ELSEHERE Special Open Call: Banana Slips

ELSEHERE is an international arts nexus operating across development, production, commissioning, publishing, and cross-border partnerships. We collaborate with artists, thinkers, and institutions across regions and languages, building pathways for works to be created, contextualized, circulated, and archived.
This open call is open to artistic works and documentation that can be visually and digitally presented through screens, publications, or online platforms. We are particularly interested in works that can be clearly articulated, critically discussed, and sustainably archived within ELSEHERE’s international context.
Submissions primarily based on writing, criticism, or research texts should be submitted to STRATUM Journal.

Core theme: Banana Slips
A banana peel often exists only in a fleeting, overlooked moment: consumed, discarded, stepped on. It is a trivial residue, and the starting point of an accident. A loss of bodily balance, a rupture in order, a deviation from an intended path.

Banana Slips takes the banana peel as an entry point to invite artists to attend to things and moments that appear insignificant yet actively intervene in reality:
failure, absurdity, embarrassment, risk, misuse, slipping, or subtle disruptions of everyday order.

The banana peel is both object and metaphor: a trace left after consumption, a bodily reaction that precedes rational thought, and a site where systems reveal themselves through minor cracks.

We are interested in how artists misread, magnify, dismantle, or redefine this image, transforming it into works with contemporary relevance and critical depth.

Media & Forms
This open call focuses on works that can be presented through screens, publications, or digital media, including but not limited to:
• Video works / experimental films / screen-based works
• Photography and moving image series
• Digital art / web-based works / AI-related practices
• Documentation of performance, actions, or installations (image and/or text-based)
• Sound works (with visual or screen-presentable formats)
• Image–text hybrid works
• Cross-media and experimental practices

What Selected Artists Receive
Selected works will receive:
• Inclusion in ELSEHERE Special Edition: Banana Slips
• Promotion via ELSEHERE and its global partners’ official social media platforms
• Invitations to participate in online exhibitions, talks, or extended thematic projects
• Priority consideration for future ELSEHERE Open Calls and collaborations

Copyright Notice
Copyright remains with the artist
ELSEHERE retains the right to use selected works for exhibition, publication, and promotional purposes without additional authorization or fees

Timeline
• Application open: February 1
• Application deadline: March 15, 24:00 (GMT+8)
• Review period: Mid-March – Mid-April
• Results announcement: Mid-April – Early May

Requirements

Eligibility
• Artists, designers, filmmakers, and research-based creators
• Open to students, emerging practitioners, and established artists
• Individual or collective submissions accepted
• No restrictions on nationality, age, or location
• No prior exhibition or publication experience required

Work Requirements
• Original works only, with no copyright disputes
• Creation date unrestricted, but works must relate to the theme
• Up to 3 works per applicant

Required Materials
• Work files or presentation links
• Work description / artist statement (Chinese or English, max. 500 words)
• Artist bio (max. 150 words)
• Copyright statement confirming originality

Recommended File Formats
• Images: JPG / PNG, 300 dpi
• Video: MP4, 1080p
• Audio: MP3 / WAV (if applicable)
• Documents: PDF
• Single file size should not exceed 2GB (larger files via online links)

Application Instructions

Submission Method
International & Other Regions
Please submit via the designated submission page on the ELSEHERE official website.
The submission link will be announced simultaneously on the website. Please follow the online instructions to complete your submission.

Application Fee
To support platform operations, review processes, and archival work, a submission fee is required.
Fee: USD 20
Please note: Submission fees are non-refundable once paid; Payment does not guarantee selection or participation; Fees will not be refunded for incomplete or non-compliant submissions

Selection Process
All submissions will be reviewed by ELSEHERE’s internal curatorial and editorial team.
Evaluation criteria include (but are not limited to):
Conceptual relevance to the theme
Creativity and experimental approach
Clarity and completeness of presentation
Critical perspective and contemporary relevance

Additional Notes
• The organizer reserves the right to reject submissions that do not meet the requirements
• Any copyright-related disputes are the sole responsibility of the artist
• Submission implies full agreement with all Open Call rules
• Late submissions will not be accepted