After a one-year break, one of Europe’s most important media art consortia is resuming its activities: thanks to four-year funding from the EU programme Creative Europe, the European Media Art Platform (EMAP) is launching the new year with an extensive programme. At its core is a multi-month residency programme for artists and collectives, implemented across 15 European countries.
The thematic focus of the residencies lies in digital and media art, robotic and bio art. The aim is to specifically support contemporary artistic positions at the intersection of art, technology, and science, while strengthening their international visibility.
In addition to awarding grants, EMAP places a strong emphasis on visibility, capacity building, and collaboration. The works produced during the residencies are presented both individually and in group exhibitions at all 15 European member organisations. Furthermore, EMAP supports institutions in presenting these works internationally.
The programme is complemented by a comprehensive, publicly accessible capacity-building offer: through online workshops and other professional development formats, artists and institutions gain practical knowledge on topics such as copyright in the context of artificial intelligence, mediation and audience development in the arts, as well as sustainable production practices in media art.
In recent years, EMAP has gained recognition through numerous outstanding projects which, since the platform’s launch in 2018, have received more than seventy international awards:
Nicolas Gourault’s EMAP project UNKNOWN LABEL, which addresses micro-workers who train AI systems for autonomous driving, received an Honorary Mention at the Prix Ars Electronica in 2024. In 2025, the project was also awarded the HUMAN AI AWARD by the Kunstmuseum Bonn and Deutsche Telekom. The film version based on the project, THEIR EYES, premiered at the Berlinale in 2025, was shown online as part of the New York Times OP Docs, and has so far won thirteen awards, as well as receiving three nominations and three Special Mentions—including a nomination for the César 2026 in the category Best Documentary Short Film.
Carl Emil Carlsen’s virtual reality work INTANGIBLE received the Interactive Award at CPH:DOX in Copenhagen in 2024, while Kat Austen’s EMAP project STRANGER TO THE TREES, addressing the impact of microplastics on forests, was awarded the Falling Walls Arts & Science Award 2024.
Creative Industry Košice, as part of the project, implemented residencies for Tatsuru Arai and Boris Vaitovič, and for Leon van Oldenborgh and Róbert Rampáček.
The European Media Art Platform comprises the following member organisations:
Ars Electronica (Linz, Austria), CIKE (Košice, Slovakia), Chroniques (Marseille, France), gnration (Braga, Portugal), iMAL (Brussels, Belgium), IMPAKT [Centre for Media Culture] (Utrecht, Netherlands), Kersnikova Institute [Kapelica Gallery] (Ljubljana, Slovenia), KONTEJNER | bureau of contemporary art praxis (Zagreb, Croatia), LABoral Centro de Arte y Creación Industrial (Gijón, Spain), Meet Digital Culture Center (Milano, Italy), NeMe (Limassol, Cyprus), Onassis Stegi (Athens, Greece), RIXC Centre for New Media Culture (Riga, Latvia), WRO Art Center (Wrocław, Poland), Werkleitz Centre for Media Art (Halle/Saale, Germany), in cooperation with Silent Green (Berlin, Germany).
More about EMAP: emare.eu
All information on the open call and applications: https://www.cike.sk/en/open-call/emap-residencies-2026-open-call/
Contact: info@emare.eu
“Co-funded by the European Union under the Creative Europe Programme.”
