GroundWork Gallery, a small, independent gallery in King's Lynn, Norfolk, is inviting visual artists to submit work for a Spring 2027 exhibition exploring the theme of heat.

GroundWork Gallery invites visual artists to submit work for a Spring 2027 exhibition exploring the theme of heat.

Heat is a physical force, a climate signal, and an industrial necessity. It brings to mind urgency, pressure and transformation.

In 2026, the reality of impacts of increased heat as a result of climate change have become unignorable around the world.

For example, the Met Office reported that England experienced its hottest June on record, including a provisional June high of 37.7°C at Lingwood, Norfolk and a significant marine heatwave, with surface water temperatures around 2°C above average and locally 4-5°C warmer than normal.

Heat is also embedded in the systems that shape our lives and environments: it is essential to industries such as steel, ceramics, cement, glass, chemicals, food and drink, paper, petroleum refining and manufacturing, where it is used to melt, fire, forge, dry, distil, pasteurise, cure, process and transform materials.

The 2027 GroundWork Gallery exhibition will display work that makes heat visible, tangible and resonant.

Artists can help us understand heat not simply as a temperature, but as a condition that connects climate, energy, labour, vulnerability, resilience and change.

We welcome proposals from artists working across media including painting, sculpture, photography, print, film, installation, ceramics, live art, movement, dance, and textiles.

Existing works and new proposals will both be considered.

Possible themes and questions include:

• Climate and adaptation: How do heatwaves, drought, fire and warming seas reshape environments, nature, and communities? What new forms of shelter, resilience, cooling, or repair might heat demand?
• Inequality and exposure: Who and where is most affected by rising temperatures, and who is protected?
• More-than-human: How do plant and animal life experience heat?
• Energy and industry: Where and how is heat used and generated at scale in our lives? In which ways do we harness or depend on heat?
• Materials, transformation, and metaphor: How does heat melt, forge, burn, harden, preserve or destroy? What does heat signify, and how do colours, textures, and sounds invoke heat?
• Bodies and minds: How does heat impact us physically and mentally?

Exhibition dates: The exhibition will run from 12 March to 5 June 2027 at GroundWork Gallery, King’s Lynn. GroundWork is open between 11 am – 4 pm Wednesday to Saturday.

Deadline for the open call: Sunday 29 November 2026. Selected artists will be notified by Friday 18 December 2026.

Eligibility and criteria: The open call is open to all but note that the gallery may not be able to cover costs for works that would need to be transported from outside the UK.

We prioritise artists who best respond to the theme of heat.

We will select up to 12 artists for the exhibition.

The maximum size of work that the gallery can accommodate is 2 meters.

How to submit:

The form will ask you for: 

• Full name and contact information.
• 250-word statement on how your work relates to the exhibition theme.
• Short biography (max. 100 words).
• Details of work that you would like to submit, including: size, medium, year, price, at least one image of each submitted work (include example images if you intend to submit new work

There is a £10 submission fee; you may submit up to five artworks. After submitting your artwork, you will then be directed to make a payment. 

Costs:

GroundWork Gallery will cover costs incurred in creating and installing the exhibition. GroundWork Gallery does not cover the costs of
artists’ personal travel costs or making work.

About GroundWork

GroundWork Gallery is a small, independent gallery dedicated to art and environment. It shows the work of contemporary artists who care about how we see the world.

Exhibitions and creative programmes explore how art can enable us to respond to the changing environment and imagine how we can shape its future.

We have 8.2k followers on Instagram @Groundworkgallery.

Each exhibition aims to develop a new strand of interest in the environment and to stimulate related activity and events.

This is timely in an era when we need to be increasingly wary of all kinds of threats from pollution, species loss, deforestation and climate change, and now global pandemics.

During a normal season, we organise events, talks, films, music, practical workshops, and community projects for each exhibition.

The idea is to encourage creativity and active discussion widely around the subject in question.

We specialise in bringing a diverse approach to our programming.

Each theme brings out different points of view, across art, science and a within a wider culture.

By these means we can influence new understanding of the environmental problems we face.

Image credit: Jessica Rayner, Conversion 2019, HD Video

Artwork can be for sale. Standard commission is 40%.