Archives in Absence
Deadline: 30/07/2025Jessica McClenan
Archives in Absence is a digital exhibition exploring abstract responses to archival loss, silence, and erasure. We are inviting artists working in abstraction to submit work that engages with gaps in memory, history, and the archive.
Open Call: Archives in Absence
A digital exhibition exploring abstraction, loss, and the silence of the archive
Deadline: 30 July 2025
Exhibition Launch: early September 2025
Prompt:
We invite submissions from artists working with abstraction to respond to the theme of archival absence, the gaps, omissions, and erasures found in memory, history, and institutional record-keeping.
This exhibition asks what does it mean to remember without a record? How can abstract art respond to what’s missing, withheld, or lost?
We're looking for work that doesn’t depict specific archival materials, but evokes the space of loss, silence, distortion, or memory, whether personal, political, or imagined.
Accepted works might explore:
- Fragmentation, erasure, distortion
- Emotional or speculative preservation
- Personal memory vs. institutional forgetting
- Redaction, censorship, damaged archives
- Visualising what’s unsayable or undocumented
All mediums are welcome, including painting, textile, sound, digital collage, photography, video stills, or installation documentation but work should be suitable for online display.
Submission Guidelines
Up to 3 artworks (JPEG/PNG, max 4MB each; for sound/video: provide a link via YouTube/Vimeo/Drive)
Short statement (max 250 words) explaining how your work relates to the theme
Artist bio (max 100 words)
Image credits (Title, Year, Medium, Dimensions)
Optional: a brief reflection on your relationship to archives or memory
If your work is time-based or sound-based, please include runtime and file format.
Work will be selected based on:
- Relevance to the theme: How well does the work explore absence, archives, or loss?
- Artistic quality: Strong visual composition, technique, and conceptual clarity
- Diversity of interpretation: We aim to include a range of media, voices, and approaches
- Fit for online exhibition: Work must translate well digitally and be provided in suitable formats
There is no requirement to produce new work; existing pieces are welcome as long as they align with the theme.
Selected works will be featured in:
- A designed online exhibition site
- A downloadable PDF catalogue
- Instagram and other social media channels
- Optional artist spotlight posts and interviews
This is a great opportunity for visibility and portfolio development.
Artists will be notified by mid-August. Selected works will be featured in the digital exhibition and downloadable catalogue. We may also promote artists on social media in the lead-up to the launch.
By submitting, you agree to your work being shown online with full credit, and to be contacted by the curator with exhibition updates.
- A designed online exhibition site
- A downloadable PDF catalogue
- Instagram and other social media channels
- Optional artist spotlight posts and interviews
This is a great opportunity for visibility and portfolio development.
This may include:
- Mixed media, photography, digital collage, drawing, painting
- Techniques involving layering, redaction, distortion, or fragmentation
We welcome works that engage emotionally, conceptually, or politically with the idea of absence.
- Relevance to the theme: How well does the work explore absence, archives, or loss?
- Artistic quality: Strong visual composition, technique, and conceptual clarity
- Diversity of interpretation: We aim to include a range of media, voices, and approaches
- Fit for online exhibition: Work must translate well digitally and be provided in suitable formats
There is no requirement to produce new work; existing pieces are welcome as long as they align with the theme.
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