The Shock of the Now - Issue #95
Discover more from The Shock of the Now
Afternoon All,
I hope you’re all well and welcome to Issue 95 of The Shock of the Now.
This week there are eight weekly Recommended Exhibitions, as well as four fresh Artist Opportunities.
I hope you enjoy Issue 95, 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:
‘Short Lived’ Group Exhibition - Hypha Studios, Stratford (19th July - 16th August, opening Wednesday 19th July, 6-9pm)
Curator Georgia Stephenson presents the group exhibition ‘Short Lived’ at Hypha Studios’ Stratford location, in collaboration with We are Get Living & East Village London. Featuring Charlotte Cullen, F.A.F Collective, Elliot Fox (above), Celeste McEvoy, Sarah Roberts, Yuli Serfaty, Oona Wilkinson and Rosalind Wilson.
“Short Lived is a presentation of sculptural works by eight emerging artists/collectives. Selected works explore how the conditions we find ourselves in force us to adapt. Be that as artists and the practice we develop, or as citizens and the relationships we build with spaces, objects, and each other. These pieces will ask, how long can we stay, how much can we keep and who is it that ultimately decides?” - Georgia Stephenson
Emma Papworth & Kirill Chelushkin - ‘Concrete Whispers, Brutal Dreams’ Two-Person Exhibition - Shtager&Shch, Fitzrovia (20th July - 18th August, opening Wednesday 19th July, 6-9pm)
Shtager&Shch presents ‘Concrete Whispers, Brutal Dreams’ a duo-show by Emma Papworth and Kirill Chelushkin.
“Their works present a multidimensional material and mental landscape of a deterministic vision of civilization and its recurring discontents. From the ruins of the unrealized futures, which promise static ‘stability’ and unchanging ‘normality,’ the exhibition presents itself as an entombed garden of visionary desires. But among that cenotaphic context, in the cracks of the building, on the corners of the sketches and beneath the foundation of the maquettes, there is a complex ecology of possible, a possible promise of renewal and a profound lesson about the impossibility to encapsulate the life and its richness within the containments of human’s limited mental landscape.” - Shtager&Shch
‘HMW’ Group Exhibition - Darren Flook, Fitzrovia (20th July - 8th September, opening Thursday 20th July, 6-8pm)
Darren Flook presents ‘HMW’, a group exhibition featuring Eloise Hawser, Laila Majid and Alison Wilding (above).
Billy Crosby & Siân Newlove-Drew - ‘this package contains the universe’ Duo Exhibition - Calcio, South Bermondsey (21st July - 23rd August, opening Thursday 20th July, 6-10pm)
Calcio presents ‘this package contains the universe’, a duo exhibition of Billy Crosby & Siân Newlove-Drew.
“This show is about bubbles, floating worlds and little gifts that fit snugly in your pocket. To exist within a bubble is a colloquial expression of interacting within limited spheres and spaces, instanced by the internet terms ‘filter bubble’ and ‘echo chamber’. The opposite of an echo chamber would be something like a ‘vibrating expanse’… Floating worlds in a vibrating expanse, bumping into, marrying, absorbing and passing through each other; separating, bursting and re-merging into endless constellations. Little pockets of intense private specialness and huge conglomerates of shared prismatic hyper worlds bump along; constantly remodeling into fleeting effervescent sanctuaries.” - Calcio
‘BLACK VENUS’ Group Exhibition - Somerset House, Strand (20th July - 24th September)
Somerset House presents ‘BLACK VENUS’, a group exhibition examining the historical representation and shifting legacy of Black women in visual culture, curated by Aindrea Emelife. Featuring Sonia Boyce, Widline Cadet (above), Shawanda Corbett, Renee Cox, Delphine Diallo, Ayana V Jackson, Zanele Muholi, Amber Pinkerton, Tabita Rezaire, Coreen Simpson, Lorna Simpson, Ming Smith, Maud Sulter, Kara Walker, Maxine Walker, Carrie Mae Weems, Alberta Whittle and Carla Williams.
“BLACK VENUS celebrates and explores the many faces of Black femininity, with over 40 contemporary and primarily photographic artworks. The exhibition’s contemporary works offer a radical affront to a centuries-long dynamic of objectification, showcasing all that Black womanhood can be and has always been. The exhibition mines the complex narratives of Black womanhood through the lens of three archival depictions of Black women: the Hottentot Venus, the Sable Venus, and the Jezebel, dating between 1793 to 1930. These works serve to contextualise historical depictions of Black women and the caricaturing of the Black body. With these three thematic pillars, BLACK VENUS examines the shifting image of the Black woman in visual culture and the complex lived experience that informs the work of cross-generational women and non-binary artists today.” - Somerset House
Dasha Loyko - ‘Georgios, Gravity & God’ Solo Exhibition - Lake, Deptford (22nd July - 27th August, opening Friday 21st July, 6-9pm)
Lake presents Dasha Loyko’s solo exhibition ‘Georgios, Gravity & God’.
“Considering language as a material condition, Loyko experiments with the narrative form to explore the affective and experiential qualities of logical structures as well as their ability to provide a stable sense of reality. GGG takes root in a compulsion to rationalise and gamify lived experience as a way of processing fear, both of creative expression and political repressions. Expanding her own complex process of writing into drawing, Loyko questions the notion of intuition and intuitive making and the paranoia of justification.” - Lake
‘Cozzie Livs Part II’ Group Exhibition - Des Bains, Fitzrovia (23rd July - 26th August, opening Saturday 22nd July, 12-6pm)
Des Bains presents ‘Cozzie Livs Part II’ a group exhibition co-curated by Tom Bull, featuring Alexei Izmaylov, Beth Collar, Billy Crosby & Siân Newlove-Drew, Brian Griffiths, Harley Kuyck-Cohen (above), Thomas Liu Le Lann, Ruoru Mou & Francesco Pacelli.
Shaan Syed - ‘Extended Family’ Solo Exhibition - Vardaxoglou, Soho (26th July - 15th September, opening Tuesday 25th July, 6-8pm)
Vardaxoglou presents Shaan Syed’s latest solo exhibition ‘Extended Family’.
“The exhibition brings together a group of previously unseen large-scale paintings made in recent years, showing the development of Syed’s distinct visual language. Creating a tension between the graphic lines of flat hard-edge abstraction and gestural mark-making, Syed’s approach to painting is one of decoding and re-contextualising visual signs and references drawn from European and American post-modern painting, together with those of his own experience and background. As the son of a Pakistani Muslim father and a British Protestant mother, growing up in Canada, Syed explores the meanings of holding certain identities and their consequent influences for creating and looking at art.” - Vardaxoglou
Artist Opportunities:
Open Call, Circa Prize 2023. Deadline - Thursday 20th July.
This year, CIRCA has eyes for one thing above all else: hope. Now is a time for hope. As the CIRCA 20:23 Manifesto made clear, hope is not an empty affirmation or a luxury for the privileged but the animating force of today’s struggles for a better world. For the III edition of the CIRCA PRIZE, CIRCA are searching the Earth for works of hope. In an open call for emerging and mid-career artists of all ages, we are inviting a global community of artists, performers, poets, activists, architects, gamers and filmmakers to respond to the CIRCA 20:23 manifesto, ‘Hope: The Art of Reading What Is Not Yet Written’. Throughout September, 30 international artists will see their work appear at 20:23 local time on the iconic Piccadilly Lights and across the CIRCA global platform of digital screens. The winning artist will receive £30,000 to support their future practice alongside a new trophy designed by Ai Weiwei, who first launched the CIRCA free public art programme in October 2020.
Open Call, Dreamtime Fellowship 2023-24, Spike Island. Deadline - Sunday 23rd July.
Spike Island is pleased to announce the fourth edition of the Dreamtime Fellowship, a programme initiated and fully funded by Bristol-based artist Luke Jerram. The Dreamtime Fellowship 2023-24, is now open to applications from Bristol-based artists who have graduated from a BA or MA Fine Art course from any institution within the last five years. The successful applicant will be granted: 24-hour access to a shared studio space at Spike Island for a year (from October 2023 to September 2024); Annual membership to the Spike Island Associates network, which offers free access to regular talks, studio visits from artists, critics and curators, and peer-to-peer learning and support; A £5,000 bursary; and Three one-to-one mentoring sessions with Luke Jerram throughout the year.
Open Call, 11:11 Online Residency. Deadline - Monday 24th July.
Open Call for 11:11 Online Residency delivered virtually for one-month in October 2023. 11:11 Online is a 4-week artist development residency delivered virtually to anywhere in the world. 11:11 offer a £250 fee, mentorship, curatorial support and project development. You are not expected to produce any finished work. 11:11 are looking for proposals that test ideas, build and reflect on research and are open to working through ideas conversationally. With the virtual nature of the residency, 11:11 are interested in proposals that have relevance to, and raise questions around, the intersection of art, technology and access.
Residency open call for artists based in the Philippines, Gasworks. Deadline - Monday 24th July.
This opportunity is for an artist in the early stages of their career based in the Philippines and offers a fully funded 11-week residency at Gasworks in London from 8 January – 25 March 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.
Open Call, Deptford X Festival Fringe. Deadline - Wednesday 26th July.
The Fringe is the core of the Deptford X Festival and an annual celebration of the area’s art scene. Over the course of the festival, the Fringe will take over Deptford, placing art in unexpected locations, rooted into the fabric of everyday lives. This year, to mark 25 years of Deptford X they are particularly keen to include projects that reference or recreate artworks from previous festival years. If you took part in the past and fancy dusting off an old intervention for a new outing in this year’s Fringe, they would love to hear from you. Equally, they can make elements of our archive available to artists who are interested in making new works or projects in response to the history of the festival. A limited number of bursaries will be available for artists who would benefit from financial support to enable them to participate in Deptford X Festival 2023.
The Adobe Creative Residency programme is a new, approach to bring making into the museum. It gives artists, designers, performers and creators unprecedented access to world-class arts resources and mentorship, studio space, creative programming, and a display to showcase. A cohort of three residents across different practices are selected annually to work full-time for 12 months, each working with a designated audience (schools, families, and young people) to expand access to creativity, design and making. Embedded within the Learning Team at the V&A, residents will commit half their time to developing engaging learning programming around their craft. This could include working directly with audiences, acting as a creative advisor to wider museum learning programming, and collaborating across the museum to bring contemporary practice into galleries. The residency programme culminates in a 6-month display of their work at the V&A South Kensington. There are three open calls available for the Adobe Creative Residency Programme, illustration, Global ceramics and Costume design. Each residency offers a Fixed Term Contract (FTC) salary of £42,000.
Rolling Residency, The Bomb Factory Art Foundation Holborn. Deadline - Sunday 30th July.
The Bomb Factory Art Foundation are offering a rolling residency in their new Holborn location starting from 28th August to support dedicated artists who cannot afford studios, as well as a one week end-of-residency exhibition. First studio residency will run 28th August - 25th September, w. exhibition from 25th September - 1st October. To apply, please add 'HOLBORN RESIDENCY 2023' to the subject of an email to: studio@bombfactory.org.uk. Please state: Name, Contact Number & Email; Dates of interest; Website or Social Media of work + One-page application letter outlining your practice and why you are eligible for this opportunity. (Applicants must be able to prove that no other studio space can be afforded. Due to the nature of this free residency programme, we may require further interviews about how applicants meet the criteria for support.)
The Dover Prize is an award open to any UK-based artist. It supports excellence and experimentation in the arts and creative industries. Applications are welcome from artists and creative practitioners working in the visual arts e.g. painting, sculpture, ceramics, print-making, photography, digital art, filmmaking, performance and installations. The Dover Prize is a bursary of £10,000 paid across two years, to an individual or collective to provide time to think, research, reflect and/or experiment with new ideas. The aim of the Dover Prize is to raise within Darlington the profile of contemporary arts, and to make a positive impact on the town. As such, the Dover Award biennial winner must agree to a final show that will premiere in Darlington on completion of their 2-year bursary.
OPEN CELLS Artist Residency Programme, The Koppel Project Station. Deadline - Monday 31st July.
The Koppel Project are excited to announce the opening of applications for the OPEN CELLS Artist Residency Programme. OPEN CELLS is an emerging or mid-career artist residency programme at The Koppel Project Station with a focus on community involvement and engagement. Koppel Project’s goal is to provide artists with a dynamic, inclusive, and interactive experience that helps them develop their practice while contributing to the local community.
The residency lasts for two months – Beginning of September until end of October (2 residency slots – each with 3-4 weeks working in the space, ending in a final exhibition). Studio Space in multiple holding cells and Communal working areas: 5 Artists will be provided with a free studio space to work in for the duration of each residency slot. The space is located at TKP Station in (Hampstead) Camden, London.
Open Call, Manos Creando, AMPLA x Gasworks. Deadline - Monday 31st July.
AMPLA, in partnership with Gasworks, is seeking to appoint six Latin American Spanish-speaking artists (each to run one workshop), whose practice is concerned with identity, visibility and wellbeing. Manos Creando, is a new programme working directly with AMPLA (Association of Latin American Parents), to run workshops for women and mothers to explore identity, contribute to wellbeing, and amplify the voices of the Latin American community, supported by Project Smith through the Lambeth Wellbeing Fund. Workshop dates: Workshops to take place once per month in the 2023/2024 period, during September, October, November 2023, January, February, and March 2024. Final dates to be discussed with each artist. Artist fee: £200 per 2 hours workshop. Programme budget: £100 (includes materials for each workshop).
Open Call, Sarabande Foundation Studio Applications. Deadline - Friday 4th August.
Applications for the Sarabande Foundation studio programme 2023-2024 are now open! Sarabande Studios are more than just a studio space. They are a place of community and collaboration where the unique vision of each artist is supported. Being a part of Sarabande does not only guarantee a heavily subsidised studio space but also communication with leading journalists, curators, collectors, fashion designers, artists and photographers - all eager to know about your creative discipline, vision, and bring you to the forefront of the public eye. The studios range from 50sq. ft to 350sq. ft and are priced at £1 per sq. ft per month. The cost includes all utilities, use of communal spaces & equipment, free professional services, bespoke mentoring and free access to all events at the foundation.
Residency open call for artists based in Central America, Gasworks. Deadline - Monday 7th August.
This opportunity is for an artist in the early stages of their career based in Central America (Belize, Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, Nicaragua, and Panama) and offers a fully funded 11-week residency at Gasworks in London from 8 January – 25 March 2024.
Open Call, SET Film Festival. Deadline - Sunday 13th August.
Submissions are now open for SET’s first film festival, scheduled to take place this November in a purpose-built cinema at SET Social in Peckham. SET are interested in films of all genres and production techniques, including animation, documentary, experimental or artists’ films, and works from low to high budgets. There are no submission fees – please only submit one film for consideration.
Open Call, G.A.S. Fellowship Award 2023. Deadline - Sunday 13th August.
Guest Artist Space Foundation (G.A.S.) and Yinka Shonibare Foundation (Y.S.F.) are delighted to announce a call out for the second edition of the annual G.A.S. Fellowship Award. Three funded 6-8 week residencies will be offered to practitioners based in West Africa between September 2023 and March 2024 with two taking place in Lagos and one at our sister location on the G.A.S. Ecology Green Farm in Ijebu. G.A.S. are committed to facilitating multidisciplinary access to this opportunity, therefore, applications are welcome from individuals practicing in all relevant creative fields that could range from visual art, craft, architecture, design, and curatorial research. The 2023 edition of the G.A.S. Fellowship Award is generously supported by Still Earth Holdings and our Residency Patrons. Each fellowship is fully funded offering room and board, return travel expenses to Lagos, a stipend of 100,000 NGN per week, a total materials allowance of 100,000 NGN, and access to a range of resources and pastoral support.
Curatorial Open Call, Art Exchange: Moving Image. Deadline - Friday 18th August.
G.A.S. and Yinka Shonibare Foundation announce the open call for the Art Exchange: Moving Image programme, a collaborative and cross-cultural curatorial professional development and exhibition programme for early to mid-career visual arts curators from Sub-Saharan Africa working with moving image. The programme is supported by the British Council and organised by LUX, the UK agency for the support and promotion of artists working with moving image, Yinka Shonibare Foundation and Guest Artists Space (G.A.S.) Foundation, Nigeria. Selected participants will receive mentoring support from LUX and G.A.S., and a dedicated programme of professional development and networking opportunities. These activities will be delivered alongside a fully-funded research trip to the UK in Autumn 2023, an opportunity to work with moving image works in the British Council visual arts collection as well as logistical and financial support to stage a final exhibition. Selected participants will also receive a curatorial fee and their host venue will receive funding for the exhibition staging.