The Padimai on-chain artist residency is open for applications, with a deadline of August 15, selected proposals announced September 15, and the residency running September 20 through December 20. It’s aimed at creative practitioners exploring the intersection of art, technology, and blockchain — people with experience in any of those areas who want to push the boundaries of what NFTs and on-chain systems can be as an artistic medium rather than just a marketplace. Five practitioners will be selected for this first edition, each receiving an honorarium of SGD 15,000, with an additional SGD 5,000 earmarked for documentation.
What makes this one worth a look
Two details stand out from the usual open-call noise. First, it’s remote — you don’t have to relocate, which lowers the barrier for artists with jobs, families, or visa constraints that make in-person residencies impossible. Second, the funding is real: SGD 15,000 is a serious honorarium for a three-month program, and the separate documentation stipend acknowledges something residencies often ignore — that documenting the work properly is labor that deserves its own budget. For artists this site follows who work in generative, code-based, or networked media, a well-funded remote slot to make on-chain work is a genuinely useful opportunity.
The blockchain-art context
On-chain art has had a turbulent few years — boom, backlash, and a quieter present in which the artists who stuck around are doing more interesting work than the market frenzy ever surfaced. A residency framed around exploring the boundaries of the medium, rather than minting collections, fits that maturing moment: it treats the blockchain as a material with specific properties (provenance, programmability, permanence) worth investigating critically, not just a sales channel. That’s the same lens under which serious institutions — Rhizome, the Lumen Prize — have long approached digital and networked art.
If you’re thinking about applying
The essentials: applications close August 15, five spots, SGD 15,000 honorarium plus SGD 5,000 documentation, remote, September 20–December 20. As with any newer program, read the full call carefully for rights, deliverables, and which chains or platforms are involved before committing — the documentation stipend suggests they expect a substantive record of the work, so factor that into your proposal. For anyone with a project idea sitting at the art-technology-blockchain crossroads, this is a low-friction, well-funded chance to make it.