Open Call for Curators: "Geographies of the Self"

The Bronx Council on the Arts is seeking applications to curate its Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos Spring 2022 group exhibition, Geographies of the Self (March 25– May 27, 2022). The selected curator will be responsible for contacting and sourcing all materials from artists, writing exhibition texts, and facilitating a public program. We encourage curatorial proposals by emerging and independent curators who are unafraid of experimentation and familiar with artists from The Bronx. This call for proposals expands our mission of supporting emerging artists from underrepresented groups such as women, members of the LGBTQIA+ community, and artists of color. Further, we continue our commitment to present exhibitions in various media, including interdisciplinary practices that connect artists in the Bronx and beyond.

Geographies of the Self will present artworks by Bronx-based multidisciplinary artists who are exploring how visualizations of the body are connected to the vast landscapes of one’s family and community, particularly among diasporic and indigenous communities of the borough. Spanning portraiture and landscape painting, these artists will use the intimate field of the body to reflect on the relationship between the body and the land. By treating the soul like a space to be mapped and bodily contours like a landscape, the artwork presented will consider the history and resources that have shaped their bodies. Questions of tradition and inheritance, the legacies of colonization and slavery, and family and community histories will arise from these bodily investigations. We seek to showcase artists that acknowledge the similar treatment of bodies and land across global history, but also propose utopic visions of bodily perception, community empowerment, and relationships to the environment. Through introspective and intimate works, artists would illuminate the networks of histories, places, and people that shape our past, present, and future.

The selected applicant will be awarded a $2,000 honorarium.

Requirements

Guidelines

1. Proposals must be conceptually rigorous and focus on artists and themes in a way that is innovative, challenging, and engaging. We prefer that the majority of artists proposed be emerging or under-represented.
2. Extra consideration will be given to proposals that clearly demonstrate a unique and creative approach to curatorial research methods.
3. Guest Curators should not include their own work in the exhibition they are proposing to BCA’s Longwood Arts Project.
4. Include a list of artists and a proposed checklist with images.
5. Longwood Arts Project strongly encourages applications that expands our mission and contribute to our ongoing commitment to upcoming and mid-career artists, social justice, and advocacy for artists.

Submission Requirements:
Longwood Art Gallery @ Hostos will only accept electronic submissions through Submittable. Please include the following attachments in Word or PDF format:

• An exhibition proposal with your name, address, phone number and e-mail address of up to 1000 words that includes a 300-word curatorial statement, exhibition goals and objectives, any technical requirements, and artists names. We additionally encourage the proposal of a public program (date and time to be determined if proposal is selected).
• A full exhibition checklist with artist names, selected artwork, and links to their website and/or social media. Please include images and dimensions for all works. Video samples (if applicable) may be submitted as separate .mov or .mp4, with filenames formatted as such: ARTISTLASTNAME_1.mov. All video samples must be accompanied by a link to the full piece, to be included in the checklist.
• A Curator’s CV.
• Three professional references with contact information.

Application Instructions

Submission deadline is Sunday, February 13, 2022 at 11:59PM.

Final selection and applicant will be notified by BCA staff. Please do not submit original materials; ONLY ELECTRONIC FILES WILL BE PROCESSED. All applications will be kept on our files for future reference. For technical inquiries: longwood@bronxarts.org *No phone calls inquiring about the status of your submission, please.