Artists (primarily working in 2D) and writers with a strong connection to Leeds, Bristol, Norwich or Thanet.

We received many excellent applications in the last round, however an imbalance between applications from writers and artists in some locations. We are reopening applications in hope of correcting this disparity, however the timeline will not change so please submit your applications as soon as possible.

If ACE funding is successful, a participation fee paid to contributors. If ACE funding is not successful we will contact you to see if you are still interested in taking part.

Writers: Short stories and flash fiction preferred, poetry is also acceptable. We will not read more than 500 words of a text (unless it's really good)

Artists: 2D work, or 3D work that may be hung on walls. In the past we have focussed on painting but we are open to other relevant ideas.
Your submitted images do not have to be of interiors / exteriors, but it will help us imagine what your response will be.
It's useful to browse the website to see what we have commissioned in the past.
Digital work may be considered.

The exhibition is online and IRL. When COVID restrictions allow, we will look to see if a local estate agency will host the show as in our previous iteration.

Yes we hope so. You can apply now, but the best way to hear about new calls is to join our mailing list.
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We welcome submissions using alternative media from people who find filling traditional application forms difficult. Please email homes@unreal-estates.org for the list of questions as a PDF.

The show is inspired in part by the concept of ‘Airspace’ – the idea that interiors are becoming more and more homogenised due to our fascination with ‘apartment-porn’ on sites like Airbnb, Instagram and Pinterest. Together, the gathered works are a subtle comment on the state of the property market and the trend of property as investment, rather than a place where lives are lived: reasserting the subtleties, emotions and intrigues found in domestic settings. Unreal Estates reaffirms the basic human need of a house as shelter; a space of personal rather than of monetary value.

In the poetics of Gaston Bachelard, the house represents a primary universe - an archive of meanings produced through the inhabitation of mundane spaces. Indeed, in cities worldwide, regular housing stock can be decades or even centuries old. Beyond the aesthetic choices of its current residents, ghostly mythologies are unwittingly embedded in the fabric of a building - ceiling roses, hearths, mouldings, staircases - hinting at a layered richness beyond today’s inhabitation.

However, over the past half-century, successive governments have instituted policy that has moved the concept of housing from being a sanctuary or resource, towards a purely financial asset: a technocratic and neo-liberal attitude that – amongst other outcomes – reinforces Nimbyism, erodes social housing, and contributes to rising homelessness.

Unreal Estates proposes varied and multi-layered ways of challenging an asset-led understanding of the urban landscape: the house as a place of sanctuary but also confinement; the idea of home – representing domestic bliss but also ennui; and interior aesthetics – fantasies of self-expression, simultaneously articulating the boundaries of class/national identity. The project reasserts the basic human need of a house as shelter; a space of personal rather than of monetary value; a place of mysteries hidden behind closed doors.

A loose outline which may change according to circumstances:
February 2021: Visual artists & writers are introduced and begin their conversations.
July 2021: Presentations of work online
From October 2021, possibly later: physical exhibitions, to coincide with local event calendar.