2021 KCC Open Call "GERMANY X UK"

EXHIBITION THEME: Nothing is - everything just has been or will be

Nothing like a blue bird
from New York
fall from the sky
into the ocean
there will be light
in a moment
shine from the sky

a big blue whale
scream in the ocean
the wave
the light shine again
just like the bird

free

time

become

a moment to come
a moment to go

By Zhenhua Li

In the mid 1980s, the author and director Alexander Kluge lamented the bitter loss of historical consciousness. His film Der Angriff der Gegenwart auf die übrige Zeit [The Blind Director, 1985] criticises the languishing of the present as an effect of time conceived in ever-faster and ever-smaller intervals. In light of two potentially paradoxical but potently interacting processes, society increasingly faces a shortage of time: with digitalisation, time becomes more abstract and its value more difficult to grasp. Further, in an increasingly global service economy, time mutates not only into a commodity but also into a general equipollent in the form of bits and bytes. Time started to tend away from being an experiential quality to be reckoned with. Today the spread of a flat awareness of time again provokes complaint but with new areas of concern. With regard to the past, criticism focuses on the phenomenon of oblivion which accompanies the development of fast telematic technologies. The act of forgetting is systematically promoted through digital machines and their deification of the present. In fact, one can speak of sophisticated culture technologies of EnBnnern, a combination of the German terms entrinnen, meaning to escape from something, and erinnern, to remember something. But between paranoia and melancholy there is a third mode of time consciousness, which is worth to re:activate - to enjoy the auspicious moment.

By Prof. Dr. Siegfried Zielinski

EXHIBITION FORMAT: GROUP EXHIBITION

• GROUP application: 6 Artists may apply as a group
  
• INDIVIDUAL applicants: In the case that individual artists apply and are selected, a maximum of 6 artists will be chosen to exhibit as a group

EXHIBITION PERIOD

• Exhibition in GERMANY: From mid-July 2021 to the end of August
  
• Exhibition in UK: From late November 2021 to the end of January 2022
  * Exact dates to be confirmed in due course

ELIGIBILITY

• Individuals and groups whose work has been exhibited more than once either domestically or internationally
• Proposals should incorporate elements of Korean culture, history etc. OR the proposed artist(s) be of Korean heritage

APPLICATION PERIOD

• 11 January 2021 - 1 February 2021, 11PM (GMT)

SUBMISSION DOCUMENTS

1. Biography, maximum 500 characters
2. Portfolio (title, material, size, year of production, fill in technique rider if necessary, and up to 5 works with 3 or less images per work)
   * Work that has not yet been produced should be submitted on one A4 sheet of paper accompanied by a detailed work plan explanation
   * Edited video file should be limited to 5 minutes or less and submitted as a link to the portfolio with film-stills (for video, sound and performance works)
3. Work description maximum 1500 characters (explain how the theme and your artwork are connected)
4. Exhibition plan, no more than 1x A4 sheet (only when applying as a group)
   

Note to Applicants
* Please submit the application as one file in PDF format with images and video links (max. 7MB)
* Please do not send original works
* Due to the high volume of applications we receive, we cannot provide individual feedback nor return applications

SELECTION AND ANNOUNCEMENT OF RESULTS

• External and internal jurors consisting of curators and visual arts professionals will review the applications before voting on the winner.
• The jury will consist of Dr Siegfried Zielinski (Professor and Media Theorist in Germany), Zhenhua Li (Curator, artist), Sook-Kyung Lee (Senior Curator, Tate Modern), and Alessio Antoniolli (Director, Gasworks).
• Announcements on the websites of both Cultural Centers in early March 2021

SUPPORT ITEMS FOR SUCCESSFUL APPLICANTS

• Up to 800 USD per successful applicant will be provided in support for transportation, standard class travel expenses, and work materials only.
• Promotion, opening ceremony, installation, and de-installation
  * In case a group is selected, further discussion on the winning entry will follow

HOW TO SUBMIT

• Submit to kcc.opencall@gmail.com
• Applications submitted with insufficient documents will not be considered
  
  * For further inquiries about the competition, please contact:
  JEONG, Ka Hee (kahee.jeong@kulturkorea.org) or Jaemin CHA (jaemin.cha@kccuk.org.uk)

In partnership with

Korean Cultural Centre in Germany

Download the submission guidebook here