WSA Opportunities

British Art Show 8 Southampton

Associate Programme & Fringe Events

Open Call Commissions and How to get Involved in the Fringe Events

Deadline for Expression Of Interest Submissions Monday 15 June 2016 5pm

 

In October 2016, the highly influential British Art Show 8 comes to Southampton, presented by John Hansard Gallery and Southampton City Art Gallery.

Alongside the British Art Show 8 exhibition, Culture Southampton, on behalf of the partners in the Art at the Heart Consortium, is co-ordinating an Associate Programme of new Commissions and a city-wide Fringe to complement BAS8.

The Associate Programme will provide commission opportunities open to artists, curators, artists groups, collaborations, or other creative groups to create new, temporary events and exhibitions across the city.

The Fringe will be an open submission process to celebrate the diversity of arts and culture happening in Southampton.

At this stage Expressions of Interest are invited for the Commissions. This should be a brief proposal and budget – it’s the idea and the concept behind it that we are most interested in for the EOI. A selection process will take place, with a selection panel including curators and artists from John Hansard Gallery, Solent University, Winchester School of Art. Shortlisted proposals will be invited to provide further detail before final selection. The Commissions will be announced (subject to funding), at the start of July 2016.

Commissions are offered at two levels: up to £1,000 and up to £3,000. This includes fees, production, running costs and installation. Smaller amounts can be applied for, dependent on scale and type of event. Technical, curatorial and production advice will be provided.

A Graduate award is also offered up to £300 for final year students who intend to remain in Southampton.=

Ideas Brief

We are looking for creative responses to the curatorial statement of British Art Show 8 and your proposal should relate to the themes and concepts outlined by the curators. A full statement can be found on the BAS8 website http://britishartshow8.com/page/curatorial-statement

To be considered for the Commissions, please submit an Expression of Interest

This should include:

A brief description of your proposal (no more than 300 words)

Proposed venue or location

Proposed duration of your project/event and dates

Outline budget proposal

Artist CV of relevant experience

Online links to examples of relevant work

Contact details

The overall size of your EOI should not exceed 10MB

 

Deadline for Expression of Interest noon on Monday 13 June 2016

Proposals should be sent to: louise.egan@culturesouthampton.org.uk

 

Who Can Apply?

Artists working in any medium, curators, artists groups, collaborative groups who are currently based in or originally from Southampton or who remain connected to Southampton through work, family or professional associations.

Where will the Associate Programme be located?

Proposals should be located in Southampton city centre or be easy to access by walking or a bus route. Venues have been identified by Culture Southampton but ideally your proposal should include a location, which you have secured or approached. Culture Southampton is planning to get permission to use The Vaults and you can make your proposal specific for these locations. Proposals can be site specific, use internal or external locations or be presented in digital or print format.

What are the dates?

British Art Show 8 runs from 8 October 2016 – 14 January 2017. The Associate Programme and Fringe will run for the same period with key events programmed over weekends and holiday periods. This includes two Art Weekenders, 8/9 October; 15/16 October; and half term week 24 – 30 October.

How to Get Involved in the Fringe Programme

In addition to the Associate Programme Commissions, British Art Show 8 Fringe aims to support and promote the diverse range of arts and cultural events happening in Southampton. The Fringe will be an open submission programme, providing free listings of all arts and cultural events taking place in Southampton for the duration of the BAS8 exhibition. Events will be listed on the Fringe and Associated Programme website and promoted through social media. This enables the Fringe to support events happening over this period and to encourage new audiences to attend as part of the wider programme.

To submit an event, please complete the Events Submission Details Form and your event will be included in the BAS8 Fringe Programme.

Background to The British Art Show

The British Art Show is a national touring exhibition that provides a vital overview of some of the most exciting contemporary art produced in the UK. Organised by Hayward Touring at Southbank Centre London and taking place every five years, it introduces a broad public to a new generation of artists. British Art Show 8 opened in Leeds in October 2015 and is then touring to Edinburgh, Norwich and finally to Southampton where the exhibition opens in October 2016.

Selected by curators Anna Colin and Lydia Yee, British Art Show 8 features the work of 42 artists who have made a significant contribution to art in the UK over the past five years. The result of the curators’ research is a wide-ranging exhibition that encompasses sculpture, film, video-installation, photography, painting, performance and design. 26 of the artists have made new works specifically for the exhibition, making this the most ambitious British Art Show to date.

A central concern of British Art Show 8 is the changing role and status of the object at a time of increasing convergence between the real and the virtual. In response to this condition, artists have developed new ways of thinking about, and approaching, materiality. While some revisit traditional craft-based skills or make use of industrial techniques, others use data as a starting point for their work, or investigate the material conditions of our digital existence. Elsewhere in the exhibition, ordinary objects – a child’s toy, a hard drive or an egg – are considered as archaeological finds or narrative devices. Operating within a complex web of relationships, they reveal new ways of being, thinking and acting in the world.