Arts & Sciences Residency « Quantum Studio » in Vancouver

From October 8^th to November 7^th, 2025 in Vancouver, on the campus of the University of British Columbia (UBC).

• Foster or consolidate a creative project.
• Share their work at arts and science seminars co-organised with the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute and the Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery.
• Encourage discovery of Western Canada’s scientific and artistic ecosystems, as well as structuring collaborations between French and Canadian scientific and artistic institutions.

This program guarantees, in particular, to the laureate:

• 4 weeks of residence in Vancouver
• Accommodation on the UBC campus and a working office at the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute
• 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 talk during the Stewart Blusson Quantum Matter Institute seminar
  • A workshop at the Department of Art History, Visual Art & Theory of UBC
  • A public event

This program is open to artistic practices in all their diversity (writing, visual and plastic arts, digital arts, design, dance, performance, immersive realities, sound creation, etc.). 

In case of dance, for example, UBC doesn’t offer a studio facility.

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

• application form: ENG_Application-Form-Art and science residency-2025;
• 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 (mandatory);
• 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 last week of June 2025. 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 June 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 QMI, the Belkin Art Gallery and the Embassy of France, on the UBC 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, 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 2026.

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.

VANCOUVER x PARIS

Initiée en 2023 par l’ambassade de France au Canada, “Quantum Studio” est une résidence croisée arts-sciences unique en son genre entre Vancouver, Colombie-Britannique, Canada et Paris, France.

Cette résidence croisée s’adresse à des artistes explorant les croisements entre arts et sciences. En 2024, elle se décline en deux volets:

• un.e artiste canadien.ne en résidence à Paris en septembre
• un.e artiste français.e en résidence à Vancouver en octobre

Ouverte à l’ensemble des pratiques artistiques, la résidence cherche à construire des échanges entre arts et sciences (physique de l’infiniment petit / sciences des matériaux / sciences quantiques) entre la France et l’Ouest canadien, grâce à l’immersion d’artistes sur des campus universitaires d’excellence (QMI de l’Université de Colombie-Britannique, Vancouver et le QICS de Sorbonne Université, Paris) et en lien avec des institutions artistiques de renom (Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery, Vancouver et 104, Paris). Cette résidence doit permettre aux artistes français et canadien d’étoffer leur réseau professionnel, de créer de nouvelles synergies et de renforcer les liens entre la France et l’Ouest canadien.

Par ailleurs, un lien entre les artistes sélectionnés, entre les partenaires artistiques et entre les équipes de recherche participant au programme de résidence sera effectué et animé par l’équipe du consulat général de Vancouver.

Cette résidence croisée s’inscrit dans le cadre du programme des résidences Ouest Ouest de l’ambassade de France au Canada.

L’appel à candidatures 2024 est maintenant ouvert !

A Vancouver

(candidatures ouvertes aux artistes français résidents en France)

A Paris

(candidatures ouvertes aux artistes canadiens résidents en BC)

« Quantum Studio » s’inscrit dans un programme plus large de résidences initié par l’ambassade dans l’Ouest canadien, intitulé « Les Résidences Ouest-Ouest » : en 2025, il proposera également des résidences de création autour des réalités immersives et de la création musicale avec l’IA.

Ranked among the top 50 universities in the world (2nd in Canada), UBC is the oldest university in British Columbia. It has over 70,000 students (around 60,000 on the Vancouver campus and 12,000 on the Okanagan campus) and more than 5,000 researchers. The priority areas supported by research at UBC cover global themes such as:

• Advanced technologies : quantum sciences, artificial intelligence, etc.
• health
• The response to pandemics: One Health / Global Health
• The biodiversity crisis in relation to climate change: preservation of the oceans, marine biodiversity, preservation of forests, etc.
• Access to essential resources (water, clean energy, food)
• Art history and indigenous studies

As an institute specialising in research into materials, physics and quantum sciences in particular, the QMI brings together around fifty researchers and scientists and around 200 students (masters, PhD and post-doc). QMI is part of the CNRS IRN CAFQA network (launched in January 2023), which aims to bring together Canadian and French researchers working in the field of quantum sciences. The QMI is very open to the international scene and welcomes researchers of different nationalities (particularly French thanks to collaborations with PSL and Université de Grenoble Alpes). https://qmi.ubc.ca. QMI is one of the founding members of an interdisciplinary “Ars Scientia” program, bringing together researchers and artists from British Columbia: https://arsscientia.ubc.ca/

The Morris and Helen Belkin Art Gallery was founded in 1948 as the only venue in the Vancouver area devoted to contemporary art. Located on the UBC campus, it is a university gallery committed to developing research projects and houses the university’s art collection. Housed in an award-winning building designed by Anglo-Canadian architect Peter Cardew and inaugurated in 1995, it has one of the largest public art collections in British-Columbia (5,000 works), contributing to an understanding of the Canadian and Vancouver avant-garde of the 1960s and 1970s (painting, photography, concrete poetry, etc.). Each year, it presents 4 to 7 exhibitions by artists of national and international renown, in partnership with Canadian and foreign institutions, and works from the collection are presented as part of a thematic exhibition. An annual exhibition is also organized for graduates of UBC’s Master of Fine Arts program. https://belkin.ubc.ca/