Open call for artists | Public Art Melbourne Biennial Lab

unnamed (24)The City of Melbourne are calling for artists to apply for the inaugural Public Art Melbourne Biennial Lab. We encourage early mid-career artists to imagine and develop new encounters with the city in this bold new initiative led by Chief Curator Natalie King.

Selected artists will spend two weeks in June in a laboratory setting, to develop their concepts under the mentorship of leading national and international public art experts, including Claire Doherty from Situations UK.

Up to 10 temporary works of art conceived in the Biennial Lab will then be created and installed at the Queen Victoria Market during the Melbourne Festival in October. A series of public programs will run alongside both lab stages, inviting the wider Melbourne community to share in the social, public and communal experiences and conversations that are sparked by the commissions.

Chief Curator Natalie King says the program title, ‘What happens now?’ comes from Jenny Holzer’s anonymous paste-up exhibition that was held throughout New York City in 1979. ‘Like a manifesto, Holzer’s slogans are part of her acerbic Inflammatory Essays. While anchoring the curatorial framework, this proposition offers an open-ended inquiry and the prospect of imagining new possibilities. By asking about “now”, we can interrogate the multi-layered and deeply condensed history of the Biennial Lab site: Queen Victoria Market,’ says Natalie.

The open call closes on Friday 29 April at 11pm.

To apply and / or find out more, check out the Biennial Lab website.

Artists of Aboriginal and Torres Strait Islander descent are strongly encouraged to apply.

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