Introducing the Factory Berlin Artists in Residence

A Growing Network of Global Artists

As the Artist in Residence program evolves and the reach of the work our artist alumni spreads further, the Factory Berlin community welcomes creatives and collectives from across the city, continent and globe. Artists on this year’s program come from across Europe – the UK, Ireland, Spain and Germany – the US, and Mexico. International perspectives and cultures come together in the residency to further provoke and inspire new ways of thinking and creating.

Life before the residency

Of course, the Factory Berlin Artist in Residence program isn’t the beginning of our artists’ careers. The No Shade collective have built a strong reputation in Berlin for their work empowering and educating female, non-binary and trans people to pursue a music career, through workshops, panels and events. As part of the residency, No Shade will present and work on their new video production and TV channel project ‘No Shade TV’.

Check out Lucas Garvey’s ongoing research project, Social On Social, of which he says ‘after speaking to each person individually first, you get a 1:1 interaction that I really value, so they know who I am personally – we really established a connection.’

You can discover more of our artists’ work here.

Bursting the bubble

3D artist, designer and creative Harriet Davey explains how she wants ‘to hear from people who have a totally different perspective on the same topics, or different topics from me. I feel like I’ve fallen into the 3D design world, and I’m probably quite set in my bubble – so I’m looking forward to expanding out of that.’

Similarly, Cora Novoa explains how the program presents an opportunity for her as an artist that works alone, to connect and collaborate with others. It’s a vehicle to access other creative networks, as for Studio Above&Below, who aim to ‘grow our international network and meet other exciting collaborators and mentors.’

Collaboration over competition

On collaboration in this Berlin residency Tony Cruise said: ‘I find collaboration necessary to minimise the bias that occurs in [tech and art.] Oftentimes the persons elected to a position of power naturally marginalize underrepresented cultures without even knowing.’ He presents collaboration as an antidote to this. ‘Through co-creation we afford ourselves a more realistic depiction of the world we live in.’

As a collective, it’s perhaps unsurprising that co-creation is at the heart of No Shade’s work. ‘Exchange has always been an important part of No Shade. We benefit a lot from having so many different people from different backgrounds that have different knowledge. Being in an environment of creatives [like this is] a very fertile ground for us to collaborate and further develop our projects.

Likewise the work of duo Dejha Ti & Ania Catherine has inherently fuelled their appreciation for a collaborative process: ‘We learned so much about collaborations from our base practice between the two of us, and to put this mix with the other artists is stimulating and different.’

Tech + art + humans

Whilst working with a range of different technologies, quite a few of the artists are motivated by using art as a vehicle to explore and understand more about humans. Harriet uses AR and 3D design to investigate ‘how we as real-world humans see [ourselves] in a digital space’, similar to how Berlin artist Aaron Jablonski is interested in ‘[exploring] the implications of technology on [people] and the way we interact with each other,’ using social media as a vehicle for this.

Similarly, Sebastian Lee Philipp (Die Wilde Jagd), said how he ‘would like to explore how technology can help us create new sensations that expand the experience of living, while finding out more about what it means to be a human in this world.’ Whereas fellow sound artist and musician, Moisés Horta Valenzuela, looks at technology with a critical historical lens to ‘unpack the power structures in [AI and deep learning] technologies while at the same time making cool music with them.’

Stay tuned to see how these Berlin artists co-collaborate, co-create and learn from each other through the program and their time in the Factory Berlin community. You can find more information on the Berlin artists, and the artist residency here, and keep an eye on our social media for live program updates.