Shelley Niro, Final Moments Thinking Of You (installation view), 1998, digital photograph
Call for Proposals
Southwest Seen
New Media Commissions
Submission deadline: June 6, 2022
Museum London invites applications for Southwest Seen, an initiative to activate new media works that reflect the region’s diverse culture and history. With support from artist/curatorial collaborators and representatives of the London Ontario Media Arts Association and the Media City Film Festival, Southwest Seen will support the creation of three new digital works for public exhibition from December 2022 to August 2023.
We invite proposals from artists who are Black, Indigenous, and People of Colour who are from, reside in, or have a meaningful connection to Southwestern Ontario—the region bounded by Lake Huron, Georgian Bay, Lake Erie, and communities west of the GTA.
While applicants can interpret elements broadly, we encourage proposals that engage with regional histories, lived experience, community, and inclusion and equity.
This opportunity is open to those who are:
- Black; Indigenous (First Nations, Inuit, Métis); People of Colour;
- Professional visual/media artists producing digital media work;
(The OAC defines a professional artist as someone who has developed skills through training or practice, is recognized by artists in the same artistic tradition, has a history of public presentation/publication, seeks payment for their work, and actively practices their art.) (Student artists not eligible); - 18 or older;
- Canadian citizens/permanent residents.
Specifics:
- A committee will select three proposals, with notification in June 2022;
- Digital media works should be created with a wide public audience in mind;
- Each work will be screened publicly, visible from outside the Museum through the back windows at its Centre at the Forks (CATF), for a period of three months. They will be viewable past dusk;
- Submissions must be screenable both with and without sound. Closed captioning available;
- Each work will also maintain an online presence for a period of one month through the Media City Film Festival;
Note: Works must be:
- maximum 60 FPS
- maximum 1080P (or frame size of 1920 x 1080)
- no larger than 10 GB
- Length less than 15 minutes.
Remuneration:
- Selected artists will each receive fees for commission ($3,000), solo exhibition ($3,563), and online streaming ($560).
How to Apply:
Applications will be accepted via email or WeTransfer, and must include:
- CV (maximum 2 pages);
- Artist statement (maximum 500 words);
- Proposal describing the work concept (maximum 500 words);
- Budget and Production general timeline (maximum 3 pages);
- Submissions to be sent to cgetty@museumlondon.ca;
- Up to 12 images and/or 10 minutes of media featuring relevant past work. Include date, title, medium, length, etc.;
- Send proposals via link or email (Note: emails maximum 10MB; accepted platforms (Vimeo, Youtube);
Note: successful works must be realized by December 1, 2022.
Submit questions and proposals to Cassandra Getty, Curator of Art, Museum London, 421 Ridout St. N., N9A 5H4, (519) 661-0333 ext. 4227, cgetty@museumlondon.ca
We would like to acknowledge funding support from the Ontario Arts Council, an agency of the Government of Ontario.
About the Presenters, Collaborators, and Partners:
Southwest Seen is presented by Museum London and includes artistic/curatorial partners selected on the basis of specialized expertise and regional representation.
Museum London’s mandate is to collect, preserve, exhibit, and interpret the visual arts and local history, presenting a dynamic mix of interconnected exhibitions and programs of regional and national relevance. Museum London is an accessible venue.
London Ontario Media Arts Association (LOMAA) is a regional, non-profit, artist-run organization supporting local, national, and international artists in the areas of moving images, performance, new media, and sound art. LOMAA Director Christine Negus is an interdisciplinary artist, scholar, and recipient of the NFB’s Best Emerging Canadian Video/Filmmaker award. Negus’ work examines the potential of feminist, queer, and disability praxis through dis/embodied modes of resistance. Moving between installation and media projects, community programming, grassroots pedagogy, and critical writing, their practice embodies the generative possibilities of disobedience performed through minoritarian action.
Media City Film Festival (MCFF) is an international festival of film and digital art dedicated to the creation, exhibition, and dissemination of artists’ cinema in Windsor/Detroit since 1994. Oona Mosna is MCFF’s longstanding Artistic Director. She is an artist, curator and author who has organized thousands of screenings and exhibitions with Yoko Ono, Mati Diop, Michael Snow, and hundreds more at The Presidential Palace (Chile), TIFF, and Detroit Institute of Arts. Venues for her projects include the MoMA, Tate Modern, The Smithsonian Museum of African American History and Culture, and The Academy Museum.
Evond Blake (aka MEDIAH) is a Canadian multidisciplinary artist who weaves contemporary graffiti/street art forms with painterly techniques and digital media to create large-scale, cinematic environments. Heavily inspired by avionics, mechanical engineering and schematics, MEDIAH’s work utilizes speed, dynamism, and force to depict otherworldly dimensions through an abstract lens. His work has been showcased internationally in galleries, nominated for awards, and used as set locations.
Anahí González is a Mexican photographer based in London, ON. She explores alternative narratives related to Mexican migrants and Mexican labour in/for Canada to decentre the United States narrative concerning Mexican migration. She received the 2021 Young Creators Award from the National Fund for Culture and the Arts of Mexico. Her work has been exhibited in Mexico, Norway, Canada, Spain, and France. González holds a BA in Communication from the Universidad del Valle de México and an MFA from Western University, where she is currently a Ph.D. candidate.
Amanda Myers (Kitaay Bizhikikwe) has worked with the Indigenous Student Centre at Western University over the past eight years and focused her studies on identity. As an artist Myers also focuses on identity, as her ancestors chose not to register in a community, and lived their life as they always had, off the land. Myers draws on family lineage which connects her to many communities in Ontario, northern Wisconsin and Michigan through her Cadotte/Cadeau and Myers/Maillette ancestors. Myers recently completed a Master of Professional Education, focused on Indigenous Educational Leadership and Identity through Western and hosted by Six Nations Polytechnic.