DEADLINE: SUNDAY 20 JANUARY 2019
Arts Feminism Queer (CUNTemporary) is now accepting proposals for ‘Deep Trash: Eco Trash’ & ‘Queer-feminist Ecocriticism in Live Art & Visual Cultures’, which will be part of the larger programme ‘EcoFutures’, taking place in (London, UK) in April 2019.
The programme will explore urgent topics ranging from ecological disasters and their impact on climate refugees; plastic/toxic waste and the contamination of aquatic and human bodies; the relationship between increasing air toxicity and human and animal diseases; high-speed capitalist consumption and the ungovernable production of trash and techno-waste; from neo-colonialist soil exploitations to indigenous land reclamations and green economies; the rise of temperature and sea levels and their direct effects on the environment, with a focus on the Global South / Majority World.
Artists, activists and theorists are invited to engage with these topics through feminist, queer and decolonial approaches to provide alternatives that draw from situated knowledges, eco-sustainable modes of living, non-exploitative human and animal relations within ecosystems, as well as speculative scenarios of imagined futures, nature-based spirituality, earth magick, feminine powers and ecosexuality.
We are calling for:
- Performances, videos, installations, prints and other 2D/3D and time-based media artworks for the multi-disciplinary exhibition and performance club night ‘Deep Trash: Eco Trash’ on Friday 19 April 2019 at Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club.
- Theoretical output and (performative) lectures to be presented during the 1-day conference ‘Queer-feminist Ecocriticism in Live Art & Visual Cultures’ on Saturday 13 April 2019. This will be hosted by the Department of Drama at Queen Mary University and will include contributions by guest speakers Gaia Giuliani (University of Coimbra, Portugal), Shela Sheikh (Goldsmiths University, UK) and João Florencio (Exeter University, UK); screenings of works by Adelita Husni-Bey and Wangechi Mutu; with more special guests from Europe and the US to be announced
- Written contributions (articles, write-ups, interviews, short essays, cross-genre, creative writing…) for an editorial piece to be published online at www.cuntemporary.org/editorial
Your proposal may include, respond to, be affected by, but not restricted to:
- Indigenous and native two-spirited/trans responses to land expropriations and natural destructions.
- Connections between toxic masculinity and ecotoxicology
- Creating sustainable micro-economies against capitalist exploitation/new forms of labour from a gendered perspective.
- Hysteria and Nature: historical representations and contemporary subversions of the association between untamable femininity and environmental disasters.
- Climate change and the impact on the Majority World and the ecosystems: from the rise of water levels to the Sixth Mass extinction of species.
- Projections of monstrosity and alienation: how climate refugees face increasing racism and xenophobia.
- Environmental disasters, alien/monster attacks and post-apocalyptic events wiping out the white, able-bodied, nuclear heteronormative family (and associated values).
- Afrofuturist connections to botanic healing and eco-spirituality.
- Plastic pollution in water and the ecosystems: eco-destructions and creation of new forms of water bodies’ resistance in speculative fiction scenarios.
- Politics of DIY and bio-hacking experimentation: cyborg organisms and non-human to human hybridisation.
- Trash and techno-waste as resources for post-porn activism.
- Transspecies relationality and hybridity: from animal to geological and water alliances.
- How animal sexualities resist normative ideas of sexuality and gender and the perception of ‘natural/deviant’ in human discourses.
- Ecology without nature or ‘dark ecology’: symptoms of ecological catastrophes and dystopic visions of ‘non-human’ worlds and societies.
- Feminist critiques of (m)Anthropocene theories.
- Ecosexuality as a form of resistance to heteronormative relationality and anthropocentrism.
- Critiques and reflections on meat consumption and queer-vegan standpoints.
- Meat, flesh and cannibalism: radical approaches to human and non-human body politics.
- Anarchic and anti-speciesist utopias.
- Transexuality and queer genealogies in plant and animal domains.
- Affective Xenopolitics: anti-systemic struggles for the emergence of new alliances in bio- and ecological territories beyond the rhetoric of (nationalist and other) belonging.
- Eco-rituals ranging from neo-paganism, wicca, green witches, radical faeries, pansexual communities and menstrual magick.
- Shamanism and the practice of curanderas: the power of healing with herbs and channeling supernatural dimensions.
- The impact of colonialism, globalisation and capitalist-industrial development on the ecological demise of the colonised territories and periphery countries.
To apply, please fill in the form at the link below by Sunday 20 January midnight (UK time):
APPLICATION LINK for ‘Eco Trash’ Live Art Night
APPLICATION LINK for ‘Queer-feminist Ecocriticism in Live Art & Visual Cultures’ Conference and Online written contributions
All your data is confidential and is only used for the purposes of this open call. We will respond to all applications by Monday 4 February 2019.
An expert jury composed of members from Arts Feminism Queer (CUNTemporary), Queen Mary University of London, ArtsAdmin and Platform London will select the finalists. The submission team will contact you with the outcome and they might get in touch during the selection process in case further information is required.
Application Notes:
General info
- We accept proposals by artists of any artistic background and level of expertise.
- We welcome experimental, new and/or challenging works. When applying with a work in progress please provide a description/images/sketch/storyline of the work and/or previous work examples.
- Only 1 submission per artist/collective is accepted for each event (conference and live art night).
- All successful applicants will be offered 1 free ticket to the event ‘Deep Trash: Eco Trash’.
Performances
- Should be no longer than 15min for the main stage. However, we welcome other lengths and formats (e.g. one to one, endurance, interactive performances, walkabouts…) for other spaces.
- They will be awarded with a flat fee. The fee ranges from £70-£250 depending on the overall project, artist’s experienceand/or number of people involved. We are unable to provide travel expenses, but we are open to discussing other production needs and covering them where possible.
- If your participation requires a specific type of reimbursement, please include that in your application.
Videos, short films & sound works
- The selected videos will be shown on a looped screen of about 2m wide. A few videos will be showcased on separate monitors.
- At this moment we are not able to provide a screening fee due to pending funding.
Sculptures, prints &other 2D/3D works
- Because of the nature of the event, exhibition printed copies will be displayed instead of original artworks. Painting submissions will be considered only as printed reproductions. We will require high definition images of your work.
- If you want to show an original artwork, these cannot be insured for this one-off event, and we will not be liable for any damages.
- Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a fee for the display of this work but we will cover the costs of printing your artworks and we will undertake their installation. We do have a modest budget for 3D installations or work which requires extra production materials or transport.
Conference lectures & presentations
- Maximum length for your contribution should be 15-20minutes, in order to allow for a short Q&A.
- Unfortunately, we are unable to provide a fee for this but we might be able to cover travel expenses. If you are travelling from outside of London and you need to have your travel reimbursed, please include this in your application.
Editorial contributions
- Your written contribution can be up to 4000 words to be published on our online editorial https://cuntemporary.org/editorial/. Your editorial can be an interview, a theoretical paper, cross-genre narrative or other textual response.
- We might pitch your article to other appropriate publications and we are open to receiving proposals for where you would like to pitch your text.
- We are unable to provide a fee for your contribution. The editorial functions on a voluntary basis.
- For further information please email submissions@cuntemporary.org
About ‘EcoFutures’:
EcoFutures is an interdisciplinary artistic programme responding to urgent environmental issues such as climate change, pollution, health and sustainability through an intersectional, feminist and queer lens. Taking place in East London (Tower Hamlets), from 4-19 April 2019, the project consists of an exhibition at Mile End Art Pavilion, workshops, a residency, an outreach programme, talks, screenings, a conference and a club night. The contributions to the programme will include over 40 invited artists, speakers and collectives, as well as over 30 works selected from an open call process. The programme spans across 7 venues and 10 partner organisations. EcoFutures is supported using public funding by Arts Council England.
W: https://cuntemporary.org/category/projects/ecofutures/
FB: https://www.facebook.com/EcoFuturesFest
#EcoFutures
About ‘Deep Trash’:
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 are crucial in bringing together a community of people interested in the themes of sexuality, gender, creativity and politics, with an intersectional, decolonial, antiracist and transnational approach. Deep Trash is an exhibition-cum-club night taking place in London at the Bethnal Green Working Men’s Club, approx. twice a year, and every event explores a different theme.
W: https://cuntemporary.org/category/deep-trash-events
FB: https://www.facebook.com/DeepTrashClub
IG: @DeepTrashClub
#DeepTrash #EcoTrash
About ‘Arts Feminism Queer’ (CUNTemporary):
Arts Feminism Queer is a non-profit, volunteer-run arts organisation that works with individuals and groups exploring feminist, queer and decolonial art practices and theories established in 2012. The organisation provides a monthly calendar of queer-feminist events taking place in London and curates talks, screenings, exhibitions, performances, festivals and club nights with the participation of a multidisciplinary and international group of artists, performers and theorists.
FB: https://www.facebook.com/cvntemporary
IG: @kuntemporary
TW: @CUNTemporaryLdn
Open Call Information
W: www.cuntemporary.org/open-call-for-ecofutures
FB: https://www.facebook.com/events/334676113793145/
Email: submissions@cuntemporary.org