[oberlist] CA* call/dsgn: A Total Spectacle - power, sex, consumption, and fear

[ober at emdash.org]

---------------------------- Original Message ----------------------------
Subject: Artinfo Digest, Vol 49, Issue 21
From:    artinfo-request at lists.c3.hu
Date:    Thu, January 31, 2013 1:00 pm
To:      artinfo at lists.c3.hu
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Message: 1
Date: Wed, 30 Jan 2013 19:17:13 +0100
From: "art.news" <art.news at shintai-z.com> (by way of Janos Sugar)
Subject: [artinfo] Call for artists/designers to produce four banners to
"A Total Spectacle"


++Summary++

Seeking artists/designers to create four banners
that will be digitally printed in Winnipeg
(Canada) for presentation as part of an
exhibition titled "A Total Spectacle" opening May
17, 2013.


++Background++

"La dottrina del fascismo" ("The Doctrine of
Fascism"), written by Giovanni Gentile in 1932
and attributed to Benito Mussolini in 1933,
describes fascism as the harmonization of
business and labour in the interest of the State.
Appreciating Mussolini's commitment to reduced
taxation and union busting, wealthy business
owners granted him their support before realizing
he aimed to personally control Italy's various
industries by means of a dictatorship. As the
self-declared undisputed head of state, Mussolini
detested bourgeois luxury and ultimately
dismissed the authority of business owners as
subordinate to his own. Business owners in
Germany experienced similar difficulty
controlling Adolph Hitler, the dictator they
funded as a way to control striking workers by
proxy.

Through the course of events associated with
World War II, Mussolini's Fascism and Hitler's
Nazism were dismantled. Around this time, wealthy
business owners and other members of the global
elite figured something out: why buy social
control via individual, charismatic leaders when
you can buy the whole system instead?
Representing what became known as the Austrian
school of Economics, Friedrich Hayek and Ludwig
von Mises co-organized a meeting in 1947 at H?tel
du Parc, near Vevey, Switzerland, that
established a European economic federation called
The Mont Pelerin Society. Designed to promote
aggressive liberal/anti-socialist ideology
through a decentralized network, the Society
facilitated the development and funding of think
tanks, policy makers, and lobby groups, as well
as the grooming of politicians and backing of
favourable candidates. Simultaneously, through
concentrated ownership of the media producing an
increasingly narrow spectrum of discourse,
corporatist ideologues have compelled large
segments of society into willingly surrender many
of the human and environmental rights gained
since the end of World War II. Seduce 'em with
consumer goods. Distract 'em with vapid
entertainment. Control 'em with fear. That is how
to harmonize the workers and the state in the
interests of business.


++Exhibition concept++

"A Total Spectacle" will be an exhibition of
interdisciplinary work by contemporary artists
presented with photos, videos, and other items
culled from mass culture in a format that takes
cues from blockbuster exhibitions throughout
history from Mussolini's 1932 "Mostra della
rivoluzione fascista" ("Exhibition of the Fascist
Revolution") to contemporary for-profit
infotainment exhibitions-in-a-box type
productions. Playing humourously on notions of
authority, this "homemade" spectacle about
spectacle will address everyday neoliberal
practices intended to cultivate social control
through seduction, diversion, and fear.

Since no exhibition about totalitarianism and
spectacle would be complete without banners, this
project seeks an artist/designer to create a
series of four banners that will hang from the
ceiling of the exhibition space to frame four
sub-topics: power, sex, consumption, and fear.


++Submission requirements and deadline++

Please submit low resolution concept drawings
(.eps, .jpg., .pdf, or .tif) for four banners in
a mock corporate style to represent each of the
following four "values": power, sex, consumption,
and fear.

A design concept that references the way
corporate values are presented in promotional
material such as shareholder reports and/or print
advertising is ideal. Any range of colours may be
used, but less ink means better affordability;
please create an image that makes ample use of
white space, especially if you would like your
completed banners mailed to you at the end of the
exhibition.

Submissions should be accompanied by:
-- a brief artist statement
-- a few examples of past work (i.e. links to projects)

Please send submissions to contact at shintai-z.com
by Saturday, February 23, 2013. Late submissions
will not be considered. The selected
artist/designer will be notified within one week,
and all others will be notified shortly
thereafter.


++Specifications for selected work++

Four banners will be digitally printed at Martha
Street Studios (Manitoba Printmakers Association)
for presentation as part of the exhibition
mentioned above. The banners will hang from the
ceiling. The file specifications are as follows:

-- One banner per file to represent each of the
following "values": power, sex, consumption, fear
-- Any range of colours may be used, but less ink
means better affordability; please create an
image that makes ample use of white space,
especially if you would like your completed
banners mailed to you at the end of the exhibition
-- Finished dimensions of each banner must be:
36" (91 cm) wide x 72" (182 cm) long
-- 360 dpi preferred; 300 dpi acceptable
-- .tif or .eps preferred; .jpg acceptable
-- print-ready files must be provided by Monday, April 22, 2013


++Compensation++

The selected artist/designer will receive an
exhibition fee exceeding the minimum
recommendations set forth by CARFAC Canadian
Artists' Representation / Le Front des artistes
canadiens for 2013 in the category applying to
group shows featuring 6 -10 artists (Category I).
The artist fee will be payable in Canadian
dollars via electronic means for automatic
currency conversion where applicable. The banners
will be printed at Martha Street Studios
(Manitoba Printmakers Association) in Winnipeg.
Every effort will be made to ship the finished
work to the artist following the exhibition,
budget permitting.


Thank you so much! I look forward to your submissions!

With all best regards,
Milena Placentile, Curator


End of Artinfo Digest, Vol 49, Issue 21
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