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Event History
Ninety Percent of Everything marks the first edition of an open call and residency programme promoted by U-BOOT Lab, a cultural association active in Genoa since 2012 and engaged in culture-based social innovation through the hybridisation of artistic and scientific research. Building on over ten years of experience developed through Zones Portuaires — an international festival and research platform opening the port to the city — the project expands U-BOOT Lab’s long-standing investigation into ports as ecological, social and cultural spaces. Conceived as an intensive pathway of situated research and training, Ninety Percent of Everything brings together young artist collectives, researchers and maritime professionals to critically address the relationship between maritime logistics, climate crisis and global consumption, fostering new forms of artistic inquiry and active citizenship.
What Makes this event different?
The residency unfolds not only in institutional and research spaces, but inside the port itself and at sea, through direct experience aboard operational cargo vessels. Selected artists live and work in close contact with ship crews, gaining privileged access to port infrastructures, maritime routines and logistical systems usually invisible to the public. This direct engagement transforms the port into a living laboratory, where artistic practice is informed by first-hand observation, data collection and shared daily life. By combining navigation, sound and data practices, scientific research and systemic design, the project offers an experience that goes beyond representation, enabling artists to translate maritime logistics into critical sound and visual landscapes rooted in real-world conditions.
Starting March 2, U-BOOT Lab launches the first edition of an open call addressed to artist collectives under 35 within the framework of the project Ninety Percent of Everything. The Association, active in Genoa since 2012, offers the selected collective(s) a residency inside Palazzo Ducale Genova, within the Port and at sea, fostering new ecologies of global consumption.
The initiative investigates the impact of maritime logistics on the climate crisis, exploring the port as a relational device connecting trade flows, ecological balances, and social and geopolitical dynamics.
The project is developed by U-BOOT Lab in collaboration with Fondazione Palazzo Ducale Genova, with the support of Fondazione Compagnia di San Paolo, within the framework of “Starter – Cultura e creatività per la sfida ambientale”.
The call is open until April 2 and can be accessed free of charge by completing the online application at the link https://www.u-boot.it/blog/npoe/. The invitation is addressed to artist collectives under 35 working in the fields of sound practices, data art and hybrid artistic practices. Two collectives will be selected — one primarily focused on sound and one on data art — or, alternatively, one interdisciplinary collective integrating both areas of expertise, for a total of up to six artists. Each selected collective will receive a gross fee of €4,000.00, or €8,000.00 gross in the event that a single collective composed of six artists is selected. The Open Call jury is composed of representatives of the promoting institutions and is chaired by Ilaria Bonacossa, Director of Palazzo Ducale Genova.
The artistic residency will take place in Genoa from May 15 to May 30, 2026. Workspaces are distributed between Palazzo Ducale and the experimental marine station of CNR-IAS, located within the port and made available through the collaboration with Francesca Garaventa. In parallel, a navigation period is planned aboard operational cargo vessels of the Grendi Group. Selected artists will have access to the port and its logistical infrastructures and will live in close contact with the crews, participating in daily life on board. Through the collection of technical, sonic and visual data, they will investigate the impact of maritime transport on the climate crisis and transform the acquired information into sound and visual landscapes. The residency is led by Stellare (Genoa–Turin), a factory of producers and musicians, and by data artist Tiziana Alocci (London), curated by Maria Pina Usai / U-BOOT Lab – Zones Portuaires, with scientific support from Francesca Garaventa / CNR-IAS. The residency is further accompanied by a systemic design pathway curated by Itinerari Paralleli, structuring the working process through a relational and laboratory-based approach inspired by the principles of the New European Bauhaus. The outcomes of the residency will converge into an multichannel installation at Palazzo Ducale in Genoa starting in September. The public presentation of the project will also include a public programme featuring three moments of collective sharing: a performance within the port, a bilingual final publication, and a video documentary gathering interdisciplinary contributions on the themes addressed.
The project also extends to two additional strategic Mediterranean port cities: Cagliari and Marseille. After its inauguration in Genoa, the outcomes will be presented at the Grendi Terminal of the Port of Cagliari, and subsequently at L’Embarcadère in the Vieux Port of Marseille, within the partnership with the Observatoire des publics et des pratiques de la culture MESRI/AMU. The fourth host city is London, in collaboration with The Heath Studio.
