TheGATE Festival

The Gate: Future Boundaries is an initiative dedicated to 21st century eCultures. The festival, whose first edition is taking place in 2024, is a broad programme of activities that aims to promote international meeting points not only between disciplines, but also between agents – university, industry, government, society and environment. The event is intended to be a space for exhibition, experimentation, training and debate, with a clear ambition for local, national and international impact, as The Gate will travel to Stuttgart in 2025.

Territorial Agency: Oceans in Transformation is an exhibition that synthesises years of intersectional research on the transformation of the oceans as a consequence of human activities. The ocean is a sensorium: it records the transformations of the earth in its complex dynamics, and it inscribes back in the forms of life its own cycles. Today, the global ocean is rapidly changing its circulations, energies, interactions, and ecologies. It is the most dynamic and sensitive component of our living planet, yet the most unknown. The ocean is in a new phase of its non-linear history, shaped by the intensification of the impact of human activities on the earth system—the Anthropocene.

Visiting hours
Tuesday to Thursday, 4 to 8 pm.
Friday to Sunday, 10 am to 8 pm.

Place
Fundación Épica Expanded and Centre de creació

Led by
Territorial Agency, commissioned by TBA21-Academy, Media Solution Center Baden Württemberg and Epica Foundation La Fura dels Baus.

The European Performing Science Night is a scientific outreach activity framed within the European Research Night, an initiative driven by the European Commission, which has been taking place simultaneously in nearly 400 European cities since 2005. From the Epica Foundation La Fura dels Baus we lead the initiative of the European Performing Science Night (EPSN) in collaboration with the Computer Vision Centre, the Institut de Ciències del Mar and the Universitat Oberta de Catalunya. EPSN proposes the use of artistic language as a means to reduce the distance between science and society, bringing researchers closer to the public in an experiential and emotional way about their work, the benefits they bring to society and their impact on everyday life. EPSN, as part of the European Performing Science Programme, has received funding from the European Union’s Horizon Europe research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement 101162558.

Schedules
18:30h – 23:30h

Place
Fundación Épica Expanded

Led by
Computer Vision Centre, Institut de Ciències del Mar, Universitat Oberta de Catalunya and Epica Foundation La Fura dels Baus.

European funding for cultural cooperation. Arts, culture, science and technology projects

The European Commission supports the cultural and creative sectors through different programmes and initiatives. In this conference, we will learn about the main funding lines of two European programmes, Creative Europe – Culture sub-programme – and Cluster 2 Culture, Creativity and Inclusive Society of Horizon Europe, with special emphasis on the existing opportunities for projects that combine art, culture, science and technology. In addition, there will be case studies of beneficiary projects, and a session where suggestions and recommendations for submitting a proposal to the Creative Europe Culture European Cooperation Projects call for proposals will be shared. We will also learn about the work of the EIT – European Institute of Innovation and Technology and its actions for European cooperation.  

Programme:

10:00 – 10:45 h. Creative Europe Culture funding lines 
Isabel Pérez Gálvez, Técnica – Oficina Europa Creativa Cultura, Ministerio de Cultura

10:45 – 11:45 h. Horizon Europe Cluster 2 Funding Lines
Aïda Díaz Sáez, Cluster 2 National Contact Point, Departamento de Investigación e Innovación – Generalitat de Catalunya

Use case: Project SCENE: Searchable multi-dimensional Data Lakes supporting Cognitive Film Production & Distribution for the Promotion of the European Cultural Heritage & PartArt4OW: Participatory Art for Society Engagement with Ocean and Water.
Francisco Javier Iglesias Gracia, General Manager, Fundación Épica la Fura dels Baus.

11:45 h. EIT Culture and Creativity, ecosistema de innovación en industrias culturales y creativas 
Áurea Rodríguez, Directora, EIT Culture&Creativity CLC SouthWest.

12:30 –13:15 h. Focus: Creative Europe Culture European Cooperation Projects. Requirements and recommendations
Isabel Pérez Gálvez, Técnica – Oficina Europa Creativa Cultura. Ministerio de Cultura.

13:15 –13:45 h. Use Case: Project Biofriction. Cultural transformations through Hybrid Spaces  
Laura Benítez Valero, Director of Biofriction project, Hangar.

13:45 – 14:00 h. Turno de preguntas

The New Art Foundation and Fundación Épica La Fura dels Baus, in collaboration with HacTe, present within the framework of The Gate Festival, Quantum Art and Uncertainty, a masterclass exploring the intersections between art and science through the perspective of Dr. Paul Thomas, a pioneer in transdisciplinary practice working at the convergence of nanoscience, quantum theory, and fine arts.

Thomas, a Professor of Fine Arts at the Faculty of Art and Design at the University of New South Wales in Sydney, will present a comparative study of art and physics, focusing on the effects of quantum phenomena since 1900 on art and culture, offering insights and models to facilitate the transdisciplinary development of alternative fields and discourses. 

By comparing the lineage of art and quantum physics, Thomas proposes to show in this session how artists have adopted concepts of quantum phenomena in their practice, questioning the role of the observer and how they influence what they see and experience when measuring the world. The importance of analogies in both art and physics will be revealed by examining how thought experiments like Schrödinger’s Cat and Quantum Immortality raised issues between the use of language in science and the power of probabilities in art.  

A review of his works such as Midas, Nanoessence, Quantum Consciousness, and Quantum Chaos will provide a window into his creative methodology, which seeks to translate the invisible and intangible world of the microscopic into accessible aesthetic experiences.

The session will conclude with a general discussion on the changing perceptions of science and art. 

The masterclass will take place on October 14 at 7:00 PM at Fundación Épica La Fura dels Baus. It will be held in English with simultaneous translation services.

The AIR Festival is the closing event of the AIR-S+T+ARTS residency project co-funded by the European Commission in which a total of 10 international artists have participated.
The project, which aims to collaborate at the intersection of art, science and technology, focuses on addressing two main challenges: interspecies resilience in urban ecosystems and artificial intelligence in human ecosystems. All this under a common theme, AIR, proposed by the members of the consortium responsible for the project. The resident artists will present at the AIR Festival the results of the research carried out during the months of residence.

Schedules
18:30h – 23:30h 

Place
Fundación Épica Expanded

Led by
Media Solution Center Baden Württemberg, High Performance Computing Center, Barcelona Supercomputing Center, SONY Computer Science Laboratories Rome, PiNA – Association for Culture and Education, In4Art, RCR Arquitectes and Epica Foundation La Fura dels Baus.

The Gate Pro is an event aimed at professionals to promote debate and reflection on the challenges and opportunities in the confluence of Art, Science, Technology and Society as a key driver to face and imagine the future. Leading international figures from disciplines such as marine sciences, architecture, urban planning, climate change, artificial intelligence and art will participate in the event, proposing meeting points between disciplines.

Schedules
10:00h – 21:00h 

Place
Fundación Épica Centre de creació

Led by
Media Solution Center Baden Württemberg and Epica Foundation La Fura dels Baus. 

Event for professionals, for accreditation please contact thegate@fundacionepica.org