The Open Call 2024 process for the Horizon Europe project SHARESPACE has finished. We were extremely excited to receive over 65 promising applications from over 15 different countries. We want to express our gratitude to all those who applied. The winning project is proposed by a group of artists led by Leon Butler and Peter Power based in Ireland, currently the working title is ‘Foolish Flame’.
Foolish Flame is a Deep Space transdisciplinary performance focusing on contentious frontiers of climate change and our inherited traumatic heritage surrounding them. Through collective experience and real-time generative technology, members of the public will find themselves expressed as living avatars in an ever-evolving and reactive world of expanding environmental stories.
Selection Process
After the application period closed in December, the selection process proceeded in three rounds. The first round was an internal review of the projects performed by the Ars Electronica Futurelab team; the second round was a review with the SHARESPACE partners. The final decision was made by the Artistic User Advisory Board, a group of external experts covering relevant areas such as media art, art curation, performance, and VR/XR.
The jury praised the aesthetic qualities, and the poetic values of Foolish Flame are highly compelling, showcasing artistic beauty and depth. The use of cutting-edge technology is clearly woven into the aesthetics of the application and goes beyond a mere demonstration which adds to the overall quality. The project furthermore demonstrates an understanding of SHARESPACE concepts and research aims.
Artist Statement
Foolish Flame will see the audience move through these landscapes and spaces, exploring how their presence in the digital realm responds to digital particles, objects, and sound, coming to life as they uncover new environments. By combining real-time generative technology, dynamic avatar behavior, and immersive environments, it seeks to craft a narrative experience that engages audiences as co-creators within a responsive digital world.
This work is rooted in our ongoing artistic investigation into how emergent technologies can amplify collective emotional resonance and foster meaningful connections between individuals, both proximate and remote, in hybrid spaces.
We are particularly excited by the potential of the SHARESPACE technologies and their integration with the Deep Space 8K environment. Our concept leverages the capabilities of avatars at various levels of autonomy to embody the audience’s presence and actions in the digital realm while exploring how their interactions can transform and be transformed by the six evolving landscapes of the work.
Our previous projects have utilized extensive experience in virtual and extended reality, machine learning integration, and live interactive performance including a VR performance at SXSW with full remote actors meeting the audience in real time.
Our work often incorporates unconventional uses of technology to create immersive worlds that are both visually compelling and emotionally impactful. Commissions with organizations such as the European Media Arts Platform have allowed us to develop remote access models, leveraging surveillance and live webcam feeds to connect dispersed participants in real time.
We are drawn to the ethos of SHARESPACE as it embraces both innovation and unpredictability in the pursuit of social connection and artistic expression. The opportunity to engage with a consortium of researchers, technologists, and visionaries across Europe resonates with our belief in the importance of interdisciplinary collaboration. Our artistic perspective is shaped by a desire to interrogate not only the successes but also the complexities and failures inherent in new technologies, offering a critical yet imaginative lens on the hybrid futures we are building.
About the Artists
Peter Power Peter Power is a transdisciplinary writer, visual artist, composer, sound designer and director from Waterford based in Ireland. He holds an honours degree in Biochemistry and a Masters in composition. He is the Artistic Director of the award-winning company Sparsile Collective creating encompassing post-disciplinary artworks.
He is a current Associate Artist of the BETA festival as part of the Dublin Digital Hub. He is the outgoing Artist-In-Residence of the Cork Midsummer Festival and the National Sculpture Factory, as well as numerous other international residencies in Denmark and Holland.
Peter’s awards include: Arts Council of Ireland Music Bursary award, Theatre Bursary Award, Music and Theatre Project Awards, and most recently the AGF and Visual Arts Commission Award. His current interests are in live art, science and story, and the felt connections between the human, the real and the digital.
Leon Butler is an artist and Lecturer at ATU in Galway, Ireland, working at the intersection of art and technology. His work has been recognised by The Type Directors Club, 100 Archive, Future Makers, Digital Media Awards, Young Directors Awards, and the Irish Design Awards. Recent projects include Imagined Islands, Dwelling, Performance Surveillance, and Emperor 101 (SxSW, Dublin Theatre Festival, Boca Del Lupo, Vancouver). He has exhibited nationally and internationally, receiving commissions and funding from the Arts Council, European Media Arts Platform, Enterprise Ireland, National Sculpture Factory, Digital Hub, and Science Gallery.
In 2022, he was a selected artist of the European Media Arts Platform, showing Performance Surveillance in Latvia, Cyprus, and Poland. Dwelling an XR dance performance was shown as part of Beta Festival Dublin and Galway Film Fleadh. His latest work, Imagined Islands, was developed during a UNESCO residency and shown at Viborg Animation Festival in 2024.
