call: Video Art Biennial
Deadline: 22 March 2025
Call for entries
4th-WALL
is Prospect Art’s programming arm dedicated exclusively to video art. We are a network of international organizations, galleries, artist collectives, and not-for-profit artist spaces interested in showing and promoting international video artwork in the framework of a video art biennial.
We are looking for video works for our 2027 programming, “Change/Exchange.” Entries will be considered for physical exhibitions and screenings presented in Los Angeles, Lisbon, and Budapest, a series of online screenings on our BROADCAST program, as well as the publication of articles on our ONE WORK program that will provide critical context to the works included in the project. The organization of how the works will be presented and on what platform(s) will depend on the nature of the selected works and will be at the discretion of the curatorial team.
We will select existing video works that resonate with the curatorial statement (see below.) We are looking for emerging and established visual artists who work in the medium of video from anywhere in the world. The works can be experimental, non-narrative, or narrative so long they are in the realm of video art, are conceptually based, and relate to the theme of the show, curated by Prospect Art’s Curatorial Fellow Maximilian Lehner, with the technical support of Prospect Art’s 4th-WALL Program Manager Pedro Inock.
Single channel multi-channel works and video installations will be considered. Performance-based works that include video elements will not be considered, nor will video documentation of past performances or documentation of video installations.
In addition to submitting existing works, you may also submit a project proposal to produce a new work in response to the Change/ Exchange theme. This added $1000 COMMISSION opportunity will be awarded to ONE artist to produce a new single-channel video work that will premiere on-line during the 2027 4TH-WALL Biennial.
All selected artists will receive artist fees in line with W.A.G.E. guidelines.
Curatorial Statement:
Change and exchange are closely related, maybe similar in some ways, but a mere notion of exchange cannot capture change. Change might be closer to a gift, an investment without its effects visible during one’s lifetime. For many, the “pure” idea of a gift is located outside the realm of imagination and is often perceived as something that asks for immediate reciprocity. What does it mean, then, to give something back? Does this gesture fuel change, or does it perpetuate exchange?
Change/ Exchange is an invitation to reimagine change without exchange. Let’s amplify practices that bring forth notions of change that do not rely on economic exchange and bring out individuals who give or accept a gift without any expectations or who would appreciate the unexpected. There must be more space for ‘weak’ proposals and mysterious gifts that can subtly bring about change.
REQUIREMENTS
We will consider single-channel and multi-channel video works and video installations. Please provide us with a single-channel version of the project you want us to review (you can composite a two-channel project or create ONE video file with consecutive video works in case of multi-channels; please insert title cards when necessary: channel 1, channel 2, etc.).
Answer all biographical questions.
Multiple entries are accepted; please fill out one form per entry.
Complete new project proposal requirements if you also want to apply for the $1000 mini-grant.
We ask for a $10 administrative fee per entry to complete the application.
As a small artist-run not-for-profit, the fee helps us offset the cost of administering the open call (if the fee is not manageable, please email 4thwall@prospectart.org for a waiver.)
Artists need a PayPal account to receive screening fees and a mini-grant if selected.
Please use PayPal and send the funds to ProspectArtProject@gmail.com or use the QR available in the application form.
FREQUENTLY ASKED QUESTIONS can be found https://www.prospectart.org/4th-wall-2024-open-call-1
Previous 4th-WALL Exhibition https://www.prospectart.org/performing-time
Upcoming 4th-WALL Exhibition (Opens August 2025, at the Torrance Art Museum) https://www.prospectart.org/affective-territories-alternate-belongings
Please prepare the following and submit it through the Google form below:
Artist name, address, phone number, email, and country of origin.
Artist bio (200 words)
Artist Statement (150 words)
Title of completed work submitted for review, medium/format, RT, year of production.
Link to submitted video work (with password) only Vimeo/YouTube links on private channels or a custom page on a personal website.
Description of work (200 words)
Upload a portfolio of previous works. (pdf)
Link to personal artist website if available.
Social media handle if available.
Upload an additional New Project Proposal if you want to be considered for the $1000 commission: a 3-page pdf that must include a description of the single channel project, approximate RT, and can include sketches, a storyboard, or relevant visual references.
DUE DATE
Applications are due March 22, 2025, at 11:59 PST.
You can direct further questions to 4thwall@prospectart.org
About the Curator:
Maximilian Lehner is a curator, critic, and art historian who emphasizes horizontal work structures, conceiving art and curating as epistemological forms to understand critical temporalities and the non-normative. For Kunstmuseum Moritzburg (Halle/Saale, GER), he is currently preparing the public program for Planetary Peasants (2025.) He was associate curator for ok.oskar, the 70th-anniversary festival at International Summer Academy of Fine Arts Salzburg in 2023, and curated exhibitions, among others, for Salzburger Kunstverein (Salzburg, AT), aqb (Budapest, HU), Škuc Gallery (Ljubljana, SI), Nova BAZA (Zagreb, HR) and ElectroPutere (Bucharest, RO). Next to academic publications and artist books, Maximilian’s writing is published in Camera Austria, MOST Magazine, Parnass, Artforum, RevistaArta, Kajet, and BLOK Magazine. He was part of the experimental research platform Anomalies, run by kulturpunkt.hr from 2023-24, and Critic-in-Residence at Igor Zabel Association for Culture and Theory in 2022. He studied art theory and philosophy in Paris, Stuttgart, and Linz and at CuratorLab at Konstfack Stockholm.
Deadline:
Saturday, March 22, 2025 (All day)
Submission links:
https://www.prospectart.org/4th-wall-2025-open-call
https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSd9W0BgoAqSpWiUg0fLGPCpBJDmwCfv1CczdyTNLqa0HQFBLA/viewform
Submission fees:
Fees charged – Waiver available
Contact Email:
4thwall@prospectart.org
