NE open call
Judging the North East Open Call by new curator Penelope Payne
Earlier this year the team at Middlesbrough Art Week, the new extended version of Middlesbrough Art Weekender, note the subtle but very significant change there? asked me to curate the North East Open Call. As an artist who has shown or been part of the selection panel for the NEOC for the last 4 years this was a no brainer. Being involved in the festival has always been a positive and rewarding experience. To be part of the team that’s pulling the northern art scene up by its boot straps was an exciting proposition.
The Art Week/ender was started in 2017 by current directors Liam Slevin and Anna Byrne these ambitious folk had a vision to bring art to the grit of Middlesbrough and the Tees Valley. 6 years on and with Arts Council backing and nearly a million pounds to develop the Auxiliary exhibition and project space, the festival is a show case for Northern artists and those from further afield. Connecting established names and up and coming talent on an equal basis. 2023 sees Liam, Anna and co-producer/curator, Kyp Kyprianou and Paul Harrington use their combined arsenal of knowledge to link artists through the theme of the week long festival which spans multiple venues and organisations.
The North East Open Call, is an integral part of the festival. This year change was afoot in the application process. The directorial team wanted it to be easier and less time consuming for the artists. Free to enter we invited applicants connected to the North East to submit links to their social media or website and a hundred words or so, if some direction for the judges was needed. All we really required was that the work resonated with the festivals broad umbrella theme of ‘Measure’. And the applications flooded in.
Liam, Kyp and myself were given a spreadsheet, organised by Will Hughes in the Auxiliary office, they manage to keep us literally on the same page with their google doc. wizardry. Names, links to Vimeo, websites and instagram posts enabled us to get a measure of all the applications. We were able to watch, read, study, listen, cross reference, comment and create a rainbow coloured pictogram of all the applicants. Kyp, the master of colour coding had a least 30 tabs open on his shared screen as we came together for what will for ever been known as ‘The Marathon Zoom’, to select 20 artists to develop a proposal. Each being paid £75 to do so. This is rare, I wish more organisations acknowledged the effort artist put into creating an application.
For those who were rejected, its really tough, I know I’ve been there. But take away this, your work was seen and discussed. You never know what other opportunities may pop up in the future because your work was made visible by this process. Rejection doesn’t necessarily reflect on the quality of your practice, plenty of good work is turned down in every open call. The work is considered carefully of course, but also how it fits in with the balance of other artists and If we can achieve the ambition of the proposal with space, time and budget. Everyone received a decision letter whatever the outcome. It’s only right, right? And we invited those who were not taken forward to request more detailed feedback, about a third took this offer up, we hope it was helpful.
Proposals by the 20 artists were prepared, only 10 would be finally accepted into the show and paid a fee of £500. A zoom was scheduled, this time with the expert help of three additional panel members; Robin Klassnik from Matt’s Gallery, Chris Clarke from The Glucksman and Helen Welford from MIMA. Some decisions were easy, some not so much. Not a marathon this time but deeper considerations had to be tackled. With the invaluable help of these experienced curators an exciting, challenging and diverse selection of artist were selected that will expand, question and confront our understanding of ‘Measure’.
Next Time. - So what does a curator actually do? and other questions I need to ask myself.
This years North East Open Call artists:
