EXETER CONTEMPORARY OPEN 2024
SUBMISSION GUIDELINES, KEY FACTS & CONDITIONS OF ENTRY
Download a PDF version of the submission guidelines here.
Introduction
Exeter Contemporary Open is an annual open submission exhibition, established in 2006 and hosted by Exeter Phoenix, a busy, multi-artform venue and contemporary art space situated in Exeter’s historic city centre. The exhibition aims to provide an important national platform for contemporary visual art with an emphasis on supporting emerging talent alongside more established artists.
The Exhibition
The exhibition will run from 13 September – 2 November 2024 and is open to contemporary visual artists working in any media including painting, sculpture, photography, print, drawing, video, mixed and digital media. Artists should make submissions that reflect their current practice, and the selection panel will particularly be looking for work that reflects current directions, themes and concerns in contemporary practice.
Submissions
Artists may submit between 1-4 recent works that reflect their current practice. The selection panel will be looking out for the extraordinary, intriguing, unusual, thought provoking, challenging or downright beautiful and particularly seek work that reflects current directions, themes and concerns in contemporary practice.
• A small, non-returnable entry fee of £10 covers submission of up to four separate artworks. Please see the “Why do we charge a fee” below for more information.
• Submissions and payment should both be made as part of the online submissions process.
• Digital image files and links to video or audio works are submitted through the online submission form. 2
• All submitted work must have been created/completed within the last two years.
• Please include a short artist’s statement about your submitted work and broader practice, which may include a website link if you wish. Statements and website contents may be taken into consideration during the selection process and are particularly helpful when the effect, purpose or intent of your work may be unclear from the supplied images alone.
• Your statement may also be submitted as a video by suppling a link.
• We are generally unable to accept postal entries but please contact us at art@exeterphoenix.org.uk if you have particular access needs you would like to discuss.
Deadline
• The deadline for receipt of submissions is 11.59pm, Sun 9 June 2024.
Selection Process
• The selection panel of experienced arts professionals (check website for details) will convene with Phoenix Gallery curator Matt Burrows in late June.
• All successful applicants will be informed of the selection panel’s decision by Mon 1 July 2024.
• Due to the expected volume of submissions, unfortunately we are unable to offer specific feedback on individual entries.
Awards
Selected artists will be eligible for the following awards.
• £1,000 Overall Award
• £500 Additional Award
• £200 Audience Choice Award
The judging panel will select awards once the exhibition has been installed and these will be announced/presented on the opening night. The Audience Choice award will be announced in the final week of the exhibition, as voted for by the visiting public.
Why do we charge a fee?
We understand that fees are a barrier to many artists participating in opportunities and in 2022 we reduced our entry fee from £20, which includes up to 4x artworks per entry. The fee helps us to cover some of the extra administration costs of running the Open to make it the best exhibition we can possibly achieve in a time of reduced core funding. Although we receive some financial support from Arts Council England (through the National Lottery), Exeter Phoenix still needs to cover more than 85% of our overall running costs. We achieve this through a mixture of ticket sales, donations, sponsorship and income from hospitality & hires. Our gallery spaces are free to access for all and, across our various programmes, we strive to provide a broad range of high-quality, accessible opportunities for artists to grow and develop their practice.
Before you enter
Consider whether this is the right opportunity for you and your artistic practice. There are many different open call opportunities for artists, each with a distinct feel and remit.
Take a look at our website to see examples of previous exhibitions to get a feel for the kind of practice that has been successful in the past. The selection panel changes every year but are likely to share a common interest in work that reflects new and current ideas and directions in contemporary practice and/or revisits existing ideas using fresh, thoughtful or intriguing new perspectives and techniques.
Please read the Conditions of Entry section below before submitting your work.
Images of your work
• Images should be submitted as jpeg files, with the file name including your name, and indicating the title of the artwork (e.g. vincent_vangough_sunflowers.jpg)
• Please do not send unnecessarily large image files. At this stage, on-screen resolution is good enough and we certainly don't need files larger than 1mgb.
• You can easily reduce file sizes with free online image compression tools such as Optimizilla (Top Tip: just ignore any big green ‘Start Now’ buttons which are just advertisments!)
• Paintings: consider not cropping your images too tightly as leaving just a small amount of wall visible behind the artwork can give us a good feel for the scale, finish and physicality of the painting.
• Photographic prints: If you haven’t yet printed out a digital image, give us a sense of how the actual work will be presented in the exhibition in your statement. For example, will it be mounted, framed, pinned to the wall etc? Do you have an image of previous finished work you could include that will illustrate this for us?
• Sculpture: usually one image will tell us what we need to know but if we need more angles to understand that there are other elements at play, please include up to three images.
• Video and Audio works should be submitted as links to online hosting such as on your own website, Vimeo, YouTube, Soundcloud or similar.
• Don’t forget to include any access passwords if needed.
• We do not wish to put any limits on duration or format of video work submitted but please bear in mind that your work will be part of a group exhibition, potentially sharing space with other work. Consider how the viewer might experience your work in a gallery context and whether your work is suited to this. You may wish to submit a short clip/trailer version alongside the full work to aid the selection process.
Equality
Exeter Phoenix is an inclusive space dedicated to equal opportunities for its staff, artists and audiences. We want to understand more about who is applying to work with us and we need your help and co-operation to enable this. Applicants are invited to complete this short Diversity Standards form when submitting their work.
CONDITIONS OF ENTRY
2D artworks – Painting, Drawing, Print, Photography etc.
• The maximum size for any individual 2D artwork is approximately 200cm x 200cm. 3
• Consideration should be made as to how works will be displayed/secured to the wall. Generally, works should either be framed, mounted on stretchers, panels or similar, unless specific arrangements are made for an alternative hanging/installation method.
• Where multiple parts make up one piece of work, please make this clear in your application and statement.
Sculpture
• Dimensions should not exceed approximately 200cm x 200cm x 200cm. When submitting sculpture, please consider health and safety, and public liability issues.
• Any special installation requirements should be made clear at the application stage.
• Where multiple parts make up one piece of work, please make this clear in your application and statement.
Video, Audio & Digital Media
• Phoenix Gallery has a selection of audio-visual equipment (projectors, monitors, players etc) however artists who submit work in this category may be required (or may prefer) to supply their own equipment.
IF YOUR WORK IS SELECTED
Key Dates and Exhibition details
• Exeter Phoenix will coordinate transport of artworks to and from the exhibition directly with selected artists and will, subject to discussion, aim to cover all reasonable associated costs from UK-based artists. All costs associated with transporting works to/from outside the UK are the artist’s responsibility. All selected work must be available to reach Exeter Phoenix between Monday 2 and Saturday 7 September 2024.
• The exhibition opening/preview will take place on Thursday 12 September 2024 from 6 – 8pm. Award winners will be announced, and presentations made on the night (with the exception of the Audience Choice Award which will be announced in late October). We encourage all selected artists to attend this high-profile event.
• All works must be available to exhibit for the duration of the exhibition.
• The exhibition will close on Saturday 2 November 2024 and all work must be collected/returned between Monday 4 November and Saturday 9 November 2024.
Sale of work
Your work does not have to be available for sale however Exeter Phoenix will take a commission fee of 40% on any sales that are made during the exhibition period. Please ensure that you supply a full sale price that is inclusive of this percentage.
NB: This means that you will receive the full price minus 40%, which may be a different figure from adding on 40% to a starting figure. Sold artworks will be made available to the purchaser at the end of the exhibition on receipt of full payment and money due to the artist will be paid within 30 days of the end of the exhibition.
Insurance
Art works will be insured by Exeter Phoenix during and in transit to and from the exhibition as long as adequate protection for handling and transporting has been used. Your suggested sale price, minus the 40% commission, will act as the insurance value of your work. If your work is not for sale, please state its insurance value instead. In the event of a claim, insurers will require reasonable evidence of the cost of repair or replacement value.
Marketing and publicity
Exeter Phoenix will promote the exhibition across a broad range of media including our website, social media and other exhibition publicity (posters/emails etc). Targeted press releases will be issued to both regional and national press. 7 Selected artists will be required to submit print quality images of their work, CV, artist statement, links to websites, existing press or other relevant information by mid-July, 2024.
Copyright
Copyright will remain with the artist, however by submitting their work, artists agree that their images may be used for promotional purposes pertaining to Exeter Contemporary Open and Exeter Phoenix.