Artist Commissions Open Call

We are looking for artworks in any media from digital technologies to drawing, sculpture to installation, photography to film and performance.

We do not want artists to feel pressured to be up to date with the latest in AI developments. The focus of these commissions is very much not on the technology itself but on art and the ability of artists to communicate through their practice something important about responsible AI. It’s the message not the medium that we care about; we are looking for creative rather than technological feats.

Potential themes might include:

• Imagining more responsible current and near future uses of AI
• Inspiring new forms of collective action and activism within the responsible AI ecosystem
• Exploring the incentives that exist within the AI ecosystem and possible alternatives
• Celebrating what the arts and humanities can offer the responsible AI ecosystem

We want to bring to life your ideas for creative projects that take a variety of imaginative approaches to responsible AI futures – from playful, to optimistic and purposefully critical.

We are after proposals that are ambitious in their intentions and realisable within the scope of the funding and timescales outlined below.

Commissioned artworks will be exhibited at Inspace during the Edinburgh Art Festival in August 2025, with further display opportunities at other BRAID related exhibitions and events through to 2028.

Selected artists will receive:

• A budget of £10,000 that must include all items of expenditure (e.g. artists fees, collaborator fees, materials, equipment and fabrication costs, transportation costs, taxes etc). Your artist fee should also incorporate time for participating in one talk or panel discussion as part of the public programming for the exhibition.
• Curatorial and practical support (e.g. venue related technical support).
• Opportunities to engage with the BRAID team and network to develop your ideas and foster knowledge exchange and co-learning.
• Opportunities to promote the commission in our newsletter and seminar series and across our online communication channels.
• Space to exhibit a work-in-progress or prototype for the commission at a major community building event to be held in Manchester in June 2025.
• Selected artists may also be invited to submit images of the commission under Creative Commons 4.0 licence to the Better Images of AI library.
• A bursary to cover limited travel and accommodation to support the artist when it comes to installing the artwork and attending the exhibition opening.
• Funding from our additional needs budget (further details below).

We are looking for UK-based artists at all stages of their career. For early career or re-emerging artists, you must be able to demonstrate a minimum of 3 years of sustained artistic practice outside of formal education (in total).

Artists must not be enrolled in fulltime formal undergraduate or taught postgraduate studies. Those on PhD programmes are eligible to apply if they are also registered as freelance practitioners and can demonstrate their capacity to undertake the commission alongside study commitments.

For artist groups, a lead artist will be required to submit the application form on behalf of the group and take on responsibility for the commission and budgetary matters.

All artists must be either registered as freelance sole traders or limited companies and be responsible for their own tax arrangements. Only artists with proof of right to work in the UK are eligible to apply.

Equality, diversity and inclusion

BRAID is committed to equality of opportunity. We seek to locate and amplify under-represented voices and perspectives on responsible AI and work to promote a positive culture, one that celebrates difference, challenges prejudice and ensures fairness and respect.

We have a dedicated fund designed to support access needs relating to personal circumstances, such as caring responsibilities and/or health-related conditions. This funding is separate from the £10,000 art commission budget, and requests will be considered on a case-by-case basis.

If you have access needs and wish to discuss how the programme can support you, please contact our Head of Operations and Engagement, Tina Donnelly (tina.donnelly@ed.ac.uk). To ensure that we are aware of and responsive to the access needs of selected artists, all applicants are also invited to submit an access rider when applying. See below and Access Docs for Artists for more information.

Your submission will be considered by a panel of arts professionals and members of the BRAID team, including:

• Beverley Hood – Inspired Innovation Lead, BRAID
• Ewa Luger – Co-director, BRAID
• Kim McAleese – Director, Edinburgh Art Festival
• Maitreyi Maheshwari – Head of Programme, FACT, Liverpool
• Abie Soroño – Independent Curator, Glasgow

When selecting artists, the panel will check eligibility and consider the quality of your proposal in terms of:

• the strength of vision behind the artwork and how it engages with responsible AI
• the strength of the creative and imaginative dimensions of the proposed artwork
• your capacity to deliver the proposed artwork on time and within budget and your demonstration of the skills and resources required
• how the artwork connects with other submissions to form a cohesive group exhibition that ideally will include artists at different stages of their career

The panel will base their decision on submitted material only. It is important that the material submitted is of a quality that best demonstrates your vision.

AI (artificial intelligence) describes computer systems that perform tasks typically thought to require a level of intelligence. For example, prediction and decision-making, speech recognition and translation, and the generation of content like text, images, music and videos. Most systems on the market today use a form of machine learning. This is a technique that enables algorithms — human-designed software instructions — to systematically model and use patterns found in data that has been provided by humans. It is these mathematical patterns and relationships within datasets that enable machine learning models to perform many tasks that previously required human intelligence.

Responsible AI describes an ambition, amongst the interconnected communities and stakeholders making up the AI ecosystem – to ensure that AI systems are designed and deployed in ways that minimise potential risks and harms while maximising opportunities for human flourishing. It describes:

1.          An interdisciplinary field of academic/industry research

2.           A stated corporate governance agenda

3.           A desired type of AI product

4.           A broad community or ecosystem of stakeholders

5.           A complex ecology with ongoing conceptual negotiation

The AI ecosystem is broadly construed to include all the places, groups and communities involved in, or substantially impacted by, the development, use and governance of AI technologies.

Is BRAID looking for existing works or proposals for new ones?

We are looking for new artworks that directly respond to the open call.

Is there a limit of one application per person?

We expect to receive just one application per person. However, if you are a solo artist as well as part of an artist group or if you are part of more than one artist group, we will consider applications from you as a solo artist as well as applications that include you as a collaborating artist.

Is a research-based practice required?

While the commission is open to all artists and is not research-led, the opportunity would suit artists that are willing to:

• actively interact with our community of researchers and stakeholders; and
• broaden their creative practice by engaging both critically and curiously with the field of responsible AI.

Artists will be invited to meet with members of our team and researchers throughout the commissioning process. You can see a list of currently funded projects here.

Do I need to be an expert in using AI tools?

We encourage artists working in any medium to apply and are interested in a diversity of approaches. All that is needed is a clear interest in artistically engaging with responsible AI. There is no expectation that AI technology will be used to create the artwork, nor will preference be given to submissions proposing to employ AI technology.

Having engaged with artists across the UK, we are aware of both a desire among some creatives to employ AI technologies in their practice, and for others, a wish to push back against this trend.

When selecting works, we will be  assessing applications in terms of what the artwork is able to communicate when it comes to matters of responsible AI, rather than the technology that is used along the way. While artworks driven by new AI technologies are welcome, we also wish to invite artists to think more broadly about the ways that digital and analogue media might interact in insightful ways.

Are there any restrictions on the mediums for submissions?

We are open to all artistic media. If performance, please ensure that the performance piece is clearly described and budgetary matters well thought-through.  The only restrictions would be on materials that posed health and safety risks or presented harmful or illegal content.

Is this opportunity available for students?

The opportunity is not available for fulltime students enrolled in formal undergraduate or taught postgraduate studies. Those on PhD programmes are eligible to apply so long as they are also registered as a self-employed freelancer and can demonstrate their capacity to undertake the commission alongside study commitments.

Who owns the IP in the artwork?

Artists will retain their IP in the artwork. As a publicly funded project, the University of Edinburgh will need to document the commission and make use of material for programme related activities. These arrangements will be detailed in an agreement entered between the University and selected artists prior to the project commencing. If the programme wishes to re-exhibit the artwork at BRAID related events through to 2028, we will enter into further arrangements with artists as those opportunities arise.