Amalgama x Barcu
Spotlights 2021
Open Call- closed

AMALGAMA & BARCÚ Art Fair invite all women artists from Latin America, Spain & Portugal to submit works in any medium, engaging with the notion of fiction as both fact and/or fabrication. We encourage artists to explore the two opposing roles of this concept in our current society and how this dichotomy has transformed our idea of reality in an age of factual uncertainty.  

 

We have commonly understood fiction as an invention. An untruth, that when recognised as such, has helped us uncover hidden truths about ourselves, our environment, how we behave, think or feel.

 

However, as we increasingly face evolving concepts, such as post-truth, ‘alternative facts’ and fake news, promoted and disseminated by an increasingly connected global community, we consider our current ability to clearly distinguish between fact and fiction. This ineptitude has led us to question the existence of an objective reality, considering everything as fabrication and denying the possibility of ever really apprehending the truth.

 

With these ideas in mind, we suggest the following questions to guide the artist's proposals: 

• Is fiction now a tool to understand or create our reality?  

• Have our fictional selves, such as our social media avatars, overtaken our authentic selves? Is there a distinction between the two?  

• What is the role of fiction in a society that no longer considers it an invention? 

• What are the effects in current art practices of this new concept of fiction? 

 

Guidelines

• We accept work by women artists or whoever identifies themselves as such.

• Artists should have an Ibero-American identity/heritage: i) born in Central or South America, Mexico, Spain or Portugal; ii) have parents from these countries; iii) have lived enough time in these countries that their identity or art practice has been determined by such experience.

• Artists’ practice can be based anywhere in the world.

• Only 3 works per entry.

• If you are submitting a series, this is considered one work. We recommend submitting one image which shows the whole series together (ie. the full series hanging on a wall) with further images showing the detail. Alternatively, you could create a single document file that is made up of multiple images (ie. a collage or tiles)

• Works previously exhibited and published elsewhere are accepted.

• Collaborative works are accepted.

• Works produced within the last three years are preferred, although works made at any time before submission can be entered.

• There is no size limit, although the size of the work in relation to the exhibition space will be a consideration in the shortlisting process.

• We will select 15 artists to be exhibited in Bogota and from those 15, 5 will be chosen for an exhibition in London.

• If you are selected, you will be responsible for the transport and insurance of your work to the exhibition space(s) in Bogota and/or London.

• Selected artworks should be available for sale during the exhibition. If sold, Barcú & Amalgama will receive a 30% commission to be reinvested into both cultural projects. 

• Selected artists must authorise the use of images of the artwork (and extended portfolio) to be used in promotional material and be included in the book that will be produced as a result of the exhibition.

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Timeline (subject to change)

• 31 August 2021: Submissions close at 6pm (UK)

• Early September 2021: Judging and selection begins

• Mid-September 2021: Shortlist announced

• 19-24 October 2021: Barcú Art Fair, Bogota (Colombia)

• Spring 2022: London (UK) Exhibition