Mind the map(ping) Residency in Toronto
Calls por participation
Call for applications opens: February 25, 2025
Application deadline: March 12, 2025
1 - About the Mind the map(ping) residency
Mind the map(ping) is a 1-week creative residency offering a unique opportunity for Canadian artists to create video mapping works. The selected artists will be hosted by the Lille-based association Rencontres audiovisuelles, an organization whose activities are helping to structure a complete videomapping industry. Its initiatives in support of international co-productions take the form of the Image Beyond the Screen International Conference (IBSIC), held every year at the Aremberg creative mine near Lille.
The works produced during the residency will be presented at the 19th edition of Nuit Blanche Toronto on October 4, 2025, and will be on display all night until 7 a.m. on October 5, 2025. The event brings together some 100 installations across the city and attracts over 1 million visitors.
The work presented will be part of the exhibition “Collective Composition” curated by Laura Nanni for Gibson House, which explores how cities are collaboratively shaped through rhythm, space and narrative. This theme ties in with the overall theme of Nuit Blanche 2025, “Translating the City,” which examines the intersections of culture, language, identity and space.
The program offers 5 days of instruction in video mapping techniques, making it accessible even to artists with no previous experience in this field.
The residency focuses on skill-building and artistic exchange between Canadian and French artists.
The selected artist will receive:
- A stipend of €2,000
- Round-trip airfare
- Accommodation
- Meals or a per diem
- Studio and research assistance
- Collaboration with other artists
- Professional documentation (photo and/or video) of the exhibition
- The opportunity to present their work at Toronto's Nuit Blanche
- Connections with a dynamic creative and intellectual community
2 - Eligibility and application process
Applicants must:
- be Toronto-based artists and/or collectives;
- reside in the Greater Toronto Area;
- be available to attend face-to-face meetings in Toronto;
- work in video, animation (2D or 3D) or motion design. Previous experience in video mapping is not required, but is welcome. Eligible candidates include artists with backgrounds in video mapping, animated film, digital arts and video games.
To apply, you'll need to submit a portfolio including:
- 6 works (videos, films or still images) or a portfolio/reel representing your artistic practice
- A brief presentation of your artistic approach (500 characters)
- A description of your art/artistic process (200 characters)
Please send your application to the Institut français du Canada by March 12, 2025 before 11:59 p.m. (Eastern Time): culture@institutfrancais.ca
Please write “Mind the map(ping)-Residency” in the subject line.
3 - Selection process and artist commitments
All eligible projects will be evaluated by a selection committee made up of representatives of Rencontres Audiovisuelles, Institut français du Canada, Insula Orchestra and Nuit Blanche Toronto.
The name of the selected winner will be officially announced during the second half of March 2025. Candidates will have been informed in advance by e-mail of the selection committee's decision regarding their application.
- Participation in all residency activities (April 6-12, 2025)
- Continuation of remote production from April to September 2025
- On-time submission of project and material updates
- Active involvement in the presentation of the work at Nuit Blanche in Toronto
- The artist retains ownership of the work.
- By signing the agreement, the artist authorizes Rencontres Audiovisuelles, the Institut français du Canada and Insula Orchestra to record, represent and reproduce the work for the purposes of research, education and cultural dissemination.
- Any communication about the work must include the following mention: “Produced as part of the Video Mapping European Center residency at the Arenberg Creative Mine - Produced by Rencontres Audiovisuelles, Insula Orchestra and the Institut français du Canada.”
4 - Timeline
- March 12, 2025: Application deadline
- Mid-March 2025: Announcement of selected artist
- April 6, 2025: Arrival in Lille, start of residency
- April 7-12, 2025: Residency at the Arenberg Creative Mine (workshops, presentations and project development)
- Mid-May 2025: Submission of animatics for feedback
- End of July 2025: Submission of promotional material (description and visuals)
- September 25, 2025: Final submission of broadcast files
- October 4, 2025: Premiere of work at Nuit Blanche Toronto
Optional
Artists may also participate in the Image Beyond the Screen International Conference (IBSIC) and Video Mapping Festival from April 3 to 5, 2025 in Lille, which brings together over 400 professionals from 30 countries and offers additional networking and visibility opportunities.
5 - Partners
The Institut français du Canada was created in April 2024 as an autonomous entity of the Embassy of France to Canada. It develops artistic, educational, scientific, and academic projects to strengthen links between France and Canada. The Institut offers rich and diverse programming for all audiences, featuring cinema, visual arts, digital creation, literature, music, debates, and more. Its programming is designed for a broad and diverse audience — from young children and students to researchers, professionals in the cultural sector, and others.
The Institut français du Canada also designs and offers residencies for French and Canadian creators and intellectuals to promote cross-cultural research and creation.
Les Rencontres Audiovisuelles support the Video Mapping European Center, a structuring organization for the video mapping sector, combining training, research, residencies, support for creation, the IBSIC international conference and the Video Mapping Festival.
The Video Mapping Festival in the Hauts-de-France region aims to present video mapping in all its forms (monumental, object, video game, immersive mapping, interactive, etc.) across 15 cities, with content aimed at the general public, as well as professionals and students from international animation and video game schools.
Founded in 1967, Sheridan College has grown from a local college of 400 students to one of the largest post-secondary institutions in the province of Ontario, training some 22,500 full-time students and 18,500 part-time continuing education students (8,200 international students from over 110 countries) each year, on 3 campuses in 3 different cities in the province: Oakville, Brampton and Mississauga.
Its Animation, Arts and Design department is ranked No. 2 worldwide.
Insula orchestra was founded in 2012 by artistic and musical director Laurence Equilbey.
To stay as close as possible to the composers' intentions, Insula Orchestra plays on period instruments and conducts advanced musical, historical and political research around the works. Its vision is to serve baroque, classical and pre-romantic music with a historically informed approach.
For Insula Orchestra, digital tools must be a means of discovering classical music, complemented by an ambitious educational and civic project.
Insula Orchestra has been resident at La Seine Musicale since 2017.