EXIT ART ANNOUNCES
5 ConceptPlus Calls
FOR SEA EXHIBITIONS IN EXIT UNDERGROUND
1) Vertical Gardens - Due January 15, 2009
2) End of Oil - Due February 15, 2009
3) America for Sale - Due February 15, 2009
4) Consume - Due March 15, 2009
5) Contemporary Slavery - Due March 15, 2009
In 2009 - 2010 Exit Art�s subterranean venue, Exit Underground, will present five exhibitions for its new initiative SEA (Social Environmental Aesthetics). SEA is a unique endeavor that presents a diverse multimedia exhibition program and permanent archive of artworks that address social and environmental concerns.
We are asking artists to consider the following exhibition themes in the context of SEA�s central mission: to provide a vehicle through which the public can be made aware of socially and environmentally-engaged work, and to provide a forum for collaboration between artists, scientists, activists, scholars and the public. SEA functions as an initiative where individuals can join together in dialogue about issues that affect our daily lives.
Exit Underground's gallery is a unique space that is roughly 480 square feet with eight-foot ceilings.
We are looking for work in the mediums of video, photography, painting, drawing, audio, poetry, and installation - the work MUST be sized appropriately for Exit Underground. Due to the underground aspects of the space, we are limited to presenting wall pieces.
Please Note:
Each exhibition has a specific due date which is listed below the title and in the description itself.
SEA ConceptPlus Calls 2009 - 2010
Vertical Gardens - DUE JANUARY 15, 2009.
The past decade has seen an emergence of green roofs and vertical gardens created by artists, designers, architects and urban gardeners to combat the lack of flora in the city. Buildings around the world � from the Mus�du Quai Branly in Paris, to the Queens Botanical Garden in New York � have embraced green walls or roofs for all their economical, environmental, and aesthetic values. On a more practical level, vertical farms and gardens are being envisioned as new ways to feed local and organic foods to city dwellers. Based on the principles of hydroponics, vertical gardens would also be largely self-sustaining because they would capture large amounts of natural sunlight and water, and could use wind as an energy source. Will Allen � the Milwaukee-based farmer who recently won a MacArthur Foundation �Genius� Grant, and whose two-acre organization, Growing Power, produces over $500,000 worth of affordable produce, meat and fish � has said: �I�d like to see Growing Power transform itself into a five-story vertical building being totally off the grid with renewable energy.� In a country where cities are suffocated by industrial materials, where can green space exist? One answer is: Up.
These and other urban parks and gardens provide areas for socialization and recreation; a location for a city farm or community land-trust; an outlet through which hundreds of people can learn about farming and agriculture; and the addition of much needed plant and animal life to the otherwise concrete jungle.
We would like artists to submit work that explores the idea of the green roof and/or the vertical garden. Artists can, but are not limited to, create a structural rendering, examine the benefits or shortfalls, or respond critically to these sustainable gardens. DUE JANUARY 15, 2009.
End of Oil - DUE FEBRUARY 15, 2009.
In July 2008, the Organization of Petroleum Exporting Companies (OPEC) announced that the price per barrel
of oil had climbed above $145. About three months later, on October 16, 2008, the New York Times reported that oil had fallen below $70 a barrel, more than half of the July 2008 price. Fluctuating oil prices are evidence
of the instability of global oil markets and reminders of our urgent need to develop alternative fuels and forms of energy.
This is a call for proposals for an exhibition that will address human dependence on fossil fuels and the ramifications that this dependency has on the future of the environment and of global geopolitics. The exhibition will address renewable energy options, such as vegetable and electric-powered cars, geothermal energy, and solar power.
We are asking artists to envision alternative narratives for the impending oil crisis by creating works that imagine a future society forced to live with limited access to oil and alternative sources of energy.
DUE FEBRUARY 15, 2009.
America for Sale - DUE FEBRUARY 15, 2009.
The American economy (and the world economy) is under great duress. Due to federal spending, the accumulation of budget deficits, the controversial War in Iraq, the devastating impact of the decline of the stock market, the failure of sub-prime mortgages, and the collapse of several banks, the status of America as a wealthy superpower is being challenged, and the stability of our economy has deteriorated.
The United States is now relying heavily on foreign investment and a federal bailout (or �rescue�) to buoy the U.S. economy. Our spiraling debt, shaky stock market, and American reliance on fiscal support from abroad
are symptomatic of a shift in America�s place in global politics. Foreign nations are buying stakes in the United States, in our real estate, our debt, etc. which means that the nation has become a marketable commodity.
We are requesting proposals from artists addressing the ramifications of America�s dire national debt, the politics of money, and the present status of the United States economy. What is at stake? What does the
future hold? What can be done? DUE FEBRUARY 15, 2009.
Consume - DUE MARCH 15, 2009.
With fuel prices fluctuating and climate change causing monumental shifts in weather patterns, we have been forced to rethink our methods of food production and distribution. Natural disasters have wiped out entire crop cycles (the rice supply in Burma and the wheat harvest in Australia) and experts are saying that a global food shortage is imminent. Fewer crops mean higher prices for available food, and low and middle-income families are feeling the pressure across the globe. Recent food riots in Haiti, Bangladesh, Egypt, and across West
Africa speak to the severity of this growing problem. Here in the United States, there has been a 41% spike in prices for wheat, corn, rice and other grains over the past year.
Still, our methods of food production and distribution are evidence of an alarming paradox. The New York Times recently reported an estimate that Americans waste 27% of the food available for consumption. And only 1% of the US population is responsible for the farming that feeds all Americans.
What are some possible solutions to these mammoth problems?
A recent article by Michael Pollan (author of the bestselling books The Omnivore�s Dilemma and In Defense of Food) suggested many potential solutions, including expanding community recycling programs and making composting mandatory so that it can be distributed to farms, parks and green spaces as organic fertilizer. He reiterated that as more people change their habits, and as the government ratifies new regulations, we can
make significant progress in the fight for food. The American public seems to reflect that sentiment, as more and more people show awareness that the industrial-food system is deeply flawed. The growing local, organic and free-range movements are indicative of a profound shift in the way we think about food.
We are offering artists the opportunity to respond to these issues by submitting work that addresses one or both sides of this international food crisis in a critical way. DUE MARCH 15, 2009.
Contemporary Slavery - DUE MARCH 15, 2009.
1. There are more people in slavery now than at any other time in human history.
2. The value of slaves has decreased.
3. The least known method of slavery (bonded labor) is the most widely used.
4. The total cost of ending global slavery is equivalent to one week�s cost of the Iraq War.
(Excerpt from a report from Free the Slaves, a non-profit organization devoted to eradicating world slavery.)
The term �slavery� often recalls historical examples such as the African slave trade in the Americas, the Holocaust, and the slavery practices of the Greeks and Romans. However, slavery is still very much alive, both in the traditional sense, and in the form of bonded workers who are forbidden from working off their debts. In 2007 in China, for example, the Chinese government intervened at several brickyards where thousands of workers, including children, were being forced into labor and severely tortured. And in 2002, the U.S. Department of
State estimated that more than 100,000 children were forcibly working on cocoa farms in C�d�Ivoire. But contemporary slavery is not just an Asian and African phenomena; it is very much alive in the West as well.
The number of enslaved people worldwide is estimated to be nearly 30 million, with more than 10,000 living in the United States. GOOD Magazine recently reported that of the unwaged slaves in the US, 50% are engaged
in the sex industry, with the other 50% involved in agriculture, manufacturing and domestic work.
We are asking artists to submit a proposal for new work or documentation of existing work that responds to a contemporary form of slavery and the economic and political factors that contribute to its existence.
DUE MARCH 15, 2009.
How To Apply
NOTE: Artists may apply for one or all of the exhibitions listed above.
For all ConceptPlus calls, please submit the following:
� a description of the project, not more than 500 words
� a brief resume
AND
� up to 10 JPGs of the proposed project on CD or on the web (please send images at a low resolution
to open quickly), up to 5 JPGs of previous work, and an image list with descriptions
OR
� a 3-5 minute NTSC DVD (if the DVD is longer than five minutes, be sure to indicate which part the panel should view)
Submissions will not be returned. Please send submissions to:
Exit Art
[title of exhibition]
475 Tenth Avenue
New York, NY 10018
Or email them to Assistant Curator Lauren Rosati at lauren@exitart.org.
No phone calls please.
SEA (Social-Environmental Aesthetics)
SEA is an exhibition program and archive of artworks that addresses social and environmental concerns. It is a large-scale initiative dealing with current environmental concerns and the way artists respond to them. It will assemble artists, activists, scientists and scholars to address these issues through presentations of visual art, performances, panels and discussions. SEA will occupy a permanent space in Exit Underground, a multimedia performance, film, and exhibition venue underneath Exit Art�s main gallery space. The SEA Archive will be a permanent archive of information, images and videos that will be a searchable database for scholars and researchers.
Artists have been making work related to social and environmental issues for a long time, but SEA will be the most comprehensive and probably the first initiative of its kind to bring this work together under a cohesive program. Central to the mission of SEA is to provide a vehicle through which the public can be made aware of this kind of work, to provide a forum for collaboration between artists and ecologists and to inspire them to continue the tradition of work that SEA presents. This project functions as an initiative where scientists, activists, researchers, academics, artists, and the environmentally-conscious public can join together in
support of issues that affect our daily lives.
ConceptPlus
Exit Art currently works with a curatorial model called ConceptPlus, which begins with a theme or concept that is then publicized through a call for proposals.
For each ConceptPlus show, we begin with a core group of artists, and then open up the exhibition by issuing
an international call for artists to propose new or newly-contextualized work in response to a given theme or cultural condition. The exhibition is then curated by Exit Art�s curatorial staff, who view all the proposals for new work and work samples submitted by artists and select projects to be presented and/or commissioned for the exhibition. Every artist who submits a proposal has equal access to the curators, regardless of their previous experience, making ConceptPlus a highly democratic curatorial model. Recent ConceptPlus exhibitions at Exit Art have addressed ideas ranging from the reconstruction of global cities (Exit Biennial: Reconstruction, 2003) to the image of America's highest office (The Presidency, 2004), to contemporary Latino icons (L-Factor, 2005) to neuroscience innovations (BrainWave: Common Senses, 2008). A
fundamental precept of the ConceptPlus model is to remove barriers to cultural participation by creating exhibition opportunities limited only by the artistic idea itself. As we have implemented this model over the past five years, Exit Art has seen a dramatic rise in both the number and geographic diversity of artists submitting proposals in response to our open calls. ConceptPlus also enables us to directly support the production of new work, as an increasing proportion of artists propose new projects that are commissioned exclusively for Exit Art exhibitions.