Call for Submissions: Hidden in Plain Sight
Forest City Gallery and London’s Art in Public Places invite professional artists to submit an artwork for an 8 month-long public art showcase on one of 3 downtown Pattison Advertising video billboards.
The artworks will be selected through an open, national call and curated by the Forest City Gallery Programming Committee and Director.
Under the general theme of advertising and branding, we invite non-moving digital images/artworks that either directly involve, relate, or peripherally touch upon the following themes:
- Advertising and advertisements for products, services, etc.
- Branding (whether personal/biographical, or investigating branding optics)
- Commercialism
- Business/Economic-interested art practices
- Borrowing “corporate” aesthetics
- Ethics & advertisement
- For-profit & non-profit industry economies
- Economy-based politics and systems
The project will choose 8 artists and give them each a month-long exhibition on of London’s downtown video billboards (through partial donation by Pattison Advertising). These screens get an average of 30 000 views per day. The works will be shown every 10 seconds in a 60-second cycle, between advertisements. The submitted image may be slightly cropped for sizing.
Instead of attempting to delineate between commercially booked advertising and disparately unconnected art practices, Hidden in Plain Sight seeks to incorporate aesthetics that mimic or are otherwise immersed in these aesthetics. The goal of this project is to incorporate art practices/works that involve different aspects of corporatization, branding, advertising, commercial endeavours, and/or the aesthetics and conventions of commerce or trade. We encourage artists who touch upon these themes in either direct or indirect ways. FCG encourages artists to apply whose practices that are pluralistic and complex in involving diverse histories and narratives somehow relating to the theme.
Artists will be paid a fee of $400 for use of the artwork for the duration of the project. Feel free to send completed or new work. We will also accept mock-ups for work uncompleted (although we are unable to provide fees necessary to complete the work).
Viewers will be able to go to forestcitygallery.com and learn more about the project, the artists, the specific context for included artworks, and a link to each artist website.
The project will begin on April 15th and run for a duration of 8 months.
Description of video billboards: This is an electronic Light Emitting Diode (LED) RGB display with a pixel aspect ratio of 1.00 square pixels and a pixel pitch of 10mm. It is designed specifically for large format outdoor installations. Our Digital Horizontal Posters only display static images: there is no animation, motion or sound. Our displays feature ambient light sensors that will dim the screens on dark days and at night to optimize viewing. The screen size of this display is equivalent to a 10’H x 20’W Horizontal Poster.
Submission Details: Content must be static with no motion, animation or audio. Submit a layered Photoshop file. Include a JPG preview. Fonts must be provided additionally in TTF or OTF. Any other image formats will not run and will be subject to a conversion charge. Specifications provided must be followed exactly for your message to display correctly.
The image size should be 576 pixels wide x 288 pixels high* at 72 PPI File Format PSD with JPG preview set to Baseline Standard Colourspace RGB
* The conversion to the digital display format slightly alters the aspect ratio. This distortion is not noticeable on the screen. Be aware that large areas of white, or very bright backgrounds may wash out lightweight or small type and graphics. For maximum legibility, text is recommended to be at least 28 pixels in height. This corresponds to approximately 12” in height when displayed on the board.
Please submit a high quality Image File (with the artwork title, and year as filename), along with a 250 word description that contextualizes the piece for inclusion within the theme. Please also include an artist CV and Bio. Please compile all of these files into a single compressed folder file and send to programming@forestcitygallery.
We thank all those who apply. Only those selected will be notified.
DEADLINE: March 31st, 2019
Contact:
Matthew Kyba
Director, Forest City Gallery
info@forestcitygallery.com
www.forestcitygallery.com