Ekstern: Call for Projects: Ignorance is Strength

Call for projects | Deadline 24 October 2021
Ignorance is Strength? Artistic Expression and Biopower in the Post/Pandemic Age

The European Alliance of Academies launches this call for projects on the topic of biopolitics, exploring the relation between governments and their citizens, especially in the context of the (post)pandemic crisis. The call aims to challenge contemporary artists to reflect on their own practices in the aftermath of the COVID-19 pandemic, and in the wake of ongoing societal and political shifts.

We invite proposals from artists whose works grapples with aspects of critical cultural research, especially on social and political issues furthered by the current pandemic. Participating artists may consider Michel Foucault’s concepts of biopolitics and biopower in explorations on social inequality, the impact of digital media on individuals and communities, the advent of the so-called fake-news and growing distrust in state governments. How did the pandemics underline the systemic flaws in contemporary societies and what other opportunities of change are there to be considered?

Proposals should entail interdisciplinary research based on innovative methods and strategies in the digital/technological sphere and delve into the different aspects of transformative and reflective artmaking. Taking into consideration recent studies on the far-reaching negative effects of COVID-19 on women across domains—from gendered divisions of labour to economic stability- proposals focusing on gender inequality are encouraged. See more

The resulting exhibitions, talks, residencies and events will further focus on how artistic creation in Europe was affected by the pandemic in the largely different contexts across the continent. How do various art systems adapt to social distancing, lockdowns, political tensions, and interrupted activity? How should we act on the principles of participation and cultural exchanges in a time of crisis and how do we redefine a new space for artistic creation beyond geopolitical borders? Artists are encouraged to critically engage in transnational dialogues on the status-quo of artistic labour, society and the international art-scene.

Together, we seek solutions and new opportunities for the art sector, exploring the potential of trans-European collaboration in the post/pandemic age.

Conditions
The European Alliance of Academies can fund each artistic project selected up to 5,000 euros plus a lump sump for material and production, relative to the artistic discipline.

Target Group
The call for projects is directed at artists and students from all artistic disciplines who are represented by the institutions and academies of the European Alliance of Academies. In order to foster European artistic co-creation, applications from artistic duos or groups from different countries of the European Union will be viewed favourably.

Format | Digital & Analogue
The selected artists will be invited to create an artwork in their preferred artistic discipline, but mainly in a digital format, based on the concept of the project and using artistic research methodology. Artistic research will take the form of residences and workshops, physical or digital, with the findings shared via digital forms of cooperation and presentations – corresponding to the open-ended, process-oriented and participative nature of digital artworks.

The artworks will be displayed on a digital platform created by the European Alliance of Academies whereby it will represent both analogue and digital art. A critical conscious approach to the interplay of the off and online, and their different bio political conditions for being “present”, could be emphasized in order to highlight the duality and shift of artistic expression in the digital sphere.

We encourage participating institutions to organize an analogue presentation of the artworks in their own institution or art spaces, with exhibitions, video screenings, conferences, and panel discussions, and to enhance this with contributions by local artists, scholars, and cultural workers; these latter activities are to be funded and organized by members of the Alliance via their own national or local funding.

Curatorial Team

The authors of the project concept and its curatorial team is the Alliance Working Group 6, composed of Anca Poterasu, Cristina Stoenescu, and Josip Zanki (organizational project support: Christiane Lötsch). Additionally, Prof. Kristoffer Gansing as well as members of the Akademie der Künste will form the jury.

Project proposals should include

• Project outline (500–700 words) including visual material
• Working method
• Short biography and contact details
• Portfolio of work (pdf, max. 2-5 MB)

Timetable

The deadline for project proposals is 24 October 2021
Project proposals and idea of presentation should be sent to: loetsch@adk.de

Until 22 November 2021
Selection of artists by the curatorial team

Until 15 April 2022
Artistic research and realization of artworks (residences, workshops, and digital cooperation)

May–December 2022
Online presentations of artworks on the digital platform of the European Alliance of Academies and other local activities (exhibitions, video screenings, conferences, panel discussions)

Download a PDF VERSION of the call.