By Georgia Guthrie, The Hactory

Electronics and digital technology can infuse works of art with an element of magic. At The Hacktory we have literally put this magic in people’s hands, through classes and large public events. We want to do more though. We want to make our classes available to artists. We’ve found that they are usually the most excited to take our classes and play with technology, but usually the least able to pay for our classes.

The Hacktory is creating a program called T.E.R.A. Incognita: Tech Education and Residency for Artists. Our goal is to support artists who want to create new work and experiment with technology such as cameras, projectors, sensors, robots, software and circuits. The name “T.E.R.A Incognita” is part acronym, part vision for the program. We want to give these artists an opportunity to learn and explore at the edges of technology and art, literally in unchartered territory, to create new experiences and new possibilities with code, hardware and creative expression.

The project consists of several pieces:

Planning/Application phase: We will be asking experienced new media artists what helped them the most in their process of learning technology. We will then use that information to design the call for artists and launch the application process.

Workshop/ Residency Phase: With the artists selected, we will hold the workshops and the artists will begin the residency, receiving a stipend and space at our facility, with continued mentoring from our experienced artists. During this phase the artists in residence will also assist in after school classes for The Hacktory, to give us a bit of extra help, and to gain teaching experience.

Exhibition Phase: The final phase of the project of course is to show the new work the artists have made to the public and celebrate it!