VERTIGO - STARTS Residencies - Public dataset

1 - Summary

This archive contains a set of texts produced in the framework of the VERTIGO European project in charge of the STARTS Residencies program. More details about VERTIGO and STARTS Residencies are given in the following section. 

The STARTS Residencies program of art-science residencies was organised at an unprecedented scale and generated new knowledge which may be useful for further studies. This knowledge concerns the methodology it developed for art-science team building (the process of the call), for ensuring their proper execution through a formalised monitoring approach, and detailed information about each of the residencies and of the concerned stakeholders (Artists, Tech Projects, Producers).

These texts are all extracted from the project’s website vertigo.starts.eu and the purpose of this archive is twofold :
• to give long-term access to a set of data which is expected to last beyond the life cycle of the vertigo.starts.eu website
• to provide additional rights of use beyond the website’s copyright terms which limit the use to access. The terms of the license are specified in an attached document.

2 - Introduction to VERTIGO – STARTS Residencies 

VERTIGO is a Coordination and Support Action (CSA) N°732112 under the European H2020 ICT S+T+ARTS initiative, innovation at the nexus of Science Technology, and the ARTS, supported by the European Commission - DG-CONNECT. STARTS promotes the arts as catalysts for efficient conversion of science and technology knowledge into products, services, and processes. 

The period of execution of VERTIGO was from December 2016 to May 2020 (42 months). It was managed by a European consortium including the following partners :
• IRCAM-Centre Pompidou (Institut de Recherche et Coordination Acoustique/Musique, France) – Project Coordinator : Hugues Vinet (IRCAM)
• Fhg-IUK (ICT Group of the Fraunhofer Institute, Germany)
• EPFL (Ecole Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, Switzerland)
• Inova+ (SME, Portugal)
• Artshare (SME, Portugal)
• Libelium (SME, Spain)
• Association Culture Tech (France)

VERTIGO was selected in the framework of the first H2020 ICT Call (ICT36-2016) supporting the STARTS initiative. To achieve its objectives, the STARTS Residencies program managed by VERTIGO has organised and funded artist residencies within Tech Projects - companies, research labs, universities and consortia located in Europe and managing research, development and innovation project, either internal or collaborative. 

The STARTS Residencies program was organised in 3 yearly open calls for proposals which were selected by an international jury. A total budget of 900.000 € has been allocated for funding the participation of artists in 45 residencies. The selected artists were expected to contribute to the innovative aspects of Tech Projects’ research by bringing original perspectives through artistic practices. Those practices would lead to the production of original artwork based on the project technology and featuring novel use-cases with a high potential for innovation. STARTS Residencies also acted as a platform to showcase produced works to the public and actors of innovation in the framework of various public events and communication actions and through the development of the STARTS starts.eu web site.

The three yearly calls for the selection of the residencies stakeholders took place from 2017 to 2019, each of which included two steps: first a call for Tech Projects interested in hosting an artist which resulted in the selection and publication of a list of available Tech Projects, and then a call for artistic residencies based on one Tech project from the list and aiming at producing an artwork based on the Tech Project technology. Artists could apply alone or together with a Producer, an organisation willing to bring additional support (funding, production means) to the residency and the artwork production and dissemination. STARTS Residencies also therefore organised a call for Producers available for considering joint applications with artists. After review of the residencies application by the concerned Tech Projects representatives, an international jury then selected the best STARTS residencies matching the various defined criteria including the congruence with the Tech Project’s expectations, the artistic quality, the technical approach, the potential innovation impact and the relevance of the implementation plan. 
Once residencies were selected, a process of collaboration was started and coordinated by one representative of VERTIGO-STARTS Residencies, following a monitoring methodology defined for all the residencies. This process, which started with the signature of a co-production agreement between all stakeholders (Tech project, artist(s), VERTIGO representative, optional Producer) included 3 formal meetings (inception, mid-term, completion) with defined deliveries for each of them. 

VERTIGO also developed the starts.eu web platform as the main matchmaking hub of the STARTS community. All information about VERTIGO and its STARTS Residencies program is presented in the subdomain vertigo.starts.eu. It contains all public information about the selected residencies, the selected Tech Projects and Producers, the presentation of events in which the residencies were presented, as well as all written public documentation (deliverables, brochure, event programs, etc.).

3 - Contents of the dataset

The dataset contents can be summarised as follows :

• a presentation of each of the 45 residencies with one directory per artist, made of the following elements  :
   o The residency portfolio: produced by the VERTIGO partners at the completion of the residency, it provides all factual information (involved stakeholders, the period of execution), abstracts, and a synthesis on the residency: its elements of specificity, its impact in terms of innovation and public information available (events, publications, etc.); 
   o 3 questions to the artist: asked the artist at the beginning of the residency
   o The residency final public report produced by the artist at the end of the residency

• a presentation of the selected Tech Projects, not only the ones involved in the implemented residencies, but also the ones that published their offer to host a residency without an actual implementation as part of STARTS Residencies. These texts were produced following the same template by all the Tech Projects to be included in the list of available Tech Projects for the artistic calls. They include an abstract, a summary of their main challenges, what they expect from the artists and which resources they foresee to bring them. It should be noted that their situation may have evolved from these initial statements and the moment when they hosted a residency. 

• a presentations of the available Producers: similarly to Tech Projects, texts of presentation of organisations that advertised their availability for co-applying with an artist for an artistic residency.