Pro Helvetia and Arts at CERN, the official arts programme of CERN, have been organising residencies together since 2014. Building on this common experience, the two institutions are taking a further step towards their goal of strengthening the dialogue between arts and science with «Connect», a residency and cultural exchange programme for artists and cultural practitioners at the intersection of science and artistic research. As part of Pro Helvetia’s focus on «Art, Science and Technology» for 2021-2024, «Connect» supports networking and collaboration models combining these three fields of activity.
«Connect» offers a national and an international format, both open to art practitioners from all disciplines supported by Pro Helvetia.
«Connect» national format consists of a fully funded residency that offers support to a Swiss* artist or artist collective to spend 2 months at CERN and 1 month remotely, with the support of a scientific partner, and the curation and mentoring of the Arts at CERN curator and team. THE «CONNECT» CALL FOR APPLICATIONS IS NOW OPEN UNTIL 3 MARCH 2023
«Connect»’s international format enables a tandem consisting of one artist from Switzerland and one international artist to be in residency together at CERN Geneva and an equivalent international scientific institution. For the international format, the regions rotate between the areas covered by Pro Helvetia’s offices abroad. The format was first launched in 2021 with «Connect South Africa», followed in 2022 with «Connect India» in partnership with the International Centre for Theoretical Sciences (ICTS-TIFR) in Bengaluru. The application deadline for «Connect India» has expired. The next call for the international format will be launched in 2023.