EXHIBITION & LIVE ART EVENT:
CUNTemporary is now accepting proposals for the new series of Deep Trash, the unique exhibition and performance club night in London, at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, London on Saturday 24 October 2015.
DEADLINE: MONDAY 14 SEPTEMBER 2015
Calling for performances, videos and artworks to be shown on Saturday 24 October 2015. We accept proposals by artists of any artistic background and nationality. We are also keen to hear from writers responding to the call either in a written form (theory, auto/biography, poetry or fiction) or through a performative lecture.
For this call, we depart from George Orwell’s political novel Animal Farm and how it relates to contemporary debates on democracy, freedom and equality, with a specific focus on animal ethics.
This event’s themes may include, respond to, be affected by, but not restricted to:
– ‘All animals are equal, but some animals are more equal than others’: Feminist and/or queer politics and art practices against equality
– How art responds to climate change, planetary destruction and sustainability with new ways of thinking about production and reproduction
– Bestial masquerades, human hybrids and animal representations in popular traditions and folkloristic performances
– Animal allegories, symbolic story tales and human metamorphosis in literature and the arts
– Dystopic and utopic visions of ‘non-human’ worlds and societies
– Animal instincts: fetishizing animal behavior in human sexual practices
– How animal sexualities and relationships that are supposedly perceived as ‘unnatural’ combat normative ideas of sexuality and gender
– Queen bees, praying mantises and black widows: female empowering, she-killers and emasculation in the animal and human world
– Beavers, cubs, pussies, bears, cocks and otters: linguistic appropriations in the queer community
– Animals and the internet: how cats and other animals have dominated the online world through videos, memes and emojis
– Ecology without nature or ‘dark ecology’: symptoms of ecological catastrophes and tense interconnections between humans and nature
– Queer ecologies, ecosexualities and ecofeminism
– Reflecting, approving or criticising the consumption of meat, flesh and cannibalistic actions
– Gender critiques of the (M)anthropocene
– Pursuing ecological justice through intersectional approaches
– Food chains, capitalist production and daily consumption
– How transnational feminist and queer approaches respond to environmental racism
– Non-hierarchical democracies and alternative economic systems as a way to counteract human domination of non-human species
– Art and activism that reflects on the intersections between science and experimentation on animals.
To apply, please email info@cuntemporary.org with the heading “Deep Trash Application Animal Farm” by Monday 14 September 2015. Please include the following information:
1) Name and Surname
2) Place of Birth (City and Country)
3) Place of Residency (City and Country)
4) A written proposal (No more than 500 words) and, if available, images of the work
5) Website of the artist/collective or portfolio
6) Up to 5 high res images with credits (For press use)
We will aim to respond to all applications as soon as possible. Selected artists will be notified by 16 September.
Deep Trash Italia was produced by CUNTemporary as a fundraiser night for the creation of the first bi-annual festival Teoremi (2014), which addresses sexual and gender discrimination in Italy through the medium of performance. Moving from the first Italian-themed event, each Deep Trash Italia has evolved into a unique club night with dance, music, art and live performance, thus becoming CUNTemporary’s signature showcase night.
During a time when public and private spaces are narrowing their ability to accommodate the concerns and lives of non-normative and non-binary subjects, events such as Deep Trash Italia are crucial in bringing together a community of people interested in the themes of sexuality, gender, creativity and politics, with an intersectional and transnational approach.
For this reason we have decided to re-name the event to “DEEP TRASH” and to continue with these unique nights that promote freedom of expression for all, in a safe and fun environment.
A MANIFESTO for the new season:
• Deep Trash is the only regular exhibition-cum-performance-club-night promoting queer and feminist arts from all disciplines taking place in London.
• Deep Trash remains a fundraiser night for the activities of CUNTemporary and Archivio Queer Italia. Nevertheless, we ensure that artistic expenses are covered.
• Deep Trash launches a specific open call before each event for a fairer artistic participation and selection. The works and artists accepted will be consistent with the intersections of feminist-queer practice.
• Deep Trash adopts an inclusive political stance, with zero tolerance for discrimination of any sort.
• Deep Trash aims at showcasing the work of both emerging and established practitioners in order to create an intersectional, intergenerational and transcultural dialogue.
• Deep Trash is especially committed to promoting performance art in order to encourage and strengthen research within current artistic discourses.
• Deep Trash provides a safe space where works of a difficult and challenging nature can be presented, documented, discussed, enjoyed and reviewed.
• Deep Trash understands sex as an inextricable part of what we do, who we are and where we come from. We support art and politics which are organized around sex. That is, the deprivatization of sex, the decriminalization of sex work, visible non-normative sexualities and non-binary gender identities, the end of sexual violence and the promotion of consensual sexual practices.
• Deep Trash insists that as artists and audiences, we need more safe and inclusive spaces where people can come together to create, share, experience, discuss, be affected, be flirted, stimulated, challenged and most importantly, EMPOWERED.
For more information on DEEP TRASH visit: www.facebook.com/DeepTrashClub/