" the themes they would like to investigate during their residency at ESA"
flying pork barrels comes to mind
The European Space Agency (ESA) is seeking a resident artist with the Right Stuff to "explore the fertile ground between art and space science". ESA - in association with Ars Electronica and the European Digital Art and Science Network - is inviting applications for its art&science@ESA gig, which is "open to artists to propose …
€3k is petty cash for a good artist. The late Robert McCall got a whole lot more than that from NASA when he did a lot of work for them, and his estate is still making money off selling prints and whatnot of that work. From the sound of it, ESA wants to retain the rights to any work produced. That ain't gonna happen with an established artist of any level, or even with a new artist of the talent they appear to want.
YouTube is crowded with videos claiming that space travel is all faked, e.g. from "Feed Your Mind": NASA Faked Space to Hide Flat Earth Dome Firmament | FLAT EARTH DOME pt 2
They'll be stoked to have an ESA "confession" that they're hiring "space artists" - we can look forward to the "YouTube Intellectual Background" dropping below its current level of 2.7 IQ points (akin to the better known CMB, the theory goes that after an initial "Big Braininess" at the start of YT history the steady inflation of user-generated content has led to real gems being ever more widely dispersed by stone cold crap)