Open Call: Artist-in-Residence Program
With "Staging Realities" Mozarteum University invites media artists and artist collectives to apply for a funded residency to create an interactive, multi-user XR performance in the newly built X-Reality-Lab. Fully operational in winter 2025, the Lab features cutting-edge projection-based XR technology and is supported by the open-source software framework mozXR developed in cooperation with the Ars Electronica Futurelab. Selected artists will get the opportunity to explore the boundaries of XR technologies in the X-Reality-Lab and receive up to € 40,000 for the production of their artwork, which will be presented during the Lab’s opening festival in March 2026.
Application deadline for Residency in January and February 2026
July 13, 2025
Contact
moz.xr@moz.ac.at
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Detailed Informations
Technical Rider
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The selected artist(s) will receive up to € 40,000 in funding to develop and realize an interactive, multi-user XR performance, which will be shown at the inaugural X-Reality-Lab festival in March 2026. This funded residency offers access to a high-end XR facility and the opportunity to experiment with projection-based virtual reality and interactive XR. It is an opportunity to shape the very foundation of how XR technologies can be used to tell stories, engage audiences and do performances in general.
Currently under construction and set to open in winter 2025, the X-Reality-Lab is a 165m², 8-metre-high Lab that creates an immersive XR experience with 3D projections on the front and side walls as well as the floor and 3D sound from more than 80 speakers and subwoofers. Optical motion tracking systems capture movement. In addition, LiDAR lasers create a touch-floor tracking contact with the floor. The Lab is expected to be fully operational by the end of 2025. It is funded by FFG and co-funded by the European Union under the EFRE program.
In collaboration with the Ars Electronica Futurelab, Mozarteum University also aims to set new standards by developing a common software framework and providing a flexible open-source wrapper software for multiscreen XR infrastructures, called mozXR. It enables complex projects to be implemented with ease and reduces technical barriers for creative professionals. Artists will be given exclusive early access to this framework, compatible with Unreal Engine, Unity3D, and TouchDesigner.
Media artists or artist collectives are invited to create an artwork – ideally, though not exclusively, within the realm of performing arts - that explores the boundaries of the X-Reality-Lab and its technical options in an innovative way. This residency is ideal for someone eager to contribute to establishing a new infrastructure for media art and setting the stage with experimental artwork.
Detailed information on the call, the application process and requirements and the assessment criteria is available here.
The Technical Rider for X-Reality-Lab & mozXR Open-Source Framework is available here.
Please consider the Privacy Information here.
If you have any questions to the open call, please contact us on moz.xr@moz.ac.at
Applications are open until July 13, 2025.