Open Call for Stochastic Labs:
Deadline to apply is May 31st.
Stochastic Labs awards fully sponsored residencies to exceptional engineers, artists, scientists, and entrepreneurs from around the world. Residencies include a private apartment at the mansion, co-working and/or dedicated workspace, and shop access (laser cutter, 3D printer, etc.).
Residents become part of Stochastic’s creative community, participating in weekly dinners and invitation-only events. Residents may apply as individuals or as teams.
Details: July 8th – September 15th, in Berkeley (we will consider alternative dates).
Application here. While applicants may be at any stage in their career, the selection is highly competitive. Applicants may request funds to support travel and other expenses.
This year’s theme is Liveness + Agency:
In this age of AI slop and prompt/output fatigue, liveness offers a counterweight—a return to curiosity, authenticity, and invigoration over optimization.
AI is shifting from an Era of Data toward an Era of Experience, wherein systems evolve through interaction (with environments, feedback loops, and each other). Artificial life has explored this territory for a long time. So have the live arts: theater, music, dance, games, interactive storytelling.
Summer subgroups include:
- Artificial Life, led by Artbreeder founder Joel Simon — Virtual life is back: works that live, grow and evolve.
- Realtime AI Interfaces, led by artist/engineer Memo Akten (UCSD faculty) — Time-based generative media (images, sound, text) with continuous control.
- Playing with Story, led by Max Kreminski (Cornell faculty/Midjourney) — Designing and developing new forms of narrative interactivity.
- Founders and Builders — Pre-idea or early stage founders (at any stage of their career).
- Futures of Music and Sound, led by Adrian Freed and Mayank Sanganeria — New relationships for music and sound in society.
- Theater + Code, led by theater director Michael Rau (Stanford faculty) — Exploring emerging technology for theater, experiential, and live performance.
- Computer Graphics, Animation, and VFX — R&D for the next generation of visual culture.
- Tangible Imagination, led by Phyzify founder Alexander Reben — Build the bridge between thought and thing.
- AI Tools for Creative Expression, led by Artbreeder founder Joel Simon — Hyper-extend human intent. Tools for craft and control.
- Engineered Ecologies, led by Primitives founder Virj Kan — What new ecologies will link living biological and living digital systems?
We strongly encourage proposals that explore themes outside these areas as well (or invent new ones!)