A.R.T.C.O.N.E

Dialog and Innovation

Originally funded by a grant from the National Endowment for the Arts, the Boston Cyberarts “Artist in Residence at Technology Companies of Massachusetts” (A.R.T.C.O.M.) program launched in 2004. The program matched new media artists with high technology companies in order to create a mutually beneficial exchange of technical and creative resources that also resulted in artwork that stretched the boundaries of the host company’s particular technology.

Plum Voice Portals Artist in Residence, John Klima, with his cellphone-controlled Train project shown at the Decordova Museum, 2005

Plum Voice Portals Artist in Residence, John Klima, with his cellphone-controlled Train project shown at the Decordova Museum, 2005

ATNE continues this program with A.R.T.C.O.N.E, now expanded to include companies throughout New England. Artists are given access to companies’ cutting edge technology, technical assistance from researchers and technologists, and a venue for collaboration and dialog. During the residency period, artists and company employees:

  • Discuss their ideas
  • Investigate new ways of seeing and thinking about art and technology
  • Explore new contexts for applying their ideas

The anticipated outcome is interesting art; scientific innovations may follow. Depending on the needs of the artists and the companies, results from the residency are exhibited in corporate and public venues.
Previous ARTCOM Projects

In the summer of 2004 ARTCOM placed new media artists Carrie Bodle and John Klima with partners IBM’s Collaborative User Experience (CUE) Laboratories and Plum Voice Portals. The two pilot projects were tailored to meet the needs of the companies as well as the needs of the artists. While IBM was interested in finding an artist whose process was purposely open-ended and exploratory, Plum was attracted to the prospect of working with an artist on a more defined project that would fit the company’s human and technological resources.

Carrie and John were selected from a pool of 25 applicants who submitted proposals seeking admission to the program. The artists were selected by a jury that included Mr. Fifield and Mr. Roh; Helen Thorington of Turbulence.org; Bill Seaman, Head of the Digital Media Graduate Program at Rhode Island School of Design; and Martin Wattenberg of IBM.

We are currently accepting applications for host companies in the ARTCONE Program. If your company would like to participate, or to learn more about ARTCONE, please send an email to hkayser@atne.org.