Transmission Art Residencies Info + Application

2024 Program Focus: Ten-day Transmission Arts Residencies to Develop New Live Performance for an Expanded Studio Audience

The 2024 Application Deadline has Passed. Please subscribe to Wave Farm's monthly email announcements at wavefarm.org/newsletter to be informed of upcoming opportunities.

During a 10-day residency at Wave Farm, artists develop new transmission artworks, informed by access to a research library, equipment, unique workspace resources, and on-site staff support.

In 2024, the Wave Farm Residency Program will emphasize “Live Performance for an Expanded Studio Audience.” Each residency will conclude with a public event at Wave Farm, which is also a live radio broadcast on Wave Farm Radio: WGXC 90.7-FM Radio for Open Ears in NY’s Upper Hudson Valley.

An artist fee of $1,000 will be provided to each resident artist.

A definition of Transmission Art: Transmission art encompasses works in which the act of transmitting or receiving is not only significant, but the fulcrum for the artist’s intention. The genre involves a multiplicity of practices that often engage aural and visual broadcast media, where in some instances works for traditional broadcast are created, and at other times artists harness preexisting broadcast signals as source material manipulated in live performance, installation, and public interactive networks and tools. Similarly interested in the synaesthetic possibilities of radio, much of contemporary transmission art values interplay with waves, informed by historical and emergent wireless technologies. These works often challenge a conventional one-to-many definition of transmitter (or artist) and receiver (or audience) in ways that celebrate Brechtian aspirations for more multi-nodal wireless interactions.

Wave Farm Environment
Wave Farm is situated on 29 acres in the northern foothills of the Catskill Mountain Park. The property features meadows, two small ponds, and a pine forest with large walking paths.

Wave Farm’s Art Park is home to thirteen media art installations that reveal what is otherwise unheard or unseen. These stand-alone artworks are also instrumentation for visiting artists and experimenters. Electrical service, WiFi, and audio “line-in” to broadcast studio RJ-45 jacks are installed every 250 feet, activating the considerable acreage as potential studio and performance space.

Residents should expect plenty of focused work time. Staff is either on-site or available remotely for questions during business hours. During their on-site research period, Fellows should anticipate a rural setting in upstate New York, which is home to a growing number of artists and other creative economy workers. Note: While visitors to the area might see signs and symbols of pride and inclusivity, be aware that contrasting imagery supporting Trump, Blue Lives Matter, and the Confederacy are present in the local area.

Accommodations
Residents are housed in the Wave Farm Study Center, which hosts one artist-in-residence or fellow at a time, or on occasion, more than one individual working as a collaborative duo or collective. Accommodations in the Study Center include two bedrooms (one full-sized bed each), studio workspace, kitchenette, lavatory, and shower, as well as the Study Center research library, WGXC 90.7-FM Acra broadcast studio, and Wave Farm offices. Please note: day visitors are welcome. Overnight guests (including family members) and pets are not permitted.

Artist Residencies Schedule

• First Friday: Arrival
• First Friday or Saturday: Grocery store run for artists without their own transportation
• Wednesday: Tower Site field-trip + 5 p.m. Radio Interview (WGXC Catskill Studio), followed by dinner
• Second Saturday: Public Performance/Broadcast/Event
• Second Sunday: Departure

Transportation + Meals
Resident Artists must pay for their own travel expenses*, as well as expenses related to meals during their stay. Transportation is available from the Hudson Amtrak station, the Kingston bus station, or the Albany airport, as well as local transport for groceries and supplies. *Note, on a case-by-case basis, an advance of the artist fee or fellowship stipend will be made available to help offset travel expenses.

Wave Farm / CU Boulder Exchange Opportunity @ Atlas B2
In 2024, Wave Farm and University of Colorado, Boulder will invite an artist from the Wave Farm Residency Cohort to split their residency between Wave Farm and CU Boulder. The first five days of the residency will be spent at Wave Farm and consist of research and early project development. The resident will then travel to Boulder where they will further develop their project, making use of the Atlas Institutes’ B2 Center for Media, Arts & Performance facility and equipment. (See https://www.colorado.edu/atlas/b2/facilities-equipment and https://github.com/MerkelAcoustics/ATLASBlackBox). The culmination of this residency will be a multi-channel public presentation in Boulder at B2, as well as a binaural mix prepared for stereo FM broadcast on Wave Farm Radio. This artist will receive a single stipend of $2,500 to be used for artist stipend, travel, and accommodation expenses.

Rising Tide Award
Established in 2023 with the generous proceeds received from LoVid's Tide Predictor, an Art Blocks Curated series of onchain generative NFTs, an additional $1,500 will be awarded to a single resident. The Rising Tide Award aims to support an applicant with a multidimensional life and background, whose work is rooted in process, to further the pursuit of new ideas, experiments, and uncertainties. Artists with special circumstances that require additional funds such as: parents, artists from out of state/country, collaborators, and artists with non-traditional art/career experiences are encouraged to apply.

Eligibility
Wave Farm's Residency Program application is an international open call. Applicants should make a compelling argument in support of their proposed project, and either possess a significant body of past transmission-related work or demonstrate the aptitude and capacity to complete the proposed project. Full-time students are ineligible; however, exceptions may be made on a case-by-case basis for career artists and writers who may have returned to school for post-graduate work. Past Wave Farm residents are eligible to apply.

Review + Notification Process
Applications will be evaluated in a peer review panel comprised of transmission artists, engineers, past residents and fellows, program mentors, and Wave Farm staff. Finalists will be contacted for Zoom interviews and final notifications will be made in early April.

Women, gender non-conforming people, and people of color are encouraged to apply. Please note: artist fees and fellowship stipends will appear as “Other Income” on 1099s issued in conjunction with tax year 2024.

Application

Beginning in 2024 a single application will be used for both the Wave Farm Transmission Arts Residency Program and the Radio Art Fellowship Program. Applicants may submit to as many of the opportunities in the application as desired. Successful applicants will receive an offer for a single opportunity.

IMPORTANT NOTE: The application form must be completed in a single session. As such, it is highly recommended that you prepare your application offline in-advance. Click here for a PDF Preview of the Application.

Click Here to Apply!

Wave Farm’s Radio Art Residency and Fellowship programs are made possible, in part, by the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of the Office of the Governor and the New York State Legislature; the National Endowment for the Arts; the Greene County Legislature through the Greene County Cultural Fund.

Wave Farm Study Center Tour (2021)

Video by FusionLab.

Returning Residents Invitation

Once an artist participates in the Wave Farm Residency or Fellowship Program, schedules permitting, they are invited to return to Wave Farm for short-term overnight visits that include a broadcast on Standing Wave Radio and Wave Farm’s WGXC 90.7-FM. There is no cash artist fee available for these visits; however, overnight accommodation in the Study Center and transportation to and from the Hudson Amtrak station are provided. With advance permission, artists are welcome to bring a guest with them. This opportunity is available on a case-by-case basis, and artists are encouraged to make a request as far in advance as possible. To request a visit please email info@wavefarm.org.

Equipment Inventory

First generation iPod Shuffle (x1,000+)
Originally used by Mikel Rouse's International Cloud Atlas (2006), used with Cunningham’s eyeSpace (2006). Special thanks to the John Cage Trust and Merce Cunningham Foundation.

Better Energy Systems S13G38D, Solio Classic Universal Hybrid Solar Charger (x26)
Special thanks to Heidi Neilson.