The Shock of the Now - Issue #96
Discover more from The Shock of the Now
Afternoon All,
I hope you’re all well and welcome to Issue 96 of The Shock of the Now.
As openings begin to become few and far between and galleries start to shutter their doors for the summer, this will be the final newsletter before I too take a summer break. With that in mind, I’ve looked ahead and prepared a special selection of Recommended Exhibitions opening between now and August end.
Alongside, there are seven fresh Artist Opportunities, bringing the total to seventeen active listings with deadlines spanning from this Friday to late-September. Plenty to keep you busy until my return in a month or so!
Wishing you all a joyous summer, and speak soon, H x
Recommended Exhibitions Opening This Week (*Month):
Daniel David Freeman - ‘The Ick’ Solo Exhibition - Coups Contemporary, Fitzrovia (28th July - 26th August, opening Thursday 27th July, 6-8pm)
Coups Contemporary presents Daniel David Freeman’s latest solo exhibition ‘The Ick’.
“The ICK, a latent virus, slithers through the unseen recesses of our wired existence. It is the dark underbelly of our hyperconnected world, a mutation of desires and revulsions pulsating within the hidden networks of our collective consciousness. A ghostly spectre, it infiltrates the wires, the streams, the very codes that bind our physical and digital realm, infecting our minds with a disquieting unease. The ick creeps through the neural pathways of a society engrossed in the virtual, whispering distorted desires and unsettling impulses. It manifests as a glitch in the pristine facade of the technological utopia, a subversive disruption that challenges the boundaries of our comfort. It reveals the shadowy undercurrents beneath the glossy surfaces, casting doubt upon the authenticity of our digital personas and the hollow promises of a seamless existence.” - Coups Contemporary
Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum- ‘The Pavilion’ Solo Exhibition - London Mithraeum’s Bloomberg Space, Bank (27th July - 13th January)
London Mithraeum’s Bloomberg SPACE presents ‘The Pavilion’, the first UK solo exhibition at a public institution by Pamela Phatsimo Sunstrum.
“Central to the installation will be a wooden pavilion-like structure designed in collaboration with Remco Osório Lobato, comprising a promenade of interrelated viewing booths reminiscent of Victorian ‘cabinets of curiosities’, often considered as precursors to museums. The structure will house an archive of Sunstrum’s animations dating from 2007-2016, that draw on the artist’s own fascination with ancient mythologies, scientific theories, mythological archetypes and the cosmos.” - London Mithraeum’s Bloomberg SPACE
Kara Chin - ‘Concerned Dogs’ Solo Exhibition - Goldsmiths CCA, New Cross (29th July - 3rd September, opening Friday 28th July, 6-9pm)
Goldsmiths CCA presents Kara Chin’s latest solo exhibition ‘Concerned Dogs’, as part of the institution’s ongoing Episodes series.
“Deploying the aesthetics of apocalyptic and disaster movies, Kara Chin’s new installation situates the viewer somewhere between the cinema screen and audience, caught in the light of the projector beam. Each element contributes to a state of unease, corresponding to the pervasive anxiety felt in contemporary life in the face of existential threat.” - Goldsmiths CCA
Ellie Cotton - ‘Gallery Paintings’ Solo Exhibition - Luca's Gallery, Camberwell (29th July - 20th August, opening Saturday 29th July, 6-9pm)
Luca's Gallery presents Ellie Cotton’s solo exhibition ‘Gallery Paintings’.
Horacio Quiroz - ‘Goddesses of Spoiled Lands’ Solo Exhibition - Annka Kultys, Bethnal Green (4th August - 2nd September, opening Thursday 3rd August, 6-8pm)
Annka Kultys presents Horacio Quiroz’s debut London solo exhibition ‘Goddesses of Spoiled Lands’.
“Horacio Quiroz lives and works in Mexico City. His paintings explore the human condition, gender, identity and the relationship between bodies and their environment through colours, textures and matter that give shape to corporeal volumes revealing a fantasy world closely tied to his daily psychological processes.” - Annka Kultys
Alexandra Searle - ‘My Bone Dust Is Faint Coral’ Solo Exhibition - Xxijra Hii, Deptford (3rd August - 2nd September, opening Thursday 3rd August, 6-9pm)
Xxijra Hii presents Alexandra Searle’s solo exhibition ‘My Bone Dust Is Faint Coral’.
“Vague or tongue-in-cheek in their references to the body, Searle's objects often adopt postures, or display their own mortality. A wall limply props them up, their surfaces sag, or they are incontinent. They are being used, using others, or else failing to support themselves. They are our failures and fragilities, however comic or serious. Often, both simultaneously. Drawing on references to the medical and the mental from her own experiences with anxiety and hypochondria, Searle manipulates and exploits the behaviour of materials in order to physically depict moments of stress, tension and expectation. Her works expose familiar fragilities and aim to dig into the soft tissue of the materials she uses.” - Xxijra Hii
Sola Olulode - ‘Burning, like the star that showed us to our love’ - Ed Cross, Shoreditch (10th August - 16th September, opening Wednesday 9th August, 6-8pm)
Ed Cross presents Sola Olulode’s latest solo exhibition ‘Burning, like the star that showed us to our love’.
“Echoing the sunny bliss of romantic infatuation in its palette, Olulode's latest work follows blue and green series in which the artist depicted relationships across communities as well as between couples. In a sequence verging on storyboard, the artist returns again and again to a couple as their romance blossoms: meeting, dancing late at night; huddled around a table on a date; wrapped around each other, blissful. And despite the variability of Burning’s works – in terms of narrative, materiality, scale – Olulode’s insistence on joy for her protagonists is unwavering. Her symbolism is intuitively legible: in In the Bubble of Your Love, bubbles rising around the lovers evoke the anechoic obliviousness that can accompany infatuation; elsewhere, a recurring sun motif represents warmth, light, love. In the immersive surrounds of Burning, that mood proves infectious.” - Ed Cross
SUM Group Exhibition - Sarabande Foundation, Haggerston (10th August - 7th September)
Sarabande Foundation presents ‘SUM’, a group exhibition marking the culmination of their current artists-in-residence's time at the foundation. Featuring Urte Janus, Kasia Wozniak, Robert Cooper, Taryn O’Reilly, Shirin Fathi, Laila Tara H, Jiaxi Li, Fuchsia, Anouska Samms, Isabel Castro Jung & Zongbo Jiang.
“For 11 contemporary artists currently based at Sarabande’s studios in Haggerston, SUM is the culmination of their residency. Represented as an inviting house and lush garden, the exhibition is the quintessential allegory for their time spent together. Through collaboration and cohabitation, they have nurtured and grown their practices as well as their relationships with each other. Over the course of four weeks, the artists welcome the audience into their ‘home’ to see the exhibition and to experience takeovers, performances and family-style dinners.” - Sarabande Foundation
Callum Eaton - Solo Exhibition - Carl Kostyál, Mayfair (17th August - 9th September, opening Thursday 17th August, 6-8pm)
Carl Kostyál presents Callum Eaton’s debut London solo exhibition, with an accompanying text by yours truly!
Artist Opportunities:
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.
Open Call, Kravitz Contemporary x Noldor Residency. Deadline - Sunday 6th August.
Kravitz Contemporary announce their first artist residency, in partnership with the Kowitz Family Foundation & The Noldor Residency, bringing together East African & European cultures this summer at Bridgepoint Studios, East Sussex. Kravitz Contemporary are collaborating in selecting 3 artists to join this 6-week Residency exploring the South Coast and finishing with a group exhibition commencing in October. Submit your 500-word project proposal and portfolio to opencall@kravitz-contemporary.com.
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.
Creative Technologies Fellowship, Somerset House Studios & UAL Creative Computing Institute. Deadline - Monday 14th August.
Somerset House Studios in partnership with UAL Creative Computing Institute (CCI) open applications for a new Creative Technologies Fellowship. The fellowship offers a unique development and commission opportunity for an artist who is looking to explore the ways in which computational systems can be used as part of a critical practice exploring social, ecological, or environmental questions. Over a 12-month residency across both sites commencing September 2023 and running in parallel with the academic year, the artist will receive practical and technological support to develop a new work which will be presented at Somerset House in Autumn 2024. The residency offers a £7.5K artist fee and £7.5K production budget.
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.
Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award 2023. Deadline - Sunday 3rd September.
Three unique organisations are collaborating to provide a significant platform and a stepping stone for new artists. Now in its fourth iteration, The Robert Walters Group UK New Artist of the Year Award in collaboration with Saatchi Gallery will discover and champion exceptional artists who are representative of contemporary Britain. From a free open call across the UK, they are seeking to discover 10 outstanding artists whose work demonstrates a strong and original voice and is of exceptional artistic quality. They are looking for artists who represent the UK’s richly diverse population and embody the experiences of their community. Artists who create bold, unique pieces of art that reveal their own perspectives and experiences and who represent unique viewpoints and will help start new conversations in the UK art scene.
Call for Curatorial Proposals, The European Pavilion 2024. Deadline - Thursday 14th September.
European Cultural Foundation launch a brand new commissioning grant of up to 500.000 EUR as part of their European Pavilion programme. With this call, they invite legal entities from all cultural and creative fields in Europe and neighbouring countries to submit an ambitious curatorial proposal that will ensure the visibility, accessibility and positioning of the European Pavilion as a major European cultural event in 2024. They are looking for proposals that explore, discuss, interpret and visualise Europe in fresh and imaginative ways: cutting-edge concepts and programming that encourage transnational collaborations between creators, thinkers, doers and communities, leading to a large-scale public event in 2024.
The Ingram Prize 2023. Deadline - Monday 18th September.
The Ingram Prize is an annual purchase prize open to visual artists who are within five years of graduation from a UK-based art school. Now in its eighth year, this leading prize for contemporary artists was established by The Ingram Collection to celebrate and support artists at the beginning of their professional careers. They recognise the vital importance of practical support in these early years, and through their prize we offer opportunities to exhibit and sell work, a programme of continuing professional development, and the chance to develop both industry and peer-to-peer networks. Eligible artists can submit up to two works in any media, with no restrictions on size. The Prize is free to enter. All shortlisted artists (Ingram Prize finalists) will be invited to showcase their entries in a group selling exhibition at Cromwell Place in London, 22 – 26 November 2023.
The 9th International Awards for Art Criticism. Deadline - Wednesday 20th September.
The Ninth Edition of the International Awards for Art Criticism (IAAC 9) 2023, is open to candidates from anywhere in the world writing in Chinese or English about any contemporary art exhibition held anywhere in world or on-line between 1st September 2022 and 31st August 2023. Candidates are invited to write a review of 1,500 words or 2,500 Chinese characters on any exhibition of contemporary art. The First Prize will consist of a cash award of 10,000 Euros(pre-tax) or the RMB equivalent of this amount (currently, around 80,000 RMB). Each of the three Second Prizes will be awarded a cash prize of 3,500 Euros(pre-tax) or the RMB equivalent of this amount (currently, around 30,000 RMB). The Organising Committee of the International Awards for Art Criticism aims to support independent critical coverage of contemporary art, away from the immediate pressures of the market, media and private patronage. The Awards are to stimulate good writing, critical thinking and dialogue and research in China, the UK and wider afield.
Open Call, Foundwork Artist Prize. Deadline - Tuesday September 26th.
The Foundwork Artist Prize is an annual juried grant that we award to recognize outstanding emerging and mid-career artists working in any media. Honorees receive unrestricted $10,000 grants and studio visits with our jurors who include distinguished curators, gallerists, and artists. Honorees and shortlisted artists are also invited for interviews as part of our Dialogues program to further public engagement with their practices. The Prize is open to artists residing anywhere in the world with limited exceptions. To be considered for the 2023 Foundwork Artist Prize, you will need to maintain a published artist profile on Foundwork, with at least 6 artworks and an artist statement published on your profile page, throughout this year's selection period: 5:00 pm PT, September 26–5:00 pm PT December 31, 2023.