corporate thirst season is upon us!

it’s thirst season, aka there are a bunch of open calls with deadlines over the next few months BUT it’s also hiring season for a lot of companies. I am personally trying to avoid all semblance of full-time work after 3 nasty full-time roles in the past 4 years, but if you’re looking now is a great time to update your portfolio and resumé and, like, be on the radar.

I had a nice chat with an artist friend-of-a-friend last week who is looking to pivot into UX work after doing a code bootcamp, and here is a 2¢ version of my overall advice for this hiring season:

1. don’t toss out your previous experiences just because you don’t think they are the traditional narrative for the roles you are looking at. plenty of people have done a frontend bootcamp, or whatever, and your actual real-life work history and experiences will say more about your unique value.
2. avoid places that use language like “we’re a family,” “we work hard and play hard,” “we’re obsessed with our users,” etc., unless you truly want to do whatever it is with all your waking energy.
3. set your boundaries at the start. better to end a hiring cycle on the first call because you won’t budge on relocating after COVID or won’t do pager duty on Friday nights than feel trapped down the line. don’t say yes to stuff that feels ok for now because pandemic.
4. if you don’t vibe with a hiring manager because you’re being yourself, the job would 100% make you miserable. I promise.
5. if a job description seems like an impossible lists of qualifications across multiple areas of expertise, the company probably doesn’t know what it wants and/or is trying to hire 1 person to do the jobs of 3-5. both situations suck. also if you get a bad vibe from the hiring process (ex., things seem disorganized), I guarantee it will be 1000% worse if you take the job.
6. if you need to take a thing to get money, that’s fine! it doesn’t make you a less authentic artist to pay your bills consistently and buy your partner a nice birthday present. anyone who gives you shit for taking a job that isn’t truly evil that you need to sustain yourself is an asshole.

anyway, hope u are all staying safe and getting that bread!

resources!

I am holding out until I am back in the US and can get a print copy without paying a million dollars for shipping, but Golan Levin & Tega Brain‘s new book, Code as Creative Medium, sounds pretty great and a worthwhile addition to your library if you teach creative coding.

on the subject of teaching, this list of hot tips for educators working online is pretty solid:

designer Valery Marier has gone to the trouble of creating and curating archives.design, an organized collection of graphic design related items available on the Internet Archive, with extremely useful filters for sorting by topic and availability. recommended if you want to share accessible resources with students or just want to find some inspiration for your latest project!

do you need an in-depth article on how to add outlines to a WebGL scene as a post process? I mean, why not just bookmark it anyway, you never know. I love the use of Return of the Obra Dinn as both inspiration for the technique and a benchmark to check its efficacy. hats off to Omar Shehata for this deep dive.

who doesn’t need more generative blobs in their life?! this tutorial by George Francis shows you how to make your own googly eyed blobs with SVG. my fav part is that he includes a link to a CodePen ready for forking with all the required external JS libraries already loaded, so that you don’t have to fuss too much with setting up your own environment. a nice intro to SVG and generative art!

educational opportunities!

Code Cuisine’s first workshop of 2021 is a collaboration with Ladies, Wine & Design Amsterdam on the theme of “Pinot Codio” (you know I love a pun) on Saturday, February 6. this will be a 2-hour remote workshop where you’ll learn just enough coding basics to draw the “dish of the day” with JavaScript. learn more and get tix here!

Cuna is back with a bunch of new programming for 2021, starting with a free performance on February 6 with artists Claude Heiland-Allen and Lauren Netz. upcoming courses include “Ecoativismo Fotográfico: Conservación de las Especies” and “Future Studies & DIY Solar Panels: Sci-Art International,” both starting next month! check out the full line-up here!

open calls!

VRHAM!: Interactive Arts has an open call for creators and artists who want to develop their already existing artistic project (or a work in progress) by exploring the possibilities that lie in the innovation of 3D-scanning technologies, open to individuals from Member States of the European Union, their Overseas Countries and Territories or the UK and non-profit organizations from the same regions. you’d get tons of technical support, up to €10,000 for production costs, and more. neat! learn more and apply by March 15 here.

the 4th VH AWARD has an open call for Asian artists engaged with the context of Asia and its futures who make screen-based works. shortlisted artists will be invited to participate in an online residency with Eyebeam as well as exhibitions across various global platforms. the site is a lil difficult to navigate, but you can find more about the award here and check the guidelines here. applications due by March 19!

submissions are open until February 23 for the Activating Smithsonian Open Access Challenge from Cooper Hewitt’s Interaction Lab. they’re looking for proposals that will stimulate new ideas for inspiring digital interactions with over 3 million 2D and 3D objects in the Smithsonian’s Open Access collections – that’s a lot of CC0 content to play with! learn more here.

the Prix Ars Electronica is open for submissions for 2021, with the categories Computer Animation, Artificial Intelligence & Life Art, Digital Musics & Sound Art, and “u19 – create your world” for creators under 19 years of age. submissions aren’t due until March 3, but take a look at this one now to wrap your head around it here.

LACMA has an open call for their Art + Technology Lab grant program. they’re looking for projects that can engage with the museum’s audience, while going beyond the traditional in-gallery experience. there’s also a preference for projects that explore emerging technology, but prior technical experience is not required. learn more here and apply by February 25.

China Residencies is hosting an open call for people who work with all kinds of media to apply for a fully-funded, 6 month remote residency in 2021, and are welcoming proposals of media arts and mediated projects connected to mainland China, Hong Kong, Chinatowns, and the greater Chinese diaspora worldwide in some way. learn more and apply by February 9 here.

job opportunities!

Rhizome is hiring for a Web Manager. this is a full-time role that is editorial rather than technical, and is currently remote but based in NYC. sounds like you’d be pretty hands on with all of Rhizome’s online presence. $50k + benefits, etc., etc. learn more here and apply by February 5.

upcoming events!

Weds, Feb 3! 7:30PM UTC-5! Wonderville’s monthly playtest night is happening this week via their Discord and Twitch. I’m not sure if any slots are still open for demos, but regardless it’s a good chance to check out their community.

Fri, Feb 5! 7:30PM UTC+1! Creative Code Berlin is having another online edition of their usual meetup, open to anyone interested in art and technology. I’m going to check this one out myself to give myself a lil virtual vacation to check out a new creative community. learn more and RSVP here!

Tues, Feb 9! 8:00PM UTC-5! as the first live event for “World on a Wire,” artist Pete Jiadong Qiang will join Michael Connor of Rhizome, for a screening/play-through and conversation exploring Qiang’s recent interactive works. looks wild! learn more and RSVP here.

Fri, Feb 12! 7:00PM UTC-5! Cypurr Social’s monthly meetup is back for February. they’ll be hanging out in Jitsi to play games, chat, and generally vibe amidst this bleak winter. learn more and register here to get the link to log in.

just for lulz!

type your own Telly Savalas! why not!

* ~ housekeeping ~ *

if you have anything in the works that you are excited about (an event, a workshop, a new project), please send me all the details. if you wanna share links or chat, there is now a Discord server that you can use here.