Organizer Information
The National Gallery of Iceland is Iceland’s leading public museum dedicated to collecting, preserving, researching, and exhibiting Icelandic and international visual art. Through exhibitions, research initiatives, educational programs, and international partnerships, the museum supports the development of contemporary artistic practice while safeguarding cultural heritage. As part of its growing focus on media art conservation and research, the National Gallery leads CUSP (Creative Understanding, Saving and Preserving Time-Based Media Art), a multi-year European cooperation project funded by the Creative Europe Culture Programme.
CUSP is an international collaboration between the National Gallery of Iceland, Nasjonalmuseet (Norway), LI-MA (Netherlands), Vasulka Kitchen (Czechia), and Mystetskyi Art Arsenal (Ukraine), together with several academic and cultural partners. The project addresses one of the most significant challenges facing contemporary museums: preserving technologically complex and time-based artworks that rely on rapidly evolving hardware, software, digital formats, and interactive systems. Through artist residencies, conservation research, environmental sustainability initiatives, emergency digitization projects, and interdisciplinary collaboration, CUSP develops practical methodologies that help ensure media artworks remain accessible for future generations.
The residency program places artists at the center of conservation research by facilitating direct collaboration with museum conservators, preservation specialists, and technology experts. Rather than functioning solely as a production residency, the program explores how artists, institutions, and conservation professionals can collectively rethink the lifecycle of digital and hybrid artworks—from creation and documentation to long-term preservation and exhibition.
Title & Description
CUSP Artist Residency 2027 – National Gallery of Iceland (Reykjavík, Iceland)
The National Gallery of Iceland invites applications from international artists working with complex media, time-based media, and emerging technologies to participate in the first residency of the international CUSP project.
The residency offers artists an opportunity to spend up to four weeks in Reykjavík during early 2027, collaborating with museum professionals, media art conservators, preservation researchers, and technology specialists. Rather than focusing solely on artistic production, the residency investigates the preservation and future sustainability of technologically complex artworks.
Artists working with media such as generative AI, software-based works, custom electronics, sound art, blockchain technologies, interactive installations, digital and physical hybrids, sensors, computational systems, and other experimental technologies are encouraged to apply.
A central component of the residency is an extensive conservation interview conducted with specialists in time-based media preservation. This artist-centered documentation process examines the technologies, workflows, artistic intentions, and long-term conservation needs of each participant's practice. The information gathered contributes to developing sustainable methodologies for preserving digital and media art within museums and cultural institutions.
Residents will also design and present a public Open Lab masterclass or workshop, introducing audiences to their artistic practice, creative methods, and technical processes. The workshop is developed collaboratively with the National Gallery and forms an important public engagement component of the residency.
As part of the broader CUSP network, the selected artist becomes connected to an international consortium of museums, archives, universities, researchers, and conservation experts working across Europe to improve knowledge sharing in the preservation of time-based media art.
Categories
- Contemporary Visual Art
- Media Art
- Time-Based Media
- Digital Art
- New Media Art
- Generative AI
- Sound Art
- Interactive Art
- Installation Art
- Software Art
- Computational Art
- Hybrid Digital & Physical Art
- Blockchain Art
- Experimental Technology
- Electronic Art
- Creative Coding
- Immersive Art
- Interdisciplinary Practice
Eligibility
Applicants must:
- Be professional artists working with complex media or emerging technologies.
- Be based outside Iceland.
- Be residents of:
- European Union member states, or
- eligible Creative Europe associated countries, including EFTA/EEA countries, candidate countries, accession countries, and eligible European Neighbourhood Policy countries.
- Be able to participate in a residency of up to four weeks in Reykjavík during early 2027.
- Be willing to collaborate with preservation specialists and museum conservators.
- Be prepared to deliver a public workshop or masterclass during the residency.
The opportunity welcomes artists at various career stages whose practice involves technologically complex artistic processes.
Program Benefits & Awards
- Residency of up to four weeks at the National Gallery of Iceland.
- Accommodation throughout the residency.
- Dedicated working space.
- Travel stipend.
- Subsistence support.
- Artist fee for designing and presenting the public Open Lab workshop/masterclass.
- Access to museum professionals, conservators, and preservation specialists.
- Individual conservation interview focused on documentation and long-term preservation of the artist's practice.
- Opportunities for interdisciplinary exchange with European experts in media art conservation.
- Access to hardware and software where available and depending on project requirements.
- Participation in the wider international CUSP network and Creative Europe collaboration.
Application Fee
None
Application Requirements
- Full name
- Country of residence
- Gender identity
- Contact information
- Artistic Statement (maximum 2,500 characters including spaces)
- Motivation Letter (maximum 2,500 characters including spaces)
- Proposal for the public workshop/Open Lab masterclass (maximum 1,000 characters)
- Links to professional website and/or social media
- Curriculum Vitae (maximum 10 MB)
- Portfolio (maximum 10 MB)
How to Apply?
Online Application
Key Dates
- Application Deadline: 3 September 2026
- Residency Period: Early 2027
- Residency Duration: Up to four weeks
Location
Reykjavík, Iceland
Additional Details
The residency forms part of the larger CUSP (Creative Understanding, Saving and Preserving Time-Based Media Art) initiative, a major European research project investigating sustainable preservation strategies for digital and time-based media artworks.
Unlike traditional artist residencies centered primarily on producing new work, this program emphasizes dialogue between artists and conservation professionals. Participants contribute directly to international research concerning documentation, technological obsolescence, sustainability, and the future conservation of media art.
The selected artist will collaborate closely with specialists who tailor preservation discussions to the specific technologies and materials used in the artist's practice. These conversations help develop museum standards and artist-centered preservation methodologies for increasingly complex digital artworks.
The broader CUSP project also addresses emergency digitization of endangered cultural heritage, environmental sustainability in digital preservation, and innovative conservation tools for museums. Research within the project includes the internationally significant archive of pioneering media artists Steina and Woody Vasulka, whose work continues to inform conservation strategies for electronic and video art.
Following this residency in Iceland, additional CUSP residencies will be organized across Norway, Czechia, Ukraine, and two micro-residencies in the Netherlands and Iceland, creating an international network of artists, museums, conservators, and researchers dedicated to advancing the future of media art preservation.