Open Call: Premio Recontemporary

DEADLINE ENDED

Application opening: March 13, 2024
Deadline for submission of applications: April 30, 2024, 11:59 PM

Application fee: €25
Communication of selection outcomes: May 22, 2024

THE PRIZE
On its 5th anniversary, Recontemporary launches the Premio Recontemporary to support emerging artistic talent, offering new talents an opportunity for personal and professional growth. Recontemporary is a non-profit cultural association dedicated to video art, the first independent space in Italy dedicated exclusively to new media art. Rec promotes exhibitions and multimedia artists and develops educational projects on contemporary art and digital technologies.

The Premio Recontemporary includes:
● Organization of a solo exhibition at Recontemporary in Via Gaudenzio Ferrari 12/b, Turin, from July 3 to August 3, 2024 (the dates may be subject to changes);
● A prize worth €1000 (one thousand euros) to support the acquisition of an artwork on display to become part of the Recontemporary collection;
● An artist fee of €200 (two hundred euros) to support exhibition planning;
● A one-year mentoring program curated by Recontemporary, aimed at supporting the career development of the winning artist with a contribution of €1500 (one thousand five hundred). The financial support will be disbursed by Recontemporary throughout the year, to support the professional consultancy program and is intended for participation in international fairs, exhibition openings, or festivals, to facilitate the integration of the artist into the contemporary art market.

Recontemporary intends to build a network of collaborations and exchanges that can amplify the resonance of the selected artists’ work, through the support of an international jury and special mentions. Each application will be evaluated individually,
and each candidate, in case of rejection, will receive detailed feedback on their application, accompanied by the reasons for the decision and any other open calls where they can submit their work. With the artist’s consent, Recontemporary reserves
the right to keep the artist’s portfolio in its database for new opportunities or potential future collaborations.

PROCEDURE AND PARTNER ENTITIES
The artist or collective/group selected based on the submitted projects will have the opportunity to have a solo exhibition curated by Recontemporary at its premises in Via Gaudenzio Ferrari 12/B, Turin, Italy. Recontemporary will cover the costs of installation, organisation of press previews, opening events, and cultural mediation throughout the exhibition’s duration. The exhibition will take place from June 19 to August 3, 2024, with a public opening and press preview on June 19. Recontemporary will promote the winner’s work and professional development through a one-year consultancy program aimed at the artist’s professional and creative growth. The winner will be supported in seeking open calls, applying to calls for submissions, and organising exhibitions on a local and international level, thanks to the network of collaborations established over time by Recontemporary.

After the exhibition, in support of the selected artist’s work, Recontemporary commits to acquire, in agreement with the artist, one of the video works selected and exhibited in the show, investing a total value of €1000 (one thousand euros) with the aim of integrating the work into the collection and the contemporary art market circuit. Furthermore, the artist will receive a participation fee for a total value of €200 (two hundred euros), in addition to board and lodging, which will be covered by Recontemporary. The contribution is aimed at supporting the artist’s stay during the opening and installation days. The established network of collaborations includes a series of special mentions of various kinds. Specifically, the following entities will be involved:

● Contemporary Cluster (Rome): Founded in November 2016, it is a space dedicated to experimentation in contemporary art through various approaches and modalities. The cultural offer focuses on interdisciplinary interests, exchange, and research. Inspired by avant-garde movements of the 19th and 20th centuries (such as Wiener Secession, De Stijl, Bauhaus, Futurism), the gallery promotes a new concept for its artistic and cultural production, paying attention to different aspects of visual cultures: fluidity, cross-mediality, cooperation, and co-working. The gallery commits to hosting a collective exhibition in January-February 2025 with the works of the prize finalists.

● Club Silencio (Turin): An organisation that supports projects of social utility, aimed at promoting culture and active participation among young people under 35 years of age. Distinctive features of Club Silencio’s experiences are the 2.0 communication strategy and the dialogue between cultural enjoyment and social sharing. Club Silencio will select some of the candidate artists to create audio/video installations during its event at a prestigious location in the city of Turin.

● Associazione Gheddo (Turin): A Turin-based collective of curators and artists born among former students of the Albertina Academy of Fine Arts in Turin, established with the aim of spreading art and culture and bringing young artists closer to the cultural institutions of the city of Turin and beyond. Together with Recontemporary, the partnership already established through collaboration for the organisation of a future exhibition-event will be strengthened. Associazione Gheddo will also contribute to the dissemination of the open call through its channels.

The winner will be contacted at the email address provided at the time of registration. The prize is not transferable to third parties and is considered disbursed on a strictly personal level.

WHO CAN PARTICIPATE

The Call is open to those whose practice focuses on moving image, video, and new media as individuals or collectives, with no limitations based on nationality, age, gender, or background, and who have not yet had the opportunity to exhibit their works in solo exhibitions within an art institution (i.e. foundations, museums, independent spaces, festivals, fairs, etc.).

Submission fee
Each participant/collective can submit a minimum of one artwork and a maximum of three artworks.
Participation in the prize has a cost of €25 per participant/collective to be paid via:
● PayPal (info@recontemporary.com)
● Bank transfer to Credem Bank

Name: Associazione Recontemporary
Reason for payment: Premio Recontemporary – Applicant’s Name_Surname
IBAN: IT07Z0303201001010000175704

The registration fee is non-refundable. In case of non-payment of the registration fee, the artist will not be admitted to the competition. Warning: it is very important to indicate the name of the registered artist if payment is made by credit card, bank account, PayPal of other account holders. In any case, please communicate the payment made to the address premio@recontemporary.com if made by another subject. Recontemporary is a non-profit association committed to the promotion and dissemination of video art and new media. Its activities, projects, and exhibitions are self-financed and arise from collaborations with other entities in the territory.

HOW TO APPLY

Submission of a Google Drive folder named “Surname Name Recontemporary Prize 2024” to premio@recontemporary.com containing:

Curriculum vitae in Italian or English [file name → Surname_Name_cv]
Motivational letter and/or Portfolio in Italian or English describing one’s artistic practice and the motivations for applying to the Open Call, max 500 characters each. [file name -> Surname_Name_letter]
Proof of payment made through the methods indicated in the Submission fee section [file name → Surname_Name_receipt]
Text document [file name -> Surname_Name_proposal] with: a) titles and links to a maximum of three videos produced; b) synopsis, in Italian or English, of the presented videos clearly and in detail describing the content of the proposed work (maximum 3000 characters including spaces) and whether it has already been presented in projects, exhibitions, or other activities; c) technologies and technical specifications necessary for the viewing of the video works.

Interested parties must submit their application by April 30, 2024, at 11:59 PM, by sending an email with a link to the drive folder to premio@recontemporary.com with the subject “Application Surname Name Premio Recontemporary 2024”.

The application for this competition entails the unconditional and total acceptance of the rules and clauses contained in this regulation without any limitation, including the possibility that the prize may not be awarded.

Selection phases and times

Call opening: March 13, 2024 Call closure: April 30, 2024 Announcement of the prize and sending personalised feedback to participants: May 22, 2024

Among the applications received, within the terms and methods established by the announcement, the jury will select the winning artist. The selection will be made taking into account the originality, coherence of the research, and quality of the project presented, based on criteria that evaluate the experimentation of language, the level of innovation, the conceptual value of the work, the practical transposition of the work, and the technique used. The decisions of the selection committee will be final.

Format and content of the works

Each participant may submit a minimum of one artwork and a maximum of three artworks falling within the scope of video art and/or new media, without constraints of technology, duration, and theme. Each proposed work must be original and must include credits to any collaborators. The preferred format for submitting works is mp4 or mov.

CONSENT

Each candidate expressly authorises the Recontemporary Cultural Association to process the personal data transmitted in accordance with Law 675/96 (Privacy Law) and subsequent amendments Legislative Decree 196/2003 (Privacy Code), also for the purpose of inclusion in databases managed by the aforementioned Association.

RIGHTS ON THE ARTWORK

Each selected artist grants to the Associazione Recontemporary and to those collaborating for the purposes of the prize the rights of reproduction, exhibition, publication, translation, and communication to the public, by any means and without exclusion, for their works in the competition, for photographic reproductions, and for the texts participating in the selection and in the activities of the organisation of the Premio Recontemporary. The ownership rights of the work remain with the artist, while images/stills of the selected work will be used for the communication campaign of the project and for any articles that will be published regarding it. One work by the selected artist, after the exhibition, will be acquired by the Recontemporary Association. For further questions, contact premio@recontemporary.com.

JURY

To support the prize selection process, a selection jury composed of prominent figures from the Italian artistic and collecting scene has been established. The prize jury will consist of:

Iole Pellion di Persano, Founding Director of Recontemporary, Art Advisor, and independent curator
Francesca Heathcote Sapey, Head Administrator of the Teresa Sapey video collection and designer and partner at Teresa Sapey+Partners
Seroj De Graaf, Art enthusiast and collector, Founding Director of by Seroj, strategic consultant, and Lead Manager for Accenture
Lediane Toledo, Board Member of Fonds Kwadraat, Senior Client Manager at Capital Group
Stefano Pisci, Manager and collector
Mila Pesce, Consultant and project Coordinator for LOOP Festival Barcelona
Micaela Flenda, Independent cultural curator, researcher, and educator based in Milan, specializing in feminisms and gender studies.
LOOP Barcelona, LOOP is a platform dedicated to the study and promotion of moving images. Founded in 2003, since its inception, it has offered a carefully curated selection of videos accompanied by content reflecting different perspectives of contemporary issues to a specialised audience. For the Premio Recontemporary 2024, LOOP participates as a member of the jury for the award.

PROMOTER ENTITY OF THE CALL: RECONTEMPORARY

Recontemporary is a video art club, a community, a cultural association, and the first independent space in Italy dedicated exclusively to video and new media language. Rec promotes exhibitions and multimedia artists and develops educational projects on contemporary art and digital technologies. Founded in 2018, Recontemporary explores the potentials of moving images in contemporary art. Through exhibitions, workshops, and educational projects, the association fosters collaboration and dialogue between institutions and artists on the international scene, in order to offer a complete and up-to-date vision of an art form in constant evolution. To date, Recontemporary has hosted 30 exhibitions, collaborated with 59 international artists, including Glenda León, AES+F, Elena Bellantoni, Dennis Del Favero, Broersen & Lukàcs, Camille Llobet, Lawrence Weiner, Rebecca Salvadori, Collettivo Democracia, and 11 international entities, including LOOP Fair, Italian Cultural Institute of Madrid, Seeyousound Film Festival, National Cinema Museum of Turin, Recall, Galeria Senda, Galleria Giorgio Persano, Teresa Sapey Collection, Casper Van der Kruck Collection. Born from an idea of Iole Pellion di Persano, the project is curated by an under 35, all-female team composed of Camilla Ferrero, Costanza Hardouin, Silvia Pennetta, and Alessandra Villa. Recontemporary is located in the historic center of Turin, right next to the Mole Antonelliana – home of the National Cinema Museum and symbol of the city. (For more information, visit the website www.recontemporary.com or contact premio@recontemporary.com)

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