Membrane Not necessarily biological. “What passes through you, and what doesn't?” This is the only question. Every work is an answer. We invite artists working in any medium to submit work that responds — directly, obliquely, or unexpectedly — to the question above. The work does not need to explain membrane. It does not need to illustrate it. It needs only to hold something true about what you let through and what you hold back, and to do so with intention and care. We are not looking for a particular aesthetic or form. We are looking for specificity — for artists who have identified something real, and found a way to bring it into the room.

Membrane

Not necessarily biological.

The Concept

A membrane is never a wall. It is thinner than that, and more honest.

Walls keep things out. Membranes let some things through and stop others — they breathe, filter, absorb, and leak. They are the boundary that admits it isn't sealed.

We carry membranes everywhere. Skin that lets touch in and keeps infection out. The thin line between what we say and what we mean. The pause before a feeling becomes visible on a face. The distance we keep from people we love, close enough to feel them, thin enough to still be hurt.

Shelter asked what protects us. Membrane asks something quieter: what do we actually let through, and what decides that?

Every boundary is selective. Every threshold has a logic, even an unconscious one. This exhibition asks artists to find their own membrane — the place where they are neither fully open nor fully closed — and to make its logic visible.

“What passes through you, and what doesn't?”

This is the only question. Every work is an answer.

The Invitation

We invite artists working in any medium to submit work that responds — directly, obliquely, or unexpectedly — to the question above.

The work does not need to explain membrane. It does not need to illustrate it. It needs only to hold something true about what you let through and what you hold back, and to do so with intention and care.

We are not looking for a particular aesthetic or form. We are looking for specificity — for artists who have identified something real, and found a way to bring it into the room.

What We're Looking For

Strong submissions will demonstrate a clear and personal relationship between the artist's intent and the work itself. You might approach the theme through:

•  The body — skin, breath, blood, the porous edges of the physical self
  
  
• A relationship — the selective closeness we allow certain people and no one else
  
  
• Language — what gets said, and what stays just behind the teeth
  
  
• Identity — the parts of yourself shown to the world, and the parts kept private
  
  
• Culture or migration — the porous, contested boundaries between belonging and otherness
  
  
• Digital life — the membrane between the self we perform online and the one underneath
  
  
• Grief or healing — what a body lets in and processes, and what it can't yet absorb
  
  
• Ecology — filtration, osmosis, exchange between organism and environment
  
  
• Or something else entirely — something you filter, admit, or resist that has no easy name

These are starting points, not requirements. The most interesting answers often come from somewhere we did not anticipate.

Submission Guidelines

Who Can Apply

• Open to artists at all career stages — emerging, mid-career, and established
• Local, national, and international applicants welcome
• Collaborative and collective submissions accepted — please name all contributors

No entry fee

What to Submit

• Up to 5 high-quality images (minimum 300dpi) or a video link (maximum 6 minutes)
• Title, medium, dimensions, and year for each work
• Artist statement — 150 to 300 words — explaining your relationship to the theme and how the work responds
•  Short biography — 200 words maximum
• Contact information and a link to your website or portfolio

On the Artist Statement

The statement matters. Not because we need it to justify the work, but because we want to understand the particular boundary you're responding to.

Be specific. Name the relationship, the material, the moment, if you can. Tell us what the membrane in your life lets through, and what it stops. Tell us what the work does in relation to it — whether the work opens the boundary, reinforces it, or simply sits inside its permeability.

Generality is the enemy of a good statement. “Membrane” is a concept. What you let through is a fact. Start there.

Selection & Curation

Submissions will be reviewed by the curatorial panel. Selection will be based on:

• The clarity and specificity of the artist's relationship to the theme
  
  
• The quality and intentionality of the work itself
  
  
• The potential of the work to contribute to a coherent and dynamic group exhibition
  
  
• Diversity of medium, perspective, and approach across the exhibition as a whole

All applicants will be notified of the outcome by 10th January 2027. Selected artists will receive full curatorial and installation support.

Key Dates

• All entries must be received by 23:59 GMT, 5th October  2026
  
  
• Selected and waitlisted artists informed by email by 10th October 2026
  
  
• Confirmed artists will need to deliver and install their work with support from the curatorial team on 4th November 2026
  
  
• Opening Night: 5th November 2026 — Private view, Music, drinks, artists, guests, and press
  
  
• Exhibition Open: 5th–10th November 2026
  
  
• Collection of your work on 10th November 2026
  
  
• Public access — artist talks and events programme TBC

The Exhibition

Membrane explores the selective, porous boundaries we hold — what we let through, what we filter out, and the quiet logic that decides it.

Artists are invited to reflect, through their work, on the thresholds within and around them: skin, language, intimacy, identity, and the space between openness and protection.

The exhibition provides a carefully organised environment where each artwork is displayed clearly, without overcrowding, ensuring a visually coherent and immersive experience.

Viewings are arranged by appointment to encourage intentional, focused engagement with the work.

Rather than fast-moving footfall, this approach supports meaningful encounters with collectors, curators, and art-interested visitors.

We had over 2000 visitors at our last exhibitions.

A public opening night will welcome guests into the space with drinks and music alongside, creating an atmospheric dialogue between body and artwork.

Artists are also invited to participate in a mix-and-meet gathering during the exhibition — an opportunity to connect with fellow exhibitors, curators, and invited audiences.

In addition, artist talks will be programmed, allowing selected artists to share insight into their practice, themes, and methods, encouraging dialogue between artists and attendees.

Advantages for Participating Artists

• Full curatorial and installation support from the team
  
  
• Professional photographs and videos of your work and the exhibition
  
  
• A certificate of participation acknowledging your contribution
  
  
•  A private view with drinks and a live art component, in a distinctive industrial gallery space
  
  
• The opportunity to engage directly with art enthusiasts, collectors, and gallerists
  
  
• Promotion locally through printed materials, and online through the curator's Instagram platform with 13K followers, alongside targeted promotional campaigns aimed at collectors and art-interested audiences
  
  
• A collaboration agreement issued alongside your participation certificate at the end of the exhibition

This opportunity is organised by curator Monica Mardare, an independent London curator committed to creating thoughtful, sensory exhibitions that foreground emotional depth, introspection, and the complex layering of human experience.

The intention is to offer artists a meaningful platform in Central London — one that values clarity of intention, experimentation, and the unfolding of the inner world within community.

Participation Fees & Conditions

If accepted, a participation fee will apply according to the following structure:

• Physical exhibition (wall space): £150 per 1 metre
  
  
• Digital work, sculpture, and video: £150 per piece
  
  
• Plinth — available on request, additional cost
  
  
• Larger works, multiple pieces, or oversized/installation-based work may be submitted upon discussion, with the participation fee adjusted accordingly.

Payment & Cancellation

After confirmation of acceptance, payment should be completed within 7 days; otherwise, the application will be cancelled. The participation fee is non-refundable.

Sales

All submitted artworks should be for sale. A 20% commission will be applied to sales, with 80% going to the artist.

Application deadline: 5th October 2026