CALL FOR ARTISTS & DESIGNERS

Dying.exhibits invites participants to think about their relationship with death and dying and creates an opportunity to engage with diverse perspectives and participate in open conversation through engaging art and design works, and participatory experiences. This year, the series will invite contributions that explore grief and loss to make space for reflections on our collective experiences during a time where death, dying and loss has been brought to the forefront due to COVID-19.

Over the past two years, the Dying.series has attracted over 5000 attendees, 26 speakers, including 4 opening and keynote speakers in the disciplines of design and healthcare and 29 exhibiting artists and designers. In its third year, Dying. will continue to offer an opportunity to creatively engage in conversation about fragility, death, dying, loss, and grief through the lens of art and design.

We particularly invite works within these themes that address issues of equity, diversity, and inclusivity.

We are open to multiple formats (2D, 3D, digital, installation, multimedia etc.) including those that invite audience participation. Due to potential ongoing social distancing measures, we will be assessing submissions that also design for a socially distanced experience and/or supplemented with digital engagement.

Taboo Health envisions Dying.2021 as a catalyst for unpacking the uncomfortable: Why is death, loss and grief difficult experiences to discuss? In the midst of a global pandemic, humanity has been thrust into an unprecedented global halt of our “business as usual.” COVID19 has revealed the fragility of our systems and has challenged our collective values. Dying.2021 endeavors to engage with the broader community and asks: What might we as individuals, and as a community, learn from sharing experiences of death, dying and loss?

Dying.exhibits will be part of the DesignTO Festival from January 22nd to 31st, 2021. Previous exhibition venues have included: the OCADU Graduate Gallery and Artscape Youngplace.

Submission Deadline: October 9, 2020
Respond to: exhibitions.taboo@gmail.com
Venue: Artscape Youngplace, 3rd floor hallway gallery (venue is accessible)

With your submission package, please include: your resume; letter of intent that describes how your practice and/or your work aligns with the call; and low-res images of the work (for time-based works, please send a two-minute excerpt.) Selected artists and designers will receive an honorarium at the current CARFAC group exhibition rate for $423.00, and will be notified through email by October 12th. Materials for the artworks are to be covered by the artist/designer.

For questions regarding submissions, please reach out to Karen Oikonen at exhibitions.taboo@gmail.com

Website: www.dyingseries.ca

Instagram: @dyingseries
Twitter: @dyingseries
Facebook: @dyingseries

Dying. is an event series running in conjunction with DesignTO, with collaborators from the Health Design Studio at OCADU and Taboo Health.