NOSYMMETRIES

Open Call for Submissions, deadline 29 November 2023
Organised by IDENSITAT + La Capella Centre d'Art (Barcelona)

NOSYMMETRIES is a research project which will open up a variety of artistic processes linked to issues which are pertinent to three spheres in which social inequality takes a number of forms. The open call will seek out three projects to collaborate with a guest working group previously invited on account of its career-path and its socio-political involvement in grassroots projects and issues which tackle inequality.

The working methodology consists of a collaborative process during a month in Barcelona between an artist or collective, and one of the working groups invited to take part in the project. Each working group has predefined a specific research theme: Impulsem - Inequality and Employability-; Xeito Fole and Andrea Corrales – A dance and a prison cell; Sex work and dissidences- ; Florencia Brizuela and Ainhoa ​​Nadia Douhaibi - The structures of racism: capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism. The artist or collective wishing to participate in this process will be selected through this open call, after submitting a proposal which must follow one of the predefined research fields.

NO SYMMETRIES will explore the concepts of critical imagination and social creativity from a variety of perspectives on social inequality. We understand the connection between critical imagination and social creativity as a collective process for gathering proposals which look beyond the visions of a permanent future state of collapse. In this case, the above concepts refer to activities resulting from a combination of responsibility, and individual and collective care as a way of contributing to a new collective imagination.

In order to achieve this objective, we offer 3 artistic residencies of one month, with each residency working in Barcelona with one of the invited groups. During this month, participants will interact, learn, and share their experiences and knowledge, and will also outline a joint outcome. This outcome may be realised after the conclusion of the month’s residency, and will be presented collectively, open to the general public.

Artists must submit a proposal for research and production of an artistic project in dialogue with one of the participating working groups. The working groups must contextualise the research, offering a sociopolitical response that integrates, as far as is possible, the dialogue which lends form to the temporary residency. Idensitat will be the promoting agent and mediator in the different phases of the process, with the aim of creating an intersection between critical imagination and social creativity; a task which will be undertaken in collaboration with La Capella Art Centre.

The participating artists must share methodology and sensitivity with one of the working groups in relation to themes such as sexual dissent, migration and borders, and education towards employability, based upon the concepts and conditions stated below. No symmetries refers to the need to create asymmetrical, dissident, alternative spaces in order to aspire to a symmetry that counteracts the increase in social inequality.

COLLABORATING WORKING GROUPS AND RESEARCH THEMES

IMPULSEM - Inequality and Employability

The working group on Inequality and Employability, led by Impulsem, will make use of their Educational Excellence programme with which they test new educational models to achieve individual and collective success by adapting to the needs and interests of individuals, and generating new academic and professional opportunities through co-responsibility and the promotion of real work spaces.

IMPULSEM is a non-profit social cooperative located in the Ciutat Vella neighbourhood, in Barcelona’s Raval District. With a multidisciplinary team, they work to improve the quality of life of citizens, developing integrative actions within the social context, touching upon the fields of education, labour, and continuing education.

The aim is to work with young people through professional workshops, carpentry, jewellery, screen printing, textiles, or cooking, in a real learning context.

Xeito Fole and Andrea Corrales- A dance and a prison cell; sex work and dissidences.

The working group Un baile y un calabozo: trabajos sexuales y disidencias led by Xeito Fole and Andrea Corrales, proposes a space for dialogue, resistance, and critical thinking around the intersection between sex work and affective, sexual, and gender dissidences. It aims to expand and alter the visual imaginaries related to sex work and prosex activism based upon aesthetic, politic, and historical alliances between sex work and sexual dissidences.

To this end, the following themes are proposed as a starting points to develop a joint project: How much of the Law of Social Danger and Rehabilitation is currently in use through prohibitionist and censorious policies against sexuality and its economies? How may we invoke history, images, law, labour precariety and shared repression? Which bodies/imaginaries coexist in between the world of sex for cash and the realities LGTBIQAP+ communities?* Conversely, knowing that persecuted sexual practices are a risky business, How do we include care at the core of the realities of sex work? How may we create a kind of visibility that does not put us in danger?

This working group space has been conceived as a Trans*temporal meeting, beyond the mere identity; a link between artists, prosex activists, sex workers, and sexual and gender dissidents.

* We included the P for prostitute as a starting point, embracing collective and silent struggle.

Florencia Brizuela and Ainhoa ​​Nadia Douhaibi - The structures of racism: capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism.

The working group The structures of racism: capitalism, patriarchy, and colonialism led by Florencia Brizuela and Ainhoa ​​Nadia Douhaibi, proposes a reflection upon how the machinery of racism is built from historical and anticolonial perspectives, compared to the widespread idea that racism is a prejudice.

The relationship that exists between patriarchy, capitalism, and colonialism in the configuration of current societies will be analysed.Some of the questions they propose as a starting point for reflection are: How sex/gender, race, and capital are connected today? How much colonialism is there in the sex/gender system and heterosexuality? What is racial capitalism? How should we consider racism beyond ideology? What do we think about the issue of colonialism in the metropolis? Who are the colonial subjects in Europe?

The analysis from these perspectives pursues two objectives to be developed jointly with the participant group; firstly, identify the devices through which racism is reproduced, the immigration control industry, labour exploitation, borders, CIES (foreign detention centres), racialisation of domestic and care work, criminalisation of migrant youth, etc.; and secondly, provide analytical tools to (re)think anti-racist movements and struggles today.

WHO IS THE CALL AIMED AT?

The call is addressed to artists or collectives who have their current residence in Europe or a country that is part of the Mediterranean Basin, who may be interested in carrying out a work in collaboration, connection, or interaction with one of the proposed working groups, and on the basis of a temporary residency in Barcelona.

FEES AND RESOURCES OFFERED

- 2,000€ fee (taxes included).

- The production costs for the project outcomes will be covered up to a maximum of 1,000€ for each of the three projects realised by an artist and a working group. The budget will be evaluated between the organisation and the working group taking the needs of each project into consideration.

- Aid for travel expenses up to a maximum of 400€.

- The collaboration between Idensitat and La Capella Art Centre, as organisers, will provide accommodation for artists who do not live in Barcelona, ​​a workplace to develop the project, and an exhibition space to present the results of the research.

*Due to limited budget for fees, travel and accommodation, we would suggest to collectives that only one member may attend the residency on-site.

DOCUMENTATION TO BE SUBMITTED

The selection process will comprise two phases. For the first phase applicants will submit  an artistic research project proposal. Six proposals from among those received will be advanced to the second phase.

The second phase will consist of an interview with the six candidates, in order to learn more about the motivations, the ideas, and the conceptual affinities with the themes, and with the framework offered by the organisers. 

From this second phase, three projects will be selected for development during the Barcelona residency. A member of Idensitat, of La Capella Art Centre, and of each working group (Xeito Fole, Andrea Corrales, Florencia Brizuela, Vanessa Cayuela) will participate in the selection process.

Phase 1

Projects must be sent in digital format using the specific form, completing each of the fields, and indicating the working group with which each applicant would like to collaborate. Candidates must also attach a single document in PDF format (maximum 8 gigabytes), which must include:

- A written document with the proposal, defining the basic lines of the project (maximum 4 pages with images included), indicating a working methodology which takes into account the premises defined within the open call regarding the possibilities for research and presentation. And a suitable  budget in accordance with the  outlined in the above section regarding fees and resources.

- A portfolio with a selection of max. four projects or previous works, contextualising each one through texts and images. Whenever necessary it can be supplemented by web links.

- A short text answering the question, “ What is your reason for  wanting to work and collaborate with your selected work group?” 

- A short curriculum vitae of the artist or collective applying for residency; in case of groups, a representative must be specified. The CV must be a maximum of two pages per person.

- Contact details (name, telephone, e-mail and postal address).

Phase 2

- Interview with the members of the selection committee, in this case more than one member of each organisation may participate.

Final date for first phase submissions: November 29th 2023.

The dates of the second phase interviews will be communicated directly to the shortlisted candidates.

> ACCESS TO THE REGISTRATION FORM
Proposals may be written in English, Spanish, or Catalan.

SELECTION CRITERIA

The selection of projects will be made between IDENSITAT, LA CAPELLA ART CENTRE, and members of the THREE WORKING GROUPS. It will take into account:

– The quality, clarity, and viability of the proposal.

- Adaptation to the themes of the open call.

-  The approach to be taken with the collaboration with the selected working group.

- The consistency of the proposal within the applicant's career.

DATES

- Deadline 29th November 2023

Residency in Barcelona must take place between January 15th and February 15th, 2024

TERMS & CONDITIONS

Application to this call will be regarded as an acceptance and an acknowledgment of the present rules.

The selected works will remain the property of the artist(s). IDENSITAT, La Capella Centre d'Art and the CARE ECOLOGIES project, as collaborating organisations in the NO SIMETRIES- CARE ECOLOGIES project, may reproduce and distribute, by means of on-line publications or in paper format, the whole or part of the programme, while always citing the corresponding credits for creators and participating agents. IDENSITAT and CARE ECOLOGIES will archive all documentation generated as part of this open call, as well as that arising from the development of the project as a whole. Whenever the resulting work is made public, the artists and working groups must provide a contextual citation which make clear mention of the project’s framework: e.g. NO SYMMETRIES, a programme promoted by Idensitat and LA CAPELLA ART CENTRE as part of of Care Ecologies 2024.