Competition is open to Chicago-based artists only.

The musical legacy of Ludwig van Beethoven has remained unsurpassed for nearly 2 centuries. Over the years, Ludwig has retained a reputation as one of the most admired, controversial and revolutionary figures in music history.

The inaugural Beethoven Festival took place in 2011 to celebrate the life and legacy of this most beloved universal composer. Each year, an aspect of Beethoven’s personal and musical life is chosen as the theme of the festival – driving its musical and artistic program. In 2013, the theme is Love, taking Beethoven’s notorious Immortal Beloved letters and romantic ballads as a starting point. After all, it was Beethoven who said: “Love demands everything and that very justly…”

We would also like to touch upon issues of modern love along with issues of ancient love. Beethoven was always going for women who were basically unattainable either due to social status (they were above his social station as aristocrats) or married, usually unhappily, but he nevertheless wanted them… Modern love issues that are very du jour are questions of marriage rights for all, cross-cultural love, cross-racial love, cross-everything. We also ask ourselves what the purpose of love is, and how it can be an all-consuming thing not just romantically, but creatively for the artist. Beethoven ended up remaining single his entire life because he was, in the end, too committed to his art to live any other way.

As part of this 3rd Annual Beethoven Festival, we are inviting artists living and working in the greater Chicago area to apply for inclusion in the Festival’s art exhibit. Selected artworks will be hung in a curated exhibit within the music venue where audiences will be able to view them for the duration of the Festival.

Submission Guidelines

Submit one email to [email protected] with the following attachments:

1-3 images of artworks – image attachments must be smaller than 500 KB and titled “lastname_firstname_title.jpeg”

list of artworks with details including title, year, media, size

brief Artist Statement discussing how the works relate to Beethoven and the Festival’s theme;

artist CV

Format subject line as: “Submission – Last Name, First Name”

Only complete submissions will be considered

All submission materials are due August 1

Artists selected for exhibition will be notified by August 15 and will be required to deliver and consign artworks to the Festival by September 1.

Artwork in any medium is permitted and encouraged for submission.

For more information about the Beethoven Festival, please explore www.internationalbeethovenproject.com, the non-profit organization behind the Beethoven Festival, and www.tincaart.com, the Curator behind the annual art exhibit of the Festival. Facebook is also informative for most up to date information: http://www.facebook.com/BeethovenFestival

Inspiration on the 2013 Love theme of the Festival:

http://home.swipnet.se/zabonk/cultur/ludwig/beeim.htm

http://www2.carleton.ca/fass/ccms/wp-content/ccms-files/Wright-Essay-Beethoven-Immortal-Beloved-28-June-2012.pdf