CISTA ARTS invites artists to submit work for its April 2026 online group exhibition. The Work of Holding brings together works that reflect on care, endurance, and the quiet labour of sustaining. Moving beyond moments of change, the exhibition focuses on what must be carried, maintained, and held over time—through repetition, attention, and persistence. It invites practices that engage with fragility, continuity, and the often-unseen efforts that support both material and lived experience.

The Work of Holding
On Care, Continuance, and the Quiet Labour of Sustaining

CISTA ARTS invites artists to submit work for its upcoming online group exhibition, The Work of Holding, to be presented in May 2026.

In the aftermath of change, attention often shifts towards what begins anew. Yet less visible are the ongoing efforts required to sustain what remains. This exhibition focuses on acts of holding—holding space, memory, form, and relation—through gestures of care, repetition, and persistence.

We welcome submissions that engage with:

• care, maintenance, and support
• endurance, repetition, and duration
• fragility and resilience
• emotional, physical, or material labour
• preservation, repair, and continuity
• the unseen or overlooked structures that sustain life and practice

Artists working across all mediums are encouraged to apply, including (but not limited to): painting, drawing, photography, collage, mixed media, sculpture, installation, video, and digital practices.

Exhibition Theme:

In the aftermath of change, attention often turns to what begins anew. Yet far less visible is the ongoing effort required to sustain what remains.

The Work of Holding shifts focus towards this quieter domain—towards acts of care, maintenance, and endurance that unfold beyond moments of rupture or renewal.

This exhibition brings together works that attend to the labour of holding: holding space, holding memory, holding structures—both material and intangible—against forces of erosion, fatigue, and dispersal.

These gestures are not always visible, nor are they easily resolved. They emerge through repetition, through persistence, through a commitment to continuity that resists spectacle.

Rather than privileging transformation or arrival, the exhibition dwells in duration.

It considers what it means to carry, to support, to preserve—whether through the body, through material processes, or through collective forms of attention.

In doing so, it opens a space for practices that engage with fragility not as weakness, but as a condition that calls for care.

Positioned in the temporal rhythm of May—a moment associated with labour, growth, and collective presence—The Work of Holding reflects on the often-unseen infrastructures that sustain life and practice.

It invites a reconsideration of effort: not as productivity alone, but as an ongoing, attentive relation to what must be kept, upheld, and carried forward.

Dates:

Submission Deadline: 18 April 2026
Exhibition Dates: 1- 30 May 2026

Submission Guidelines:

We are keen to learn about you! Please submit the following:

• Contact information (full name, email, mobile)

• Details of the artworks (title, size, medium, year, price)

• Artist statement (max 100 words on how your work relates to the theme)

• Short biography (max 100 words, third-person)

• Up to 4 sample images of your work

Please note: Only two artworks per artist will be selected for exhibition.

Selected Participants Will Receive:

• Exhibition of your work on the CISTA ARTS online platform (1-30 May 2026)

• Inclusion in a professionally produced paperback catalogue (UK-based) + complimentary PDF copy

• No commission taken on sales

• Daily social media features in our Meet the Artist series

• Exhibition placement on our homepage + archived access after close

• Direct links to your website or social media in all features

• Certificate of participation

Participation Fee: 

£30 for one accepted artwork | £50 for two accepted artworks

Applying to this exhibition opportunity is free.

Participation Fee Benefits:

Selected artists will have their work exhibited online for the full month on our homepage, included in a professionally produced printed and digital exhibition catalogue, featured in daily social media promotion under our ‘Meet the Artist’ series, and receive a certificate of participation. 

CISTA ARTS takes no commission on sales.

Digital Exposure and Reach:

• We currently have over 12.5K followers on Instagram, in addition to a Facebook audience and a mailing list of over 2K subscribers.
• Our online exhibitions attract between 1,200–1,800 unique visitors, and our website receives more than 4,000 visits per month.

• Each participating artist will be permanently featured on our Past Exhibitions page, with direct links to their own website or social media for continued exposure.

Exhibition Access:

The exhibition is fully accessible to the public via our official website, with no login or fee required.

Exhibition History:

Since our founding in 2018, CISTA ARTS has organised over 50 solo and group exhibitions, both online and in hybrid formats.

Our platform is designed to support emerging and mid-career artists across borders, particularly those facing visa and mobility restrictions.

Artist Feedback:

We have received consistently positive reviews from artists who have worked with us, with many praising our professionalism, communication, and the quality of our exhibitions.

These testimonials can be viewed on our Google Reviews page.

About Us:

Based in London, CISTA ARTS is an independent, artist-led curatorial platform dedicated to inclusive programming, cross-cultural dialogue, and supporting underrepresented voices in contemporary visual art.

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