Call for Work: Art Stands Still

Collar Works

Entry Deadline: Mar. 1

621 River Street
Troy, NY 12180

https://artstandsstill.wixsite.com/home

To apply or for additional information, please visit https://artstandsstill.wixsite.com/home or contact [email protected]

In the United States, freedom has historically been linked to the right to move as one pleases. This limited understanding of freedom has led to the creation of a system that constrains the movement of the many to reinforce the supposed freedom of the few. Policies of containment can be found throughout the history of the United States: Japanese internment camps, Native American reservation systems, the Chinese Exclusion Act, and Jim Crow segregation, not to mention today’s mass incarceration of people of color, the travel ban blocking entry to those from majority-Muslim nations, and the closing of the government over the creation of a border wall between the United States and Mexico.

In our modern history of art, freedom has also been conceptualized as movement: the avant-garde push our society forward through their new and unconventional choices. Like the first line of an army charging into battle, these artists attempt novel works of art while denying any previous influences or collaborators. This concept of freedom has restricted our understanding of what artistic genius looks like to the domain of white men, who, as art historian Linda Nochlin famously pointed out, have suffered from less societal restrictions to their claims of independence and exceptionality.

Contemporary artists and historians working in disability studies, gender studies, critical race theory, and queer theory, among other fields, have begun the important work of dismantling the conflation of freedom with movement. How does our current limited definition of freedom support hegemonic capitalist, nationalist, sexist, racist, ablest, homophobic, transphobic systems of power in the art world and beyond? How can we visualize alternative notions of freedom through art? How can mobility participate in the limitation or denial of such freedoms? And what happens when artists and viewers not only resist moving forward, but choose to stand shockingly still?

The group exhibition, Art Stands Still, will open at Collar Works, a repurposed textile factory, within Troy, New York, a city that was once celebrated for its position at the forefront of American industrial achievement. Like many Rust Belt economies, it experienced a sharp economic decline in the late twentieth century. What is forward for cities like Troy? Art Stands Still looks to create a place for a community of alternatives to spatial, temporal, and social advancement. Works may be connected to the theme broadly and all media will be considered.

Just for a moment, let’s not go anywhere, together.

SUBMISSION GUIDELINES
o Only one application per artist will be accepted; however, artists may submit up to three works for consideration, and up to five images of the work or one video clip per each work on the application. File formats accepted are JPEG, TIFF, PDF, and MOV.
o Image files should be no larger than 5 MB; video clips may exceed this size requirement but should be no longer than 5 minutes in duration.
o Artists will be asked to submit a brief artist statement, a description of each submitted work, a CV, and a link to artist website.

DATES
o Submissions due Friday, March 1, 2019.
o Artists will be notified by e-mail of decisions by Sunday March 17, 2019.
o Confirmation by accepted artists and commitment to show work will be required by Friday, March 29, 2019.
o Work must be received by Friday, May 10, 2019.
o Work will be returned by July 20, 2019.

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