The Downloadable Brain
CALL FOR PROPOSALS
The Downloadable Brain
In today’s society, people’s decisions, emotions and everyday movements are being tracked through the algorithmic landscape of the technological giants. This information is key in the economic and social climate of the digital age, profiling predictions around consumer habits, online consumption and behaviour.
Cognitive Sensations seeks to delve a little deeper into the future of these engagements, drawing upon the central interface of this story, the brain.
‘The Downloadable Brain’ is a programme that examines the biological connection between humans and technology, focussing on three technological goals:
- To build a machine that can think for itself.
- To create a technological copy of a human.
- To read a person’s thoughts through their brain data.
The conditions and rules for this digital future have yet to be determined, yet the relationship between human and AI draws increasingly closer. Progression in BCI and neural-lace technology enable human thoughts to be read and stored by machines, and, in turn, humans can nudge screen activity through the power of their thoughts alone. What can we expect as brain-reading technology becomes increasingly embedded within society?
The Brief
As part of our upcoming season, we are looking for proposals for essays, reviews, online artworks or other experimental interventions that could be hosted on our website. Proposed ideas should explore the developing connection between humans and technology, and the type of future this could lead to (e.g. cyborgs, cryonics, artificial brains).
We welcome submissions from a wide variety of international practitioners at any stage in their career working across art, science, philosophy, digital culture and beyond.
Fee
Cognitive Sensations has been awarded funding from Arts Council England to deliver this programme. Our budget will enable us to fund the following:
1 Online artwork — artist fee: £400
2 Online essay (700 – 1200 words) — writer fees: £150 – £250
How to Apply
Please email the following to Gabriella Warren-Smith, Cognitive Sensations founder, at cognitivesensations@gmail.com:
- A short description (100-200 words) of your proposal and in what form (essay, review, online artwork etc)
- A short bio (no longer than 100 words)
- 1-3 examples of previous work (jpg, pdf or website link)
We appreciate the time and effort it takes in writing and submitting proposals, so thank you for your time and interest in advance. If there is anything we can do to make this opportunity more accessible or support diverse needs, please email us.
Deadline
All submissions must be received by midnight, Sunday 11th April. All work to be completed and published between May-July 2021.
We look forward to hearing from you.
About Us
Cognitive Sensations is a CIC that publishes and makes work exploring the impact of technology on society. We work with a range of people from different backgrounds and disciplines, with a focus on building research at the intersection between art, science and digital culture.
With technological engagement continuously rising amongst society, we are interested in how this affects work, communication, cognition and everyday life. Our mission is to raise critical awareness around the social issues which arise through the mediation of experience.
We achieve this by organising events, commissioning artworks (online and offline,) publishing articles and curating exhibitions.