Aalto Digital Creatives Art & Tech Open Call ’23 granted development funding to five creative industry projects

The Aalto Digital Creatives Art & Tech Open Call ’23 received a record number of 92 applications in total which is over double the amount of applications submitted to the open call in the previous year. Only ten of these applications were selected for the final which took place at the Media Lab Spring Demo Day event in Studio Kipsari.

Depending on the scale and scope of the projects and their financial and infrastructural needs, the jury had the opportunity to grant development funding for three to five projects. As per last year, the maximum number of five projects received grants varying between EUR 10 000 to 15 000 per project. On top of the development grant, Genelec awarded three projects with the Genelec Studio Monitoring Pair 8010.

The jury had representatives from each of the Art & Tech Open Call partners: Taina Seitsara, the City of Helsinki; Jouni Frilander, YLE; Kati Pajukallio, Genelec; Milla Moilanen, AVEK and Marcus Korhonen, Aalto Studios.

What the jury looks for in the Art & Tech projects are ideas that push the boundaries of what is possible in the creative and arts fields when technology is harnessed in novel ways. The teams must also be prepared to produce a demo or a prototype of their idea. The jury also looks for variety when picking out the winning projects. 

One of the winning projects was Inside Artist which won EUR 15 000 development funding and access to Aalto Studios infrastructure. In the final, the Inside Artist team was represented by Adele Halttunen and Tuija Halttunen. Their project is a concept workshop using cross-disciplinary methods for the visual exploration of the interaction between the artist and the person experiencing the artwork.

Antti Ahokoivu’s team entered the competition with their R&D of Instrument project which focuses on developing a workflow for real-time VFX followed by finding the narrative realms and story concepts where it can bring the best results. This project which focuses on the intersection of technology, storytelling and production was awarded EUR 15 000. 

Kodnamn Merkurius short film’s team were awarded EUR 10 000 and access Aalto Studios equipment. Staffan Gräsbeck and Joel Rahkonen pitched at the Art & Tech Final for the opportunity to test virtual environments and immersive sound which could be used in the production of the short film.

Juan Duarte’s Augury: Multi-channel portable sound device was one of the more technology focused projects which was granted development funding in this year’s Art & Tech Open Call. The device is a portable and live sound spatialization interface for controlling spatialization during sound performances and installations. Together with the development funding of EUR 10 000, the project will make use of access to Aalto Studios testing environment. 

Composer, performer and researcher Miika Hyytiäinen’s Sign and Body project aims to interpret singer-performers body as a multidimensional graphic notation, an abstract musical motive. This motive is then adapted into other art forms to explore how the motive feels, sounds or looks across those art forms. Miika’s team were awarded EUR 10 000.

Winners of the Genelec product prizes were Juan Duarte, Miika Hyytiäinen and team OASIS formed by Alan Castellanos and Luiza Preda. The OASIS project is an interactive installation which explores how technology and art can be combined to create an immersive environment where people’s mental health and wellbeing become the centerpiece of the artwork. 

The winning projects will commence production during the summer months. The teams will be invited to present their demos and prototypes at the Art & Tech Gala which takes place during the spring semester 2024. Additional details of the event will be released closer to date.