Future Focus Open Call

FORMAT in partnership with Derby’s art centre QUAD is delighted to announce this year’s Future Focus Open Call.

This is a wonderful opportunity for national and international BA Degree students who have graduated from a UK University in 2020 and 2021 – during the Covid-19 pandemic – and were unable to exhibit their final work, or were limited in opportunities to show their work.

Five artists will be selected to exhibit their work in Derby’s QUAD gallery by the FORMAT and QUAD curatorial team and a jury of industry experts – L-R Saziso Phiri, Lucy Sollitt, The White Pube, Maitreyi Maheshwari, Abbas Zahedi and Jamila Prowse.

The Future Focus Open Call is aimed at art graduates, from all artistic disciplines –  photography, fine art, contemporary art, illustration, graphic design, animation, performance, installation, sculpture, film, and moving image.

Submissions to the Future Focus Open Call are free. A group of 25 artists will be selected and featured in a slideshow on QUAD’s large interactive screen and the final group of exhibiting artists will be chosen from this shortlist for an exhibition in the QUAD galleries that will take place from 29 January – 27 February 2022.

This is an opportunity for recent graduates to exhibit work, or perhaps realise an unmade project, to produce collaborative projects with other artists and collectives and to submit work for consideration by a selection panel made up of experienced curators and artists. All the artists selected for the exhibition will receive bursaries, with their exhibition costs covered – in addition to mentoring support in the development, exhibiting and marketing of the winning projects.

Deadline: October 2, 11:59pm (BST)

Apply Now

FORMAT Shop

Created by artist Sipho Gongxeka as part of the exhibition FORMAT21 Presents: Here, There & Everywhere. This limited edition Zine and Tote bag is available via the FORMAT shop for just £24. House of Realness challenges long-held notions of how black queer individuals are expected to publicly perform their identities, with a set of nostalgic images using an aesthetic that mimics a style of photography reminiscent street photography from the 1980s.

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With texts by festival director Louise Fedotov-Clements, guest curators Marina Paulenka, W.M. Hunt, Paul Lowe and Jennifer Good, plus extracts from Brian Griffin‘s book, this year’s festival catalogue is packed with great images and articles accompanying each of the exhibitions in FORMAT21: Control.

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