We are pleased to share a notable new initiative from Ottawa’s Artengine – the Digital Economies Lab (DEL). The DEL is looking for a team of artists, creators, designers, and cultural workers to participate in a funded research project. We see creatives ‘making do’ and monetizing their presence on heavily-corporatized platforms like Instagram, and venture capital speculation on co-working spaces with WeWork – the DEL is a space where artists and creatives can imagine new platforms and possibilities, and get support and mentorship to bring those ideas to an early-prototype level of resolution.

The DEL is a laboratory for asking questions like…

…how might an artist might multiply themselves so they can get more done?
…how could you start a collective made up of more bots than people?
…how we might build more creative relationships with monetization? 
…how we can use technology to help make artists’ lives a little less precarious?

↑ Michael Sedbon’s ALT-C asked ‘what if money grew on trees?’, by harnessing plant nutrients to mine cryptocurrency

Some key details from the call:

• Artengine is not just looking for ‘professional’ artists and designers, they want a diverse mix of knowledge, perspective, and expertise. Anyone with “a passionate position on the state of art and culture in the midst of the digital revolution and an openness to new ideas” is encouraged to apply.
• Applicants must be based in U.S. or Canada (and some preference will be given for applicants from the Ottawa-Gatineau region).
• Applicants are expected to attend three multi-day workshops in Ottawa this fall/next spring – and continue to develop and share their ideas between sessions.
• DEL Participants will receive a $5,000 CAD fee as well as accommodations and per diem where travel is required.

The thinking here is, as Artengine Artistic Director Ryan Stec put it in conversation with CAN is “for artist’s, its been a gig economy for a century” – so it only follows that creatives are uniquely qualified to cultivate resilience and a capacity for flourishing (or at least surviving) in our rapidly evolving economy.

Artists, designers, and thinkers whose work addresses the economy and collaboration or deals in speculative design should definitely take a close look at the call, which is open through October 10th. Excitingly, the CAN/HOLO team will be communications partners for DEL, and working with participants to help them share their work-in-progress with the public.

Digital Economies Lab | Artengine
Header image: Rafaël Rozendaal, Stagnation Means Decline (2002)