

What types of projects are accepted?

We look forward to opening a discussion about consciousness through finished installations and artefacts that engage artistic, philosophical and scientific modes of thinking and creating. We are interested in interdisciplinary projects that merge scientific inquiry with creative and reflective disciplines through interactive technologies. We also welcome research projects that include interactive components that provoke discussions about the present and the future states of consciousness. 

At this time, Science Gallery Monterrey will not fund projects that are in the process of development, nor will it set aside financial resources for the permanent acquisition of any selected works. The project you propose should be an existing work ready to be exhibited. 

We value projects that are simple in their conception, opening the door for complex debate and ongoing enquiry. We especially love interactive projects that invite visitors to engage with them. We love humor, provocation, speculation, and irreverent ideas that provoke curiosity first and lead to new ideas and perspectives later. 

Will the season include new or existing work? 

CONSCIOUSNESS will only include pre-existing works of art that directly address the exhibition's theme. The selected works will offer provocative ideas about how consciousness works across material or immaterial manifestations, including human, vegetal, animal, and artificial forms. Proposals may include artworks that have been presented in previous exhibitions or never been shown to the public. 

Who can apply?

Anybody who takes an interdisciplinary approach and has meaningful insights into the topic of this exhibition is welcome to apply, either individually or as part of a group. There are no restrictions on age, level of education, research background, discipline, cultural group, or identity. We value diverse perspectives from people with different lived experiences. We encourage young people to apply, either working independently or collaboratively. 

What budget is available?

Projects selected through our open call will be funded up to MXN 150,000 (One hundred fifty thousand Mexican pesos). This budget includes all licensing and artist fees, as well as flights and hotel accommodation for the artist should they choose to attend, plus freight, insurance, and other related costs. Please note that this is a maximum amount, not a target amount. No funds will be allocated for production expenses, including materials, tools, or professional services. 

Please include in your proposal a rough breakdown of the projected costs for licensing your project to Science Gallery Monterrey for eight months. Science Gallery Monterrey will not permanently acquire any of the proposals selected through the open call.

What is the exhibition space like?

The exhibition will take place at Science Gallery Monterrey, located on the ground floor of the Expedition building. It is part of the Innovation District of Tecnológico de Monterrey, in Monterrey, Mexico. 

We operate in a 9x20-meter exhibition space with a 3.5-meter ceiling and exhibition area with doors that open onto a public space. Proposals should consider sharing the total space with six to eight other works. For this reason, we will favor pieces with a footprint not larger than 20 square meters. 

How do you review the applications? 

Applications are first reviewed by Science Gallery staff and later by a curatorial panel of experts in the multidisciplinary field of consciousness. There will be three rounds of review. 

The first round helps us decide which applications we don’t think will work for the exhibition and which we want to look at more in-depth. First impressions matter. The selected applications are then reviewed by the curatorial panel and hotly debated. The curatorial panel makes a shortlist, and we then invite applicants for interviews to find out more. Finally, with the help of the experts we undertake the fickle job of curating and making a final selection.

How long will it take for you to let me know if I am successful?

We will let everyone know the results six weeks after the closing date of the open call. While we won’t have the capacity to give individual feedback, we will provide as much information as possible about how our decisions were made.

About Science Gallery Monterrey 

Science Gallery Monterrey is a platform at Tecnológico de Monterrey, the newest university member of the acclaimed Science Gallery International Network.

As a leading space for innovation and engagement, Science Gallery Monterrey is creating exhibitions and events designed for young adults and feature participative experiences that blend art, science, and technology, providing a place for lively conversations on society's most pressing challenges for local young people, students, artists and faculty. It is housed in the newly built Expedition Building, part of the new Monterrey Innovation District at Tec de Monterrey.