Open Call – The Weight of Air

Air is so ubiquitous it’s easily taken for granted. It’s volatile, no one seems to own it and yet it’s our collective responsibility. Questions about safety, composition, quality, access, pollution and impact are notoriously difficult to address. We are looking for artists up for a challenge to create a work reflecting on the most pressing local issues surrounding air where you are. 

 

In The Weight of Air, five artists or collectives (one in each participating city) will be selected to simultaneously create their own works locally. In the artworks, we invite you to address notions of ‘weight’ and ‘volume’ of air, and the notion of ‘impact’ of behaviours and industry on air. 

 

The five commissioning partners are collaborating within the framework of The Big Green, a Creative Europe-project. The five works that will eventually make up The Weight of Air are unique and yet related. The Weight of Air is open to any art discipline.

 

If selected, artists participating in The Weight of Air commit to a collaborative process taking place between October 2023 and July 2024. In this (part-time) period you’ll create a work with an environmental angle through an eco-sensitive process. Most of your collaboration will be with your local commissioning organisation (Sciaena, in the case of Portugal), but there will be some online and offline moments together with all five artists and commissioners throughout the season. Collectively, all artists and commissioners will decide on a common thread at the start of the project, to ensure the ‘family resemblance’ of the five different works. This can be through the use of common materials, similar processes or through another way. 

 

This project includes an artist fee and a production budget. This call closes on August 7. Applications after this date will not be taken into consideration. 

 

To apply, please follow this link.