Ben Edmunds
06/08/2020
15:09
Have you missed us? We missed you too and we are back!
The ESC open call is on! For the last time this year, contemporary gallery VVOVVA invites you to join wave #2031 Autumn/Winter. Aiming to build the future together we ask artists to ‘Create art as you would do in 10 years in the future.’ We peek into distant and unreachable concepts of the world, humanity, nature, and technology.
The fourth wave features the amazing digital platform YYYYMMDD, that in collaboration with VVOVVA, will be the voice in search of the most interesting works. Run by the talented Daniela Grabosch, YYYYMMDD is not only a meeting point that initiates dialogues, but also a collection of art. This digital archive exists without walls and also is an aggregator of art exhibitions generated from various galleries. Daniela Grabosch not only curates her selections with genuine solicitude and attention but also with a strong theoretical and intellectual point of view. →
Reality tortures us enough to stay in digital and imaginative worlds. Stuck in the middle, in the now, between haunting past and seemingly unpredictable future we already feel overwhelmed. Traveling in time does not feel like a ‘solution’ anymore. Did we believe falsely?
The concepts of time, age, and money fill our brains with a measuring gear and we use it to its full capacity. We measure ourselves and others based on a distant and sometimes not precisely remembered array of experiences. That raises an inevitable idea of our ‘thought through’ life existing as a string of algorithms that were made to make the choice for us. Customized, tailored to each of our interests, those scripts pre-select everything for us: what to watch, eat, and where to sleep. Our lives became a subscription-based ready-to-ship model. We want things, brands, even sometimes a different life which we do not necessarily need just because it was dictated for us.Â
Surrounded by endless targeting advertisements, do we actually make a choice ourselves? Is there any future for an imprisoned and tortured thought? If humans hunt for fame and money, what will our robots fight for?Â
All living was made to adapt thus it strives to survive. And here we are, fill our irreplaceable hard drives (brains) with bits of ripped-out-of-context information. We keep our precious machines (bodies) healthy by watching what was consumed and defining the most efficient ways of spending it. As a result, our consumer-driven society relies on emerging technology.
Blindly believing in something or someone saving us, we grow our businesses and identities with the use of algorithms and technologies.Â
What if those algorithms were created only with one purpose — make the owner of that system richer? What if the society systems (economical, political, educational, etc.) in their core are wrong? Is our perception false too? To what degree technologies such as quantum AI and NFT will shift the world? Can we organically influence the development of our own DNA? Can nature, the mother of human origin, awaken our true thoughts and values?
The submission period starts on October 25 and ends on February 10. The selected artists will be notified by email and published in a digital exhibition at VVOVVA on April 20.Â
VVOVVA & YYYYMMDD can’t wait to see your own perception and read your thoughts about the inevitable future. Please join through the ‘apply’ button below or email us directly with an attached and filled-in application form (located below the ‘apply’ button).
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See more information about the challenge and previously selected works below.
Mit Borrás / Heavven, Adaptasi Cycle, 2021 (image courtesy of the artist) →Â
Heavven, Adaptasi Cycle exhibition. Film and installation views at Exgirlfriend Gallery, Berlin 2021. Heavven/Adaptasi creative team: Work by Mit Borrás (@mitborras), Art Director Rachel Lamot (@rachellamot), Music Daniel Vacas Peralta (@danielvacasperalta). With Ray La’Vord, A1 Robot. Yoga Sonja Sims, Production Design Cavve Pavilion, Robotics Casual Robots, Prosthetics Ayudame 3D, The Cave H. Puerta de América, Make Up Harpo, Eloy Noguera Atienza, A1 Robot design Canbot, Drone Karacho Berlin. With the support of Stiftung Kunstfonds Bonn Neustart Kultur.
Challenge
Create art as you would do in 10 years in the future
apply by email to [email protected], with the subject: #2031, AWÂ
— you can submit 1 work of art
— media formats: image, video, sound (max 10 MB)
— collaborative works are accepted
— no size or dimensions restrictions
— open to all artists working at any level
— no sex, age, nationality, geolocation or education restrictions
— we accept all kinds of art: painting, sculpture, installation, performance, sound, photography, graphics, video, mixed-media, etc.
Results  →
Open Call
First of all, ESC is a challenge that reflects the dreams and expectations of contemporary artists. Oriented on long-term thinkers and brave creators, the open call asks to explore connections with the past, present, and future. In particular, the ESC reflects thoughts of the future coexistence of technology and nature. Thoughts of something unexplored: in another time, in an unknown space, with an unknown audience. We give freedom to explore something new!
It is a small revolution, our answer to the contemporary design and art scenes… in 10 years from now. It is an escape from reality, our own time machine.
! Please note: only non previously selected artists can apply, see previous waves below.
Theory
The name of the challenge and open call ESC (as an ‘escape’) represents a door to a future of art with all its possibilities. On purpose, the name reflects an imaginative different world that one can escape to. Similarly, the number 10 has its own role and represents sort of a barrier in the human mind. In general, predictions about the future or the past are equally ‘knowable’Â on the basis of the present and equally accurate.Â
Connecting with that unknown and distant future self is important. Curiosity about what might happen in the future, the ability to imagine how things could be different, and empathy for our future selves are all necessary if we want to create change in our own lives or the world around us.
Contemporary Art & Design Gallery VVOVVA © 2023
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