OPEN CALL
OPEN CALL
cty x fringe festival
/
cty x fringe festival /
Wander
Sense of process
Unexpectedness
apply now / deadline 6 oct /
apply now / deadline 6 oct /
Curating the Young is a youth collective that creates a platform for young and upcoming artists. In the process, we take our first steps as curators and leave our mark on the cultural landscape. For our first exhibition of the year we’re teaming up with Fringe Festival in Leuven.
For three weeks, 11 arts organizations from Leuven present a captivating program. New and unknown artistic voices demonstrate how a dynamic process of searching, pondering, struggling, and returning can lead to new insights, unexpected forms, and ideas. The festival serves as a plea for openness, wandering, and slowing down, guiding visitors along a path full of detours. Does your art fit this narrative?
The expo will take place in and around the Vaartkom area in Leuven, in the public space. We encourage artists to work with concepts such as searching, getting lost, taking unexpected turns, embracing the process and becoming. The artwork doesn’t have to be finished but can change during the course of the exhibition. This can be due to your own doing, the public or the surrounding or weather conditions.
We invite artists and creators between the ages of 18 and 30 to submit a proposal. This can be an existing work that receives a new meaning in this context, or a new project that fits within our vision. We are open to all art forms: from visual arts (like painting, sculpture, photography, textiles, etc.) to audiovisual arts (sound, video, podcast, etc.), performance or installation. We encourage site specific and participatory works that work with the context of the Vaartkom area in Leuven and activate the audience.
Fringe
The festival ties in with the 600th anniversary of KU Leuven, with the theme "knowledge knows no end." Just as scientific research doesn't follow a straight line but meanders, jumps sideways, and is driven by a curious urge to keep searching, so too does creativity arise from wandering.
Where and when?
The exhibition will take place from Thursday 20 November to Saturday 6 December in different spaces surrounding the Vaartkom area in Leuven (Engels Plein, Sluispark, OPEK…). The Vaartkom is a former industrial dockside transformed into a vibrant urban quarter, blending modern architecture, creative hubs, and waterfront living with traces of its industrial heritage.
The Fringe Festival officially opens on the 20th of November, but our vernissage event will take place on Saturday 21st of November, from 18h to 20h.
You can find some pictures of spots around the Vaartkom that may inspire you below.
What are we looking for?
Artworks or projects that fit the concept of wandering, sense of process, unexpectedness and becoming. We are open to different interpretations of this theme, but you may also surprise us with other ideas. The artworks should be weatherproof in the sense that they can exist outside for three weeks, unless you wish them to be changed by the weather.
You are willing to work proactively with the team of Curating The Young and are open to close collaboration and good communication with its members.
You are willing to participate in the set-up and tear-down of the exhibition and be present at the vernissage on Friday 21 November (18h - 20h).
You can provide your own transportation of your work to and from the exhibition.
You are open to considering and participating in a public activity, such as an artist talk or workshop.
What do we offer you?
Artist fee of €500 and production budget of €100
An opportunity to exhibit your work in a unique location in the public space and be part of a festival with 11 other art organizations in Leuven who also work with new and exciting voices in the art field.
An opportunity to expand your network within an environment of like-minded art and culture enthusiasts.
Guidance from a team of young, enthusiastic curator-volunteers from Curating the Young, who will provide you with assistance operationally, communicatively and scenographically. They will also provide a public program for the audience to engage with the art.
The opportunity to sell your artwork.
An unforgettable experience!
What do you submit and how do you apply?
A biography clearly stating your place of residence and age and a link to your portfolio, website or instagram.
Clear photos of the work(s) you want to exhibit OR a clear and detailed concept proposal (including material costs and important deadlines).
A concrete explanation of the link between your work and our vision/provided theme of the exhibition.
A description of the technical needs of your work, such as hanging systems, measurements, sound systems, lights etc.
Apply by sending all this information to paulien@bamm.be before the 6th of October.
Feel free to contact us if you have any questions.
After the 13th of October we will contact you with further information.
