Artistic Residency 'Cosmic Commons' at Burnaby/Vancouver

From November 2 to December 1, 2026 in Vancouver/Burnaby, on the Burnaby Campus of Simon Fraser University (SFU).

• Foster or consolidate a creative project.
• Share their work at arts and science seminars and events co-organised with the Gibson Art Museum and SFU Department of Physics.
• Encourage discovery of Western Canada’s scientific and artistic ecosystems, as well as structuring collaborations between French and Canadian institutions.

This program guarantees, in particular, to the laureate:

• 4 weeks of residence in Vancouver/Burnaby
• Accommodation on or near the SFU campus and a working space in the staff offices at the Gibson Art Museum, with access to the Gibson’s art studio
• Round-trip airfare from France to Vancouver
• A €2,000 residency grant (corresponding to per diem and participation in three half-day lectures/master classes during the residency).
• Networking and connections with the local ecosystem
• Participation in three half-day lectures/master classes during the residency:
  • A public lecture at the Gibson Art Museum 
  • A workshop at the Gibson Art Museum (this workshop could be oriented towards university students, children and their families, teens, or a general audience)
  • An event for faculty at the Department of Physics or SFU Trottier Observatory
  • A public lecture at the Gibson Art Museum 
  • A workshop at the Gibson Art Museum (this workshop could be oriented towards university students, children and their families, teens, or a general audience)
  • An event for faculty at the Department of Physics or SFU Trottier Observatory

• Scientific equipment and facilities
• Opportunity to visit/observe the SFU Trottier Observatory (SFU Faculty of Science’s flagship outreach facility) on Burnaby campus
• Access to Physics Labs as appropriate
• Access to images, data, etc., as appropriate
• Artistic equipment and facilities
• Access to laptop computer
• Access to audio visual equipment (projectors, monitors, speakers, media players, projectors)
• Access to dance studio and/or black box theatre space at SFU’s Vancouver Campus 

This program is open to practices across the visual arts (including but not limited to sculpture, installation, film, video, digital arts, drawing, painting), performance, and sound. During their residency, the artist will enjoy a private office at the Gibson, access to the Gibson Art Museum’s art studio, SFU Libraries, and the SFU Trottier Observatory. The Gibson’s curatorial team will facilitate and support material, spatial, and technological needs to the best of their capacity. 

To apply, we invite you to send the following documents:

• application form;

  Application-form-residency-cosmic-commons-2026
• a copy of your ID card or passport;
• a biography and a CV;
• a portfolio of previous projects (with video links, if applicable)
• a letter of motivation;
• a precise synopsis of the project, including a description of:
  • the possible interactions with the local context (scientific and artistic scenes, cultural and natural context, etc.),
  • the perspectives of the project after the residency (institutions which could support/exhibit/showcase, etc.),
  • the impact of the residency for the artistic project;
• a projected work plan for the residency (forecast);
• visuals of the project (if applicable);
• a letter of recommendation (optional);
• a letter from a French institution accompanying the project for a future exhibition or production of the work (mandatory).

The laureate will be officially announced in the week of July 22, 2026. Beforehand, each applicant will have been notified by email of the selection committee’s decision regarding his or her application.

A contract summarising all the commitments on both sides will be signed between the laureate and the program partners.

Before the residency, they commit:

• to transmit to the partners the work plan for the residency.
• to participate in some virtual meetings to prepare for the residency, between July and September inclusive.

During the residency, they commit to:

• Carry out the planned work schedule.
• Share their thoughts on the project with the partners (weekly meetings).
• Present the project at events organised by the Gibson Art Museum, SFU Department of Physics and the Institut français du Canada, on Burnaby Campus and outside.
• Exchange with the partners on the future of the project and its presentation following the end of the residency.
• To take time in Vancouver/Burnaby, before the end of the residency, to write a report on the residency with the Consulate’s teams on site. They must keep the partners informed of any developments or changes to the project before, during and after the residency itself.

After the residency, they commit:

• To present the creative developments of the project to the partners in autumn 2027.

Regarding communication, they commit:

• To display the logos provided by the partners in the project credits and on all communication media.
• To authorise the residency partners to communicate or present the project for promotional purposes as part of their programming.

Simon Fraser University is a public research university located in British Columbia, Canada, with campuses in Burnaby, Vancouver, and Surrey. Established in 1965, SFU is known for its strong emphasis on research, innovation, and community engagement, offering a wide range of undergraduate and graduate programs across disciplines such as arts, sciences, business, engineering, and education. The university is recognized nationally and internationally for its academic excellence and its role as “Canada’s engaged university.”

The mission of the Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum is to encourage open and inclusive learning about our past, current, and future worlds by supporting the work of critically engaged and research-driven visual artists. We also care for, grow, and activate the SFU Art Collection. We welcome diverse audience communities with free, year-round programming, activating artists’ work through the creation of research opportunities, exhibitions, commissions, publications, residencies, and a diverse array of public events, within the context of Simon Fraser University. We are excited by our position, operating along the “edge” of the university community where it meets the broader public. SFU’s ethos of interdisciplinary connectivity both grounds and energizes our programming at the Gibson, and we remain particularly focused on the unique opportunities that we can cultivate for artists and audience communities within this rich and complex learning context.Our vision is to be an arts organization which challenges the presumptions and rigidities of higher learning and creates accessible spaces of creative possibility that embrace complexity, difference, and the possibilities of play. 

https://gibson.sfu.ca/

Dr. Kimberly Phillips (curatorial lead)
Kimberly Phillips is Director of the Marianne and Edward Gibson Art Museum at Simon Fraser University. In her roles as gallery director, curator, and teacher based on the unceded territories of the xwməθkwəy̓ əm, Skwxwú7mesh and səl̓ílwətaʔɬ/Selilwitulh peoples, she has worked to create meaningful and often unexpected ways for contemporary artists and their publics to find one another. Phillips’ curatorial practice maintains a particular interest in the spectral and the resistant, as well as the conditions under which artists work. She has curated over 60 exhibitions, residencies, and public projects, most recently as Curator at the Contemporary Art Gallery (2017-2020) and Director/Curator of Access Gallery (2013-2017). She has edited and contributed to numerous publications. Phillips holds a PhD in art history from the University of British Columbia (2007), where she was an Izaak Walton Killam Doctoral Fellow.

Dr. Joanna Woo (scientific lead)

Joanna Woo is an Assistant Professor in the Department of Physics. An astrophysicist by training, her research focuses on galaxy evolution, including stellar populations, galaxy environments, and the use of advanced observational data, simulations, and machine‑learning techniques in astronomy. She earned her PhD in Astrophysics from the Hebrew University of Jerusalem and has held postdoctoral fellowships at ETH Zurich and the University of Victoria. Dr. Woo is also an award‑winning educator, having received SFU’s Excellence in Teaching Award (Early Career), and is actively involved in undergraduate teaching and astronomy outreach at SFU.

https://www.sfu.ca/physics/people/faculty/jwa304.html

Dr. Levon Pogosian

Levon Pogosian is a Professor of Physics and Chair of the Department of Physics and a leading theoretical cosmologist whose research uses cosmological observations to test fundamental physics. He received his PhD in Physics from Case Western Reserve University, following earlier degrees from Yerevan State University (BSc) and West Virginia University (MSc). After holding postdoctoral fellowships at Imperial College London, Tufts University, and Syracuse University, he joined SFU in 2006, where he co‑founded the university’s theoretical cosmology group. Professor Pogosian’s research focuses on cosmic acceleration, dark energy, modified gravity, the cosmic microwave background, large‑scale structure, primordial magnetic fields, and topological defects such as cosmic strings. His work is widely cited and has contributed to resolving key cosmological challenges, including the Hubble tension. In recognition of this work, he shared the 2021 Buchalter Cosmology Prize (First Prize) with Karsten Jedamzik.

https://www.sfu.ca/physics/people/faculty/levon.html

Dr. Gopolang Mohlabeng

Gopolang Mohlabeng is an Assistant Professor of Physics, specializing in theoretical particle and astroparticle physics. His research focuses on physics beyond the Standard Model, with particular emphasis on the particle nature of dark matter, neutrino–dark matter connections, particle cosmology, and terrestrial and astrophysical probes of new physics. Dr. Mohlabeng earned his PhD and MSc in Theoretical Particle Physics from the University of Kansas, and completed undergraduate studies in physics and astrophysics at the University of Pretoria and the University of Cape Town. Prior to joining SFU, he held research appointments as a Postdoctoral Research Associate at Brookhaven National Laboratory, a Postdoctoral Fellow at Queen’s University, and a Chancellor’s Advanced Postdoctoral Fellow at the University of California, Irvine.

https://www.sfu.ca/physics/people/faculty/gmohlabe.html