NAVET Student Festival 2023 - Call For Ideas and Student Proposals

CALL FOR IDEAS

For the first time, NAVET (see below for more info about kth.se/navet ), in collaboration with Tekniska - The National Museum of Science and Technology , organizes a call for ideas within the crossing-areas between art, technology and design.

We welcome ideas from undergraduate (bachelor) and postgraduate (master) students from KTH, KMH, SKH and Konstfack to create multidisciplinary teams for submitting project ideas. The theme for this year's festival is THE FOREST. Submissions from single participants are also welcome; NAVET will try to team you up with students with complementary skills from other partners (more information can be found at the submission link below) . Any format is accepted; for example, it could be a performance or an interactive installation, based on any technology (analogue, digital, hybrid) and expression form.

We will especially welcome proposals that will include a remote dialogue between a location at one of NAVET’s academic partners and Tekniska.

Successful proposals will receive 15 000 sek for implementing a prototype, installation, and/or performance.

The deadline for submitting your ideas is December 1 2023.

Selected ideas will be communicated during week 49, and invited to be briefly presented during NAVET Week 2023 (week 50) at Tekniska.

At the end of this page, you will find the form for submitting your project proposal, but before doing that, we recommend you read the text below.

An introduction to the Forest’s theme

The diversity of species in the forest is a prerequisite for the maintenance of functions in the ecosystem, which also includes us humans. In this way, biological diversity is crucial for the survival of our species. In addition to the fact that human life on earth depends on the preservation of woodland, being in the forest has also been proven to promote human well-being in very specific ways. Studies show that people's blood pressure drops when they are in the forest and people with stress-related illnesses can get forest walks "on prescription" to recover. In our increasingly urbanized and global world, many go out into nature to find peace and use the forest as a place to reflect on existential questions. The trees in the forest also have many other benefits for us. Our long history of using fossil fuels 

has created enormous problems and rampant climate change. Through photosynthesis, the trees "breathe" carbon dioxide, which makes forests an efficient carbon sink, which is an important contribution to the work to alleviate climate change. At the same time, the forest also needs to be used for the production of various wood products that we use. In Sweden, the forest industry has long been important, both within the country's borders and for export. During the 17th century, the mining industry started on a larger scale, which required huge amounts of wood in the form of fuel. Already in the 18th century, many worried that forest exploitation would lead to deforestation. When industrialization took off in Sweden in the 19th century, the pulp industry became an important export product. Today, it is regulated by law that new trees must be planted without felling, and many forest owners and companies choose to certify their timber sustainably. Coppice woodland has dominated forestry for 50 years and is still debated today. How does it affect biological diversity and how do we humans feel about the large bare clearings that were once a fertile forest? Just over half of the forests in Sweden are owned by private actors today. Many of them do not recognize themselves in the ongoing debate about how hard large companies use the forest. It has become increasingly common to try to find new ways to make a living from one's forest, for example, ecotourism of various kinds. Private forest owners and big companies have been hit hard by spruce bark beetle attacks, storms and forest fires. One light at the end of the tunnel is that today new technology is being developed to measure and control how the forest is doing. In this way, damage can be repaired in time to avoid financial losses and damage to the forest's plant and animal life. Innovations are also being developed in bio-based products and wooden architecture. If we can replace fossil materials, such as plastic packaging, glue, cement, steel and more, with wood, it could have a positive effect, the substitution effect.

All these expectations for experiences, benefits and products place high demands on what the forest must deliver.

Is the forest enough?

Keywords for inspiration: Biological diversity and the forest's ecological system; Functions of the living tree; Forestry; The story of the forest; Fractals, phytoncides and physical activity - about the forest and health; The laboratory; The wooden building

What is NAVET?

NAVET is a KTH centre with the overarching goal of becoming a meeting place for research and projects in the intersection of art, technology and design, with the purpose of facilitating and creating opportunities for exchange and research collaboration among artists, designers, engineers, humanists, natural and social scientists. NAVET is a collaboration between KTH Royal Institute of Technology, KMH Royal College of Music, SKH Stockholm University of the Arts, Konstfack, Tekniska - The National Museum of Science and Technology and Scenkonstmuseet - The Swedish Museum of Performing Arts.

INSTRUCTIONS FOR PROPOSAL SUBMISSION

Please note that the submission form below is interactive. Once you select if you are submitting as a team or as a single participant, different forms will automatically open.

In particular you will need to enter the following information.

Title of the project
Write the preliminary title (and subtitle if needed) of your project.

People involved in the project
List the name, email address, university/department, and role in the project for each participant in the project.

Description of the project
1. Aim of the project (max 3500 characters)
Write the main aim of your project: What do you want to do and why?
2. Strategic importance and impact (max 2000 characters)
Describe why this project connects to the theme of NAVET Festival 2023,The Forest, why it involves the project partners listed above, how it contributes to the field of art-technology-design, and what it is its possible impact.
3. Timeline for activities (max 2000 characters)
Please provide a sketched timeline for activities which need to be completed for finalizing the project by late May 2024/early June 2024.

Time plan
Planned start and end dates for the project

Budget
4. Description and motivation of budget needed(max 2000 characters)
Please provide a preliminary description of how you plan to use the budget provided by NAVET (maximum 15 000 kr) for material, equipment, etc. All costs must be in kr.

Submit your project proposal here: