Métamatic Research Initiative: All Art Initiatives :: Keizersgracht 635, 1017 DS Amsterdam, The Netherlands :: Call For Entries — Deadline: September 1 2010 :: Contact Paul Wullems: paul@allartinitiatives.org.

The Métamatic Research Initiative is launching a call for entries to commission six individual art works in line with its mission. The initiative welcomes proposals from visual artists working in all disciplines. The Métamatic Research Initiative’s mission is to stimulate research into ideas stemming from the work and philosophy of the French-Swiss artist Jean Tinguely (1925-1991). Specifically, the research initiative focuses on Tinguely’s exploration of the relationship between the artist, the art work and the viewer as expressed in his Métamatic sculptures. The call for entries is part of a broader effort of the initiative, in which funding will be given to both academic and artistic research activities, ranging from educational projects for young people to the commissioning of individual art works.

The Métamatic Research Initiative

The Swiss born artist Jean Tinguely lived most of his artistic life in Paris, where he was one of the initiators of the Nouveau Réalisme movement in 1960. Tinguely was amongst the leading artists incorporating movement and other time-based elements in his work. By the late 1950s Tinguely embarked on a series of generative apparatus he called Métamatics, based on the idea of machines producing art works. With this series of works Tinguely not only problematised the introduction of the robotic machine as interface in our society, but moreover investigated the role of the artist, as well as that of the art work and the viewer. Out of a fascination with this specific topic within Tinguely’s work the initiative wishes to stimulate research into the ways in which contemporary artists deal with the relation between artist, viewer and art work. This project kicked off on 25-27 October, when the Initiative hosted an expert meeting in Amsterdam where 9 renowned scholars and artists gathered to discuss the topic, and to set parameters for further artistic and academic research.

The aim of this research is two-fold:

• to generate a high-profile collection of ‘art producing objects’,
• to support and stimulate awareness and knowledge on the subject through: scientific research, exhibitions, and educational programmes on different levels.

Who are we?

The Métamatic Research Initiative is an initiative of the All Art Initiatives Foundation, based in Amsterdam. The foundation is a privately funded non-profit foundation set up to stimulate visual art through the funding of:

• artistic and academic research
• monographs on artists and other publications,
• projects that will increase exposure and make the media available to a wider audience,
• stimulate the incorporation of relevant works in public collections, both in the Netherlands and abroad.