ARTSPACE: CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

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Artspace’s Annual Call for Submissions

Artspace is seeking proposals from artists working in all media for the centre’s 2016/17 programming season.

Deadline: June 5, 2015, 5pm

Submit Online: https://artspace-arc.submittable.com/submit

Artspace is dedicated to presenting work from contemporary artists working in a variety of disciplines. The centre strives to present art that reflects and promotes the diversity of cultural and political perspectives that shape contemporary art practices. Submissions from emerging, mid-career and senior artists whose works are alternative, experimental and/or critically engaged are welcome. The centre welcomes submissions from individual artists, curators, and collectives to apply with new or existing exhibition proposals.

With two gallery spaces available, we invite artists to apply to the following:

GALLERY 1: Gallery 1 (1500 sq. ft.) is Artspace’s fully accessible main gallery and features 12-foot ceilings, hardwood floors, and a 40’ wall of street facing windows. The space is designated for the presentation of solo and group exhibitions, as well as performances. We invite artists, collectives and curators to apply with new or existing exhibition proposals.

GALLERY 2: Gallery 2 (500 sq. ft.) is a black box style gallery suitable for smaller installations, experimental work from regional artists, workshops, and and a variety of media installations. Gallery 2 is equipped with an A/V projection system. Unfortunately, Gallery 2 is not an accessible space.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES

All submissions should be made online through:
https://artspace-arc.submittable.com/submit

Artspace does not accept mailed submissions. Applicants who do not adhere to the following criteria will be disregarded.

You will be asked to include the following:
  1. Proposal/Project Description (1 page max)
  2. Technical Requirements
  3. Artist Statement (250 words max)
  4. Artist Bio (250 words max)
  5. Current CV (3 pages max)
  6. Visual Support Material with Support Material List (15 images max)
Please select visual support material mindfully, as committee members have limited time to consider each proposal. Images should be labeled numerically with the artist’s name (01_name.jpg, 02_name.jpg, etc.). Your Support Material List should include title of work, date created, medium, and dimensions.

Video documentation should be uploaded to a site such as Youtube or Vimeo and linked in the application. Regardless of duration, please include full videos. Due to time constraints, the selections committee may only view up to 5 minutes of each video. Please note the clip you would prefer the jury view by including time marks in the documentation list.

Programming Policy

Proposals are judged in relation to Artspace's mandate and programming focus.

All submissions to the Annual Call are vetted by a Programming Committee composed of the Director, the Media Arts Coordinator, 2 working artists or curators from the region, and 1 invited artist or curator from outside of Peterborough. The Director makes final decisions and considers budgetary and scheduling constraints in selecting each exhibition.

An extensive archive of past exhibitions can be found at www.artspace-arc.org.

Please allow 3-4 months for Artspace’s jury to consider submissions.

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Mandate

Artspace is Peterborough's artist-run centre. We are a non-profit organization that assists artists with the presentation of new work by practicing artists. We change in response to the needs of artists and work to engage and inform the public about their work. Formally, our mandate aims to foster a stronger appreciation for Canadian contemporary art. In our ongoing efforts to increase public awareness, we also aim to build on our reputation as one of our region’s most vital arts organizations.

We advocate for artists. We nurture dialogue across disciplines, cultures and perspectives. We are also representatives, responsible for building ties within the community. Ours is a necessary voice in the cultural landscape, and has been since 1974.

Our programming, though national in scope, is regional in spirit. In connecting artists to the community and welcoming community involvement, we continue to attract respected talent from across the country.

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If you have any questions regarding submissions, please contact:

Jon Lockyer
Director
Artspace
378 Aylmer Street North
Peterborough
jon@artspace-arc.org
705-748-3883

SONA SAFAEI-SOOREH: ASSIGNMENTS OPENS JUNE 27 AT ARTSPACE






Jun 27 2014 - Aug 16 2014
Opening: 
 Friday, June 27, 2014 - 7:00pm - 11:00pm
Assignments includes various works by interdisciplinary artist Sona Safaei-Sooreh that explore the sites of communication, and more importantly, miscommunication embedded in contemporary art practices.
 








“In the past few years my work and process have explored the notion of self and otherness and part/whole relationships in a decentralized global situation. In doing so it has elaborated on number of concerns: differences among languages and cultures; how meanings and cultural codes get lost in translations; the possibility of communication across cultures; issues around diversity; globalization and homogenization; the effects of creating a common knowledge- specifically a common art discourse; and more recently, the relationships between art and economy.
After I moved from Iran to Canada I attended OCADU and challenged my Iranian post-secondary schooling experience. I delved into Canadian Contemporary Art and culture to adapt myself to this new territory, starting with changing my medium of practice from painting to video. I became interested in understanding agencies inherited in this new structure: interests/desires of the new domain, new laws and regulations, and the most wanted and marketable ideas, perhaps to develop a common knowledge with my surroundings. I have noticed that I continue to compare two states of being: when one thing belongs to two things and none of them at the same time. The plurality of selves I experience in my personal life encompasses most of the questions I raise about the art world. Some of these questions are: how one experiences otherness in the art world? What is the individual’s relationship to the institution? Is it necessary to develop a common knowledge with the state apparatus? Does not pursuing a common knowledge favor controlling systems? What happens if one cannot find anything in common with the dominant discourse?”
-Sona Safaei-Sooreh 


Artist Bio: 
Sona Safaei-Sooreh studied art at Azad University of Tehran and graduated in July 2006 with a BFA in Painting. She moved to Canada after finishing her studies in Iran and she is a recent graduate from OCAD University in Toronto.
Safaei Sooreh has exhibited her works extensively both in Iran and internationally, to name a few Limited Access in Tehran at Mohsen Gallery, Iran & co at La Bourgoaise in Belgium, If we ever meet again … at Thomas Erben Gallery, New York and In Other Word at Kunstraum Kreuzberg / Bethanien, Berlin. Her work and process explores the notion of self and otherness, the linkages between one and many, and part /whole relationships in a decentralized global situation. In doing so it elaborates on number of concerns: differences among languages and cultures; lost meanings or components in translations; possibility of communications cross cultures; and artist/museum relationships. Safaei Sooreh lives and works in Toronto, Canada.