TESLA Award
Concept
TESLA Award is an acronym for Transdisciplinary Explorative Slovenian Art Award. However, it also alludes to the creative spirit of Nikola Tesla, a maverick innovator and tehnician, born and raised in the remote area of the former Austro-Hungarian Empire.
Based on the understanding of the needs of the artistic field, the award aims to facilitate artists to start or continue with their best ideas and projects. It tries to expose the new generation of artists and to support those in the early stages of their professional career. It aims to empower emerging them on their way to professional career. As such it is the instigator of artistic projects which interrogate and illuminate contemporary issues in art, science, technology, and society. The aim of the award is to improve the conditions of artistic production in the field of transdisciplinary art and thus respond to the growing interest in research-based practices in the region.
The applicants – who must be under 35 years old &ndasH; should enter a new, previously unrealised project idea. The applicants must be Slovenians in 2017, but later this will be broadened so as to include also people from the wider Balkan region.
Awarded projects and artworks
A wide range of new media or intermedia practices, ranging from Interactive Sculptures, Generative and AV Installations, Sound Art, AV projects, Kinetic Artworks, Light Art, Tactical Media and other forms of art combining traditional and digital media and using diverse strategies. Winner is to be selected by a jury of representatives from 3 different media art organisations and an independent curator.
The realised artwork will be part of the Impermanent MoTA Collection. Mota offers production and technical support in the process of creating the artwork. By applying, the artist grants permission to MoTA to exhibit the work locally and internationally. Also, the new artwork will be presented at the City Museum of Ljubljana, a project partner at the award.