SCI_ART 2026 convenes artists, scientists, and research institutions from Canada and the European Union for a transnational Artist-in-Residence programme and festival taking place in Western Canada, from 22 September to 8 October 2026 across Vancouver Island, Vancouver, and the Okanagan.
At its core, SCI_ART is a science-based art initiative that positions artistic practice as a form of research capable of engaging environmental transformation through critical inquiry, experimentation, and public activation.
Grounded in a science-based approach to artistic practice, the programme positions art as a mode of inquiry; one capable of translating complex environmental, technological, and social systems into forms that can be experienced, questioned, and collectively understood. Under the theme After the Data/Cultural Climate Futures, the programme seeks proposals that move beyond representation to engage climate systems, Northern research, and technological infrastructures through embodied, immersive, and critically situated methodologies.
Applicants must be residents of Western Canada or based in a Member State of the European Union to be eligible. Applicants may apply as individual artists, collectives, or artist–scientist or artist–researcher collaborations.
Support includes:
- For European artists/researchers, round-trip international travel from the European Union to Canada
- Accommodation for the duration of the residency
- Local transportation between programme sites
- An artist fee ranging from 1,500 CAD – 5,000 CAD depending on career status.
- Access to technical support and coordination where available
- Research and collaboration opportunities
- Access to studio, lab, and exhibition environments (site-dependent)
- Support for installation, testing, and presentation within available infrastructure
- Inclusion in the SCI_ART 2026 and Immersive Symposium programme
- Opportunities to present work through exhibitions, screenings, performances, talks and panels, or engagement with public, academic, and policy audiences
- Visibility and documentation
