Open Call ARCOmadrid 2022

Open call for the selection of a curatorial project at the ARCOmadrid 2022 contemporary art fair

1. Object of the call

The Institute of Balearic Studies, together with the organizers of the international contemporary art fair ARCOmadrid 2022, launches an open call for the selection of a curatorial project for the booth of the Institut d’Estudis Baleàrics in ARCOmadrid 2022, which is held from 23 to February 27, 2022 at IFEMA Madrid, Spain.

2. Description and objective of the project

The Institute of Balearic Studies (IEB) is a cultural institution of the Government of the Balearic Islands dedicated to the promotion of the language and culture of the Balearic Islands. Through its culture area, its strategic objectives are to consolidate the Balearic Islands as a structured cultural market, as well as to promote the external projection of music, the performing arts, literature and the visual arts of the Balearic Islands.

In order to promote and give visibility to artistic creation in the field of visual arts of the Balearic Islands, the IEB participates in the ARCOmadrid 2022 international fair with an institutional stand in the ARCO Cultural Spaces section, where an individual exhibition project is shown or a collective of Balearic artists.

The project is accompanied by a small promotional publication, with a curatorial text and information on the trajectory of the participants.

The IEB exhibition project at the ARCOmadrid 2022 fair is conceived as a project to promote Balearic artistic creation, without activity or commercial objective.

3. Conditions of participation in the 2022 edition

To participate in the 2022 call, the curatorial proposal can range from a "single project" to a collective show (of up to a maximum of 4 artists). The participating artist or artists must be natives of the Balearic Islands or residents of the archipelago.

The format and the concept of the exhibition are free and can use any of the artistic practices related to the visual arts.

Curators who have the profile described in point 6 can submit proposals.

Regarding the selection of the artist or artists, it should be noted that the ARCO fair is one of the main contemporary art fairs on the international circuit. With the aim of spreading and consolidating the recognition of the latest artistic trends, this fair pays special attention to the works that best reflect its time and position in the world.

The works included in the exhibition will have to be produced. If applicable, a budgetary item is foreseen for the framing of works or similar.

The project proposal must be adapted to the dimensions of the booth hired by the IEB at the fair.

In the 2022 edition, the curator or the artist selected in 2021 cannot participate.

4. Booth

The IEB booth will be 24 m² and will be located in the ARCO Espacios Culturales venue. The configuration will be 8 x 3 meters or 6 x 4 meters (to be determined by the fair).

5. Budget and technical coordination

The general budget of the exhibition project is € 25,000.00 (see Annex 1) and includes the concepts of booth rental; shipment; nail-to-nail insurance; professional and artist fees; dissemination material; framing; and travel expenses.

The final exhibition proposal must comply with the technical and budgetary specifications provided by the IEB.

The IEB is in charge of the organization and management of the project, which includes contracting suppliers, and budget control and supervision. The curator must coordinate closely with the IEB for the correct and timely fulfillment of all the curatorial tasks stipulated for the project (see point 10, “Curator’s tasks”).

In the event that the curator is not a resident of the Balearic Islands, the IEB will cover travel and stay expenses of a maximum of two days on the islands to facilitate the preparation of the final exhibition proposal. For this purpose, only the costs of a roundtrip airline ticket in economy class with origin and destination at an airport in the European Union will be covered.

6. Recipients

This call is aimed at art curators who have led relevant projects at fairs, festivals and spaces for the dissemination of contemporary art in the Spanish and international fields.

Taking into account that ARCOmadrid 2022 is defined as one of the main contemporary art fairs on the international circuit, those profiles that demonstrate experience in projects and initiatives focused on the international promotion of artists will be especially valued.

Interested professionals can be natural or legal persons and attend the call individually or collectively (in the latter case they will have to name a representative of the authors of the curatorial project).

7. Project selection criteria

The selection criteria will take into account:

• The suitability of the project to the conceptual framework of the ARCOmadrid 2022 fair and ARCO Espacios Culturales

• The excellence, quality and rigor of the project

• The international promotion potential of the participating artist

• The adequacy of the professional profile of the curator

• The technical and economic viability of the project

8. Final selection of the project

The selection of the winning project corresponds to a selection committee made up of Mónica Álvarez Careaga, curator; Martí Manen, director of the Index Foundation; Julia Morandeira Arrizabalaga, researcher and art curator; Joan Morey, artist; Antonio Ortega, artist and teacher at Massana, University of Barcelona, ​​and Karen Müller, head of the visual arts area of ​​the IEB (with voice and without vote).

The jury's decision is final.

9. Fees and payment

The fees of the curator are stipulated at € 2,500.00 (taxes included) and include the performance of the tasks described in point 10. The fees do not include travel and accommodation expenses at the fair, which will be managed and covered by the IEB.

The payment will be made against invoice at the end of ARCOmadrid 2022.

10. Tasks of the curator

The tasks of the curator include:

• Elaboration of the concept and the exhibition proposal

• Selection of the artist or artists and the works

• Preparation of the works list of the exhibition, indicating the technical sheet and all relevant information for contracting suppliers

• Preparation of the final project, agreed with the IEB in terms of technical and budgetary feasibility

• Drafting of a curatorial text (maximum 500 words) and the artist's biographical note for inclusion in the publication that accompanies the exhibition and its use as dissemination material

• Provision of images in low and high resolution of the selected works

• Support to the IEB in supervising the design, layout and printing of the promotional publication

• Design of the booth assembly, with assembly instructions

• Support to the IEB in supervising the assembly of the exhibition

• Attendance at the opening of the exhibition and availability for a two-day stay at the fair

• Media attention

To carry out these tasks, the curator must coordinate closely with the IEB regarding compliance with the proposed schedule (Annex 2).

11. Presentation of projects

Those interested in participating in this call must submit the following documentation:

• Email with a short introductory text

• DNI or scanned passport

• The project proposal in a single low-resolution PDF file (identified with the name and surname of the curator), attached to the email.

The proposal can be presented in Catalan or Spanish and must include:

- Cover page with the full name and contact details of the curator presenting the application

- a descriptive dossier and the proposal of the participating artist or artists (maximum 2 pages of text, not including photos)

- Career path of the curator

- Professional career of the participating artist or artists

- Low resolution images of the proposed works

- Instructions regarding assembly or any technical specificity to take into account

Only one project proposal per participant will be accepted.

12. Deadline for receipt of projects

The deadline for receiving projects ends on January 3, 2022, at 11:00 p.m. Any application sent after the deadline will not be considered.

13. Project submission

Projects should be sent to the IEB email address opencall@iebalearics.org, indicating in the message "Open call registration: Curatorial project for ARCOmadrid 2022". The IEB will confirm receipt of the registration in the call.

14. Resolution

The curator of the selected project will receive an email confirming selection from the IEB (up to, at the latest, January 12, 2022), to which he/she must respond by accepting the commission as curator.

Once this procedure has been resolved, the IEB will inform all participants of the final result by email and will publish the result of the final selection on its web pages.

 

In view of the special circumstances caused by COVID-19, the IEB reserves the right to modify the conditions of participation of the selected project or, if necessary, cancel the event.

More information

In case of questions or queries, you can contact Karen Müller, IEB visual arts technician, at kmueller@iebalearics.org or 971 178 996.

 

Annex 1

Budget prevision (amounts include taxes)

Booth rental 11.000,00 €

Shipment 4.000,00 €

Nail-to-nail insurance 350,00 €

Signalling 150,00 €

Curator fee 2.500,00 €

Artist fee 2.500,00 €

Framing 1.000,00 €

Set-up 1.000,00 €

Publication 1.250,00 €

Travel, accommodation 1.250,00 €

Total 25.000,00 €

 

Annex 2

Orientative schedule for the curator

Application deadline 03/01/2022, 11pm

Selection of winning project 12/01/2022

Final proposal, with works selection and work list, photographs of the works and set-up instructions 17/01/2022

Curatorial text and biography of the artist or artists 19/01/2022

Printing 24/01/2022

Set-up design 15/02/2022

Shipment 14/02/2022

Set-up 21 & 22/02/2022

Opening of ARCOmadrid 23/02/2022

Official opening 23/02/2022

Closure of ARCOmadrid, disassembly 27/02/2022

Return shipment As of 28/02/2022