The Shock of the Now - Issue #121
Afternoon All,
I hope you’re all well, and welcome to Issue 121 of The Shock of the Now.
This week there are nine weekly Recommended Exhibitions, as well as fourteen fresh Artist Opportunities.
I hope you enjoy Issue 121, and if so do forward it along! As always any questions, comments or feedback are welcome, so feel free to get in touch.
All the best, and speak soon, H x
Recommended Exhibitions Opening This Week:
Meryl Yana - ‘There Was Salt Inside Them’ Solo Exhibition - Pipeline, Fitzrovia (14th March - 20th April, opening Wednesday 13th March, 6-8pm)
Pipeline presents Meryl Yana’s solo exhibition ‘There Was Salt Inside Them’.
“Led by ritual and spiritual instincts, Meryl Yana’s paintings emerge like a soft balm over wounds, stains, leaks and smears. They explore the boundaries between land and woman, dirt and purity. Smaller works hang alongside them, glazed and dripping with moisture. Through her relationship to raw materials and in contrasting surfaces, Yana uncovers characteristics of the body, how it behaves when it absorbs and heals. Her work peers into the deepest and most intimate parts of ourselves, a microcosm of a cell so close up it is abstract.” - Pipeline
‘Vampire-Junkie’ Group Exhibition - Rose Easton, Bethnal Green (14th March - 27th April, opening Wednesday 13th March, 6-8pm)
Rose Easton presents ‘Vampire-Junkie’, a group exhibition curated by Blue Marcus featuring Samuel Guerrero, Hampus Hoh, Callum Jones and Scott Keightley.
“The gallery gathers the quartet in dissonant harmony. In concert, the works reverberate off some larger, looming ‘invisible’: the contemporary condition. Consider Morton’s Hyperobject, a thing of such scale and magnitude that it cannot readily be understood beyond the theoretical [i.e., an auditorium’s capacity may say 60,000 - we can’t visualise that number but we believe it to be true]. The contemporary condition follows the same logic: it is a pervasive atmosphere more-so than a material thing. Its perfume lingers as a residue on the collar of the Vampire-Junkie.” - Excerpt from the exhibition text by Blue Marcus and Billy Parker
Li Hei Di - ‘700 Nights of Winter’ Solo Exhibition - Pippy Houldsworth, Mayfair (15th March - 20th April, opening Thursday 14th March, 6-8pm)
Pippy Houldsworth presents Li Hei Di’s debut UK solo exhibition ‘700 Nights of Winter’.
“In new paintings, Li explores primal, sexual urges with her signature fluid application of paint. Balanced on a knife edge between abstraction and representation, her paintings feature figures that swim in and out of view beneath diaphanous veils of paint; each layer offers a different world, or a portal to an altered oneiric space, guided by desire and emotion.” - Pippy Houldsworth
Leo Fitzmaurice - ‘Misconstructary’ Solo Exhibition - The Sunday Painter, Vauxhall (15th March - 20th April, opening Thursday 14th March, 6:30-9pm)
The Sunday Painter presents Leo Fitzmaurice’s latest solo exhibition ‘Misconstructary’.
“Misconstructary offers a compelling exploration of the transformation of meaning through the reappropriation of objects. As with much of Fitzmaurice’s practice, the works in this exhibition are testament to the artist’s life-long fascination with information systems, evoking a continued relevance that mirrors our culture’s burgeoning consumption of entertainment.” - The Sunday Painter
Kimathi Donkor - ‘Black History Painting’ Solo Exhibition - Niru Ratnam, Fitzrovia (15th March - 20th April, opening Thursday 14th March, 6-8pm)
Niru Ratnam presents Kimathi Donkor’s solo exhibition ‘Black History Painting’.
“In his new exhibition Donkor continues his retrieval of black historical figures who have been ignored by mainstream western history as well as his critique of the art historical genre of history painting. Donkor will present two new major paintings that continue this ongoing project. Alongside these two major new works the exhibition will feature other paintings seen for the first time in London as well as works on paper.” - Niru Ratnam
Matthias Groebel - ‘phantoms all round me’ Solo Exhibition - Gathering + Francesco João - ‘SSD’ Solo Exhibition - Glasshouse x Gathering, Soho (14th March - 21st April, opening Thursday 14th March, 6-8pm)
Gathering presents Matthias Groebel’s debut UK solo exhibition ‘phantoms all round me’, curated by Hannes Schmidt. Alongside, Francesco João’s solo exhibition ‘SSD’ runs in the gallery’s Glasshouse project space.
“Groebel produced the works on view between 2003 and 2006, with the distinctive machine-assisted painting technique he began to develop in 1989 using computer-guided airbrush dispensers and repurposed electronic parts to transfer video footage onto canvas. The footage used as source material in phantoms all around me was captured by the artist in Whitechapel in the early 2000s, with a focus on Tower House - a “working man’s hostel.” Built in response to the housing crisis of the 1880s, Tower House was being converted into upscale flats at the time of recording.” - Gathering
“Each painting presents a variation on the seven-segment display, executed in gouache, vinyl and acrylic on raw canvas. For João, the display acts as shorthand for an idea of the future as dreamt from the past, repeatedly rendered in tightly controlled layers of colour. Through their reiteration, the decimal numerals become a formal constraint, a structure used by João to engage the cycles of value and obsolescence embedded in histories of painting.” - Glasshouse
Oscar Santillán - ‘The Andean Information Age’ Solo Exhibition - Copperfield, Borough (15th March - 18th May, opening Thursday 14th March, 6-8:30pm)
Copperfield presents Oscar Santillán’s latest solo exhibition ‘The Andean Information Age’.
“The exhibition's root is the multi-disciplinary project Antimundo, described by Santillán as encompassing that which grows outside Western reality. An ongoing series of paintings, drawings and sculptures, they envision connections between forms of indigenous knowledge and emerging technologies such as Artificial Intelligence, Virtual Reality and 3D modelling.” - Copperfield
Yuli Serfaty - ‘Horny, Aimless & Alone’ Solo Exhibition - Xxijra Hii, Deptford (16th March - 20th April, opening Friday 15th March, 6-9pm)
Xxijra Hii presents Yuli Serfaty’s solo exhibition ‘Horny, Aimless & Alone’.
“An installation of sculpture and a 12-minute CGI film, the show presents a fictitious environment-animal pairing between a mutated phallic creature, part military-grade hunter-killer drone, part beluga whale, and an acidic, monoculture forest, commenting on colonial methodologies of displacement via ecological manipulation and the weaponisation of nature” - Xxijra Hii
Artist Opportunities:
Derek Hill Foundation Scholarship 2024-5, British School at Rome. Deadline - Friday 15th March.
An exceptional opportunity for an artist based in the UK or the Republic of Ireland, whose practice centres on the use of paint and/or drawing, to spend two months in a purpose-designed residential studio at the British School in Rome beginning in January 2025. The fellowship offers: A monthly stipend of £1500 for two months; A travel grant of £500; Support provided by the BSR Visual Art Residency and Programme Curator; Facilitated access to archives, sites, and museum collections not normally open to the public; Weekly Italian language lessons on site; 24/7 access to the BSR library; Regular site visits, workshops, seminars, public events programme; and Opportunities to collaborate with local artists and groups.
Residency open call for artists based in Ecuador, Gasworks. Deadline - Monday 18th March.
This opportunity is for an artist in the early stages of their career based in Ecuador and offers a fully funded 11-week residency at Gasworks in London from 1 July – 16 September 2024. Gasworks’ residencies are opportunities for self-led professional development, artistic exchange, and experimentation. Gasworks programmes up to sixteen residencies each year, inviting emerging and early career international artists to work alongside a community of nine London-based peers for three months. The residencies are non-prescriptive and process-based and focus on enabling artists to research and develop new work. They are made public through open studios and events, these opportunities encourage interaction, dialogue and professional networking. Gasworks provides significant pastoral and curatorial support throughout the residency, however artists are also expected to be proactive and self-motivated and lead the research and production of their work while in London.
Upgrade Yourself: Creative Industry Placements, Somerset House. Deadline - Monday 18th March.
Now in its fifth year, the Upgrade Yourself: Creative Industry Placements programme is open for 5 young people, ages 18 – 24 from underrepresented backgrounds to be part of a paid 1-year placement specifically designed to develop, nurture and grow emerging talent. This one-year professional programme will give participants an insight into how a creative business is run, from day-to-day management through to programming and operations. For this year's programme, Somerset House are offering a two-phase (two x 6-months) placement for 4 participants within two arts organisations and a one phase (one x 12-months) placement for 1 participant on placement with Somerset House Studios. Split over two 6-month phases, or one 12-month phase for the Studios Placement, participants will have hands on experience of working within two different arts organisations and have opportunities to connect with trailblazing creatives within Somerset House and our resident community. All placements take place at Somerset House and participants are paid the London Living Wage of £25,624 per annum.
‘south open 2’ Open Call, OHSH Projects. Deadline - Monday 18th March.
Open call to artists who are either studying at or alumni of South London institutions (graduation year 2023, 2024, or 2025). Please send your application, as a single pdf, to open@ohshprojects.com including: CV; Artist Statement; Portfolio of recent works (up to 10). South London Institutions: Camberwell College of Arts (UAL), City & Guilds of London art School, Goldsmith’s (University of London), Morley College, Royal College of Art (Battersea Campus), and Turps Art School. South London Definition: The boroughs of Wandsworth, Lambeth, Southwark, Lewisham, Greenwich, Richmond, Kingston, Merton, Croydon, Sutton, Bromley and Bexley
Wysing Arts Centre, Eastside Projects, New Art Exchange, PS2, Spike Island, Studio Voltaire and TACO! invite applications from artists for Syllabus VII. Syllabus is a collaboratively produced alternative learning programme in its seventh year that will support ten artists across ten months. Syllabus offers time to come together with artists from across the UK to discuss ideas, work, life and approaches to practice. Starting in June 2024 the Syllabus VII curriculum will be built around a series of six intensive in-person weekend gatherings and an online programme, which the ten selected artists will collaboratively develop with curators and artists who work with the partner organisations. As part of Syllabus VII, selected artists will receive a bursary of £1,000 for accommodation and travel, and the option of an access budget, for those who need it.
Spring 2024 Open Call, The Stone Space. Deadline - Sunday 24th March.
The Stone Space is currently accepting proposals for exhibitions taking place from the 31st July onwards. All media and exhibition formats will be considered. Solo and group show proposals are welcome. Selected artists will be contacted to arrange the best time for their exhibition.
Please note that the gallery is a not-for-profit space run by volunteers and receives very little funding. To cover basic costs a fee is charged for each exhibition, details of this and further information regarding the terms and conditions of exhibiting with The Stone Space can be found in the proposal form. If you feel that this fee is a barrier to you making a submission please let them know as they are sometimes able to sponsor exhibitions.
Open Call, Surreal Art, Phantasmal Gallery. Deadline - Sunday 24th March.
Phantasmal is inviting artists to submit their work to a captivating art exhibition centred around the theme of Surrealism. This exhibition aims to celebrate the uncanny and unconscious. Inviting artists to express the dreamlike through a diverse range of mediums. From painting and sculpture to digital art and mixed media, all forms of artistic expression are welcomed. The exhibition seeks to transport viewers into the mysterious and dreamlike space. Artists are encouraged to delve into the strange, beautiful and unconventional. The exhibition will take place at 44ad ArtSpace in Bath Spa, UK. Spanning over two rooms in the Ground floor exhibition space from the 9th to the 14th of April 2024.
Call for Submissions, New Contemporaries 2024. Deadline - Monday 25th March.
New Contemporaries welcome submissions from emerging and early career artists who are final year students, recent graduates and post-graduate students from UK art schools and alternative learning programmes. Being selected for New Contemporaries programme includes: exhibiting as part of Bloomberg New Contemporaries 2024. Selected artists are offered an artist’s fee and reasonable travel and accommodation costs covered for the private view of both exhibitions; participating in New Contemporaries Artist Development Programme, which includes 1 to 1 mentoring; Peer Networking Sessions; Workshops, Talks and other artist development opportunities; contributing to the Digital Programme and the opportunity to present work on their channels including the online platform which complements the exhibitions; being eligible, as NC alumni, for Studio Bursaries, Residencies, Fellowships, Scholarships and other opportunities
BLURT Open Call, Sonic Experiments in Text, TACO!. Deadline - Tuesday 26th March.
BLURT is an experimental platform supporting artists to develop text-based works for performance and live-to-air broadcast on RTM.FM. In this testing site for testing text, TACO! invites artists to consider radio broadcast as an expanded form of publishing. TACO! perform to publish, which is to say, to make public. And their moment of thinking is live on air. TACO! is seeking proposals for sonic experiments in text: aural encounters, vernacular enquiries, conversations, radio plays and other weird waves.
Open Call for Exhibitions 2025, San Mei Gallery. Deadline - Tuesday 26th March.
San Mei Gallery is looking for exhibition proposals from artists, creatives, designers, architects and makers (solo or groups) with research-based practices to stage an exhibition in our Brixton-based gallery in 2025. San Mei Gallery is a not-for-profit independent space for contemporary art in South London, committed to research-led, educational and collaborative exchanges. Operating with an artist-led approach, we support artists and curators to experiment with new ideas. The gallery promotes and facilitates emerging artistic practice, through exhibitions, residencies, studios and events. This open call is looking for three exhibitions to be held at San Mei Gallery in 2025, which will be selected by the San Mei Gallery curatorial team.
iniva is pleased to announce an open call for writing commissions as part of Unseen Guests - Post-National Digital Pavilion. This opportunity is open to writers based in the UK and Sub-Saharan Africa (SSA) working across new media, audio-visual and writing to create new works in dialogue with the work of filmmaker and artist John Akomfrah, representing Great Britain at the 60th edition of the Venice Biennale.
Selected writers will develop a written work which will be hosted on the Unseen Guests Digital Pavilion, alongside audio and film commissions and will engage in the digital public programme curated by Renée Akitelek Mboya. We are particularly interested in working with writers whose practices are informed by anticolonial methodologies, Pan-African thinking, climate justice and archival research, and who are keen to work in collaboration with others.
Writers will receive a fee of £1000 each and will have the opportunity to attend the 60th Venice Biennale in May, as part of their research.
The Biodiversity Fingerprint Commission, Proposition Studios. Deadline - Wednesday 27th March.
Proposition Camden is commissioning a major artwork to provoke dialogue about the potential for human beings to have a positive impact on our planet’s ecology. Envisaged as a digital print on fabric, the artwork will be 15m wide by 9m high with an Augmented Reality (AR) layer on the Northwest wall of Proposition Camden in Chalk Farm Road, facing the iconic, circular building of The Roundhouse.
Artists will received £7,000. A budget of up to £10,000 is allocated to the production and installation of the artwork. The production budget will be managed by Proposition Studios The artwork will be displayed publicly for 3-6 months with unveiling celebration at the end of the process.
Paid Practice Development Series, Jesse Scott Projects. Deadline - Friday 29th March.
Calling emerging arts practitioners of any creative backgrounds for a paid summer practice development project! This project aims to put you in control over building your creative future — identifying future practice goals, curatorial support and networking needs to develop a new body of work, alongside two other emerging artists. This four-month project will combine aspects of peer learning and supported mentorship by London-based artists and curators. Additional mentorship will be delivered through a short workshop series, facilitated by arts professionals, and designed to meet professional development goals that you define during our first meetings. This project will culminate in a public exhibition, performance/event, or workshop series to be held between September and November, 2024.
Email your CV, a sample of your work (this could include video, writing, sound recordings, or images), and a statement of 500 words or less outlining what you envision bringing to a collaborative project, and how you will benefit from taking part to Jesse, at jesse.scott.projects@gmail.com.
Are you an artist, performer, curator or researcher interested in peer learning and collaborative practices? This paid opportunity invites 3-4 individuals or collectives to support a four-month-long young artist development programme launching in May 2024, intended to support emerging artists finding barriers to entering creative careers, as well as new arts graduates struggling to find early career opportunities. Delivered through a combination of participant-led peer-learning workshops and three mentorship or practice development sessions, this project will offer participants reflexive mentorship and networking opportunities with artists and gallery professionals in London. It will culminate with participants publicly sharing a new body of work as an exhibition, event/performance, or workshop held within or nearby Newham, Dagenham, Barking, or Enfield between, September and November 2024.
Please provide a CV, and a statement of 500 words or less, outlining what you envision bringing to a programme like this, and what most excites you about collaborative practices to Jesse, at jesse.scott.projects@gmail.com.
Mark Tanner Sculpture Award 2024/25. Deadline - Sunday 31st March.
The Mark Tanner Sculpture Award is the most significant award for emerging artists working in the field of sculpture in the UK. The award offers £10,000 in financial support towards the production of new work, plus a funded solo exhibition to an exceptional sculptor. The award also includes a national touring programme, taking MTSA artists to partner venues across the UK. MTSA seek to reward outstanding and innovative practice in the field of sculpture and is particularly interested in work that demonstrates a commitment to process and materials. There is no age limit, applicants will be judged on the quality of their work and the ability of the award to make beneficial impact on their practice and future development.
The Waverton Art Prize 2024. Deadline - Sunday 31st March.
The Waverton Art Prize is a platform for emerging talent, offering the winning artist the opportunity to invest time and resources into developing their vocation. The prize was founded in 2022 by Waverton, Ranald Macdonald, Founder and Owner of Boisdale Restaurants, and Mark Connolly, Founder and Director of Paint Talk, and is an open submission with a single prize of £10,000.
The prize is open to artists under the age of 40 and based in the UK. The prize is open to all 2D media, Drawing, Painting, Photography, Printmaking, Collage, Textiles, Collage, Digital Print. Artists at any stage of their career can apply. Submitted works must not exceed 50x40cm, inclusive of frame. (The shortlisted works must be ready to hang on delivery). The shortlisted submissions will be exhibited in The Gallery Room at Boisdale of Canary Wharf, London. The longlisted submissions will be hosted on Boisdale's website.
Jonathan Ruffer Curatorial Grants, Art Fund. Deadline - Monday 1st April.
Supports UK curators, museum professionals and researchers to undertake travel and other activities that will extend and develop their curatorial expertise, collections-based knowledge and art historical interests. The grants can support, for example: UK and international travel and accommodation for research trips and conferences; Training courses and programmes of study (including online); Subscriptions, for example archive subscriptions; Other kinds of activity where a strong case can be made for its contribution to the development of curatorial skills and collections-based research projects.
WIP Space Residencies. Deadline - Monday 1st April.
WIP Space Residencies offer a free 24/7 studio space for 3 months or 6 months to creative practitioners. WIP Space Residencies support the participating practitioners by offering space and time to produce new work as well as a public platform to share and develop their ideas. WIP would like to prioritise those who are in most need of a studio. They ask those applying to reflect on the opportunities that have been available to you in education, income, overall financial security, occupation, living conditions, resources, and opportunities afforded to you within society. WIP offer 2 individual studio spaces (1 studio for the 3 month, 1 studio for the 6 month) with an adjoining shared project space. The studio space are suitable for most practices apart from any processes needing hot work or firing.
Summer Residencies Call Out 2024, Chisenhale Studios. Deadline - Tuesday 2nd April.
Chisenhale Studios are inviting proposals for their Studio4 Residencies. Residencies will take place between May and September 2024, ranging between 4-6 weeks depending on your project needs (special exceptions can be made on timescales depending on need). The residencies provide free use of the Studio4 Project Space to artists seeking a short-term studio to develop an idea or execute a project. The aim of each residency is to provide opportunity for a visual artist to experiment with new work or ideas in a fresh, uncluttered space that facilitates sharing and participation while making artistic processes visible to new audiences.
In exchange for use of the studio, the artist undertaking each residency is expected to engage a wider artistic network as well as people who live and work in our local area, involving them in the artistic process through the development of the work itself or a small public-facing or community event, showing or workshop.
The Drawing Year, Royal Drawing School. Deadline - Wednesday 3rd April.
The Drawing Year is a full scholarship postgraduate-level course offering up to thirty students the opportunity to focus on drawing from observation for one year. There are no tuition fees for The Drawing Year – all students are awarded a full scholarship and receive a free studio space. Every course offered at the School is taught at postgraduate level by distinguished artists and teachers from leading institutions including the Royal Academy, the Royal College of Art and The Slade. In addition to a minimum of 21 hours tutor contact time each week, students are also offered tutorials with visiting tutors.
The Exhibitions Hub is pleased to launch its third Alumni Commission Award, in partnership with the Live Art Development Agency (LADA) and Forma. The commission invites Department of Art Alumni to develop new work in response to or inspired by LADA’s archive that will be presented at Forma in November 2024. Following a period of research and development with LADA’s archive, the selected artist will develop new performance work to be presented at Forma in November 2024. The outcome is intentionally open to allow for creative experimentation and engagement approaches. The award is only open to Goldsmiths Department of Art Alumni. You should have graduated from the Department of Art between 2019-2023.
Turps Studio Programme, Turps Art School 2024/25. Deadline - Sunday 14th April.
Turps Studio Programme is a unique opportunity for a select group of painters to take up residence in their own dedicated studios within an exciting studio and gallery development in South East London, just 10 minutes from Elephant and Castle. Participants embark on a year-long programme of intensive mentoring, dynamic group seminars, talks, and crits with the option to continue for a second year. It allows painters time to take risks, make mistakes and experiment with the emphasis firmly on an artist being supported to find their voice without the external pressures of the art market or current trends.
Turps Off-Site Programme, Turps Art School 2024/25. Deadline - Sunday 14th April.
Turps Off-Site is an exciting mentoring opportunity for London-based painters who want to develop their practice through the ethos of Turps Studio Programme but wish to remain working in their own studio. A team of Turps Mentors visit participants in their own studios for one-to-one tutorials, and painters will develop a supportive network of peers across London, through group studio visits to each other’s studios, crits based at Turps Studios and regular visits to attend talks at Turps Art School across the year.
Turps | Hastings Off-Site Programme, Turps Art School 2024/25. Deadline - Sunday 14th April.
Turps | Hastings Off-Site is a new mentoring programme for painters whose studios are based within the geographical triangle between Brighton, Tunbridge Wells and Rye. A team of Turps Mentors visit participants in their own studios for one-to-one tutorials. Participants develop a supportive network of peers across the region through regular programmed group crits and monthly artists talks at Hastings Contemporary. The programme runs from September 2024 through June 2025.
MASS Sculpture Programme, MASS Art School 2024/25. Deadline - Sunday 14th April.
MASS Sculpture Programmes launched in October 2021 at their new MASS HQ Studios at Thames-Side Studios, Woolwich, London, SE18 5NR. MASS HQ is in the heart of the largest single-site community of artists and creatives in London and in close proximity to the London Sculpture Workshop. They offer a number of on-site studio spaces and a flexible crit and talks space to enable them to build a sustainable community of peers and mentors.
In 2023/24, MASS combined the Studio Programme and Off-Site programme into ONE MASS Sculpture Programme to reflect the responses of participants on the programmes over the past two years. Participants will all follow one programme. Participants work in their own studio and come to MASS HQ for talks, crits and seminars - with the option of taking a year-long space at MASS HQ see below.
Turps Correspondence Course, Turps Art School 2024/25. Deadline - Sunday 30th June.
Turps Correspondence Course is an innovative programme of online mentoring facilitated through critical, supportive written reviews delivered by a dedicated mentor. The course is aimed at painters who want to develop or reinvigorate their work, whether recently graduated from art school, mid-career or those without any formal arts education. The course is designed and structured to be delivered entirely online so that painters, based anywhere in the world and at any stage in their career, can participate and receive informed, critical feedback from a mentor who is practising painter selected by Turps. There are 5 review points throughout the year when you will be required to upload images of your work and a short statement or ‘letter’ to your mentor. Your mentor will then review what has been uploaded and write their response. It is a very different type of feedback from more conventional face-to-face tutorials but Turps believe this is what makes the correspondence course such an appealing and sought-after professional development course.
MASS Correspondence Course, MASS Art School 2024/25. Deadline - Sunday 30th June.
Mass Correspondence Course is an innovative distance-learning programme of online mentoring facilitated through critical, supportive written reviews by a dedicated mentor. The course is aimed at sculptors based anywhere in the world and at any stage in their career who want to develop or reinvigorate their work, whether recently graduated from art school or those without any formal arts education.