THE WEIGHT OF AIR – open call

Artists and collectives working in or near Rīga, Wrocław, Ancona, Faro or Amsterdam are invited to apply to create a work for The weight of air.

Air is so ubiquitous it’s easily taken for granted. It’s volatile, no one seems to own it and yet it’s our collective responsibility. Questions about safety, composition, quality, access, pollution and impact are notoriously difficult to address. We are looking for artists up for a challenge to create a work reflecting on the most pressing local issues surrounding air where you are. 

In The weight of air, five artists or collectives (one in each participating city) will be selected to simultaneously create their own works locally. In the artworks, we invite you to address notions of ‘weight’ and ‘volume’ of air, and the notion ‘impact’ of behaviours and industry on air. 

The five commissioning partners are collaborating within the framework of The Big Green, a Creative Europe-project. The five works that will eventually make up The weight of air are unique and yet related. The weight of air is open to any art discipline, but the choice of particular works in a given venue depends on the local commissioning organisation.

If selected, artists participating in The weight of air commit to a collaborative process taking place between October 2023 and July 2024. In this (part-time) period you’ll create a work with an environmental angle through an eco-sensitive process. Most of your collaboration will be with your local commissioning organisation (either Latvijas Jaunā Teātra Institūts, Art Transparent, Marche Teatro, Sciaena or Collectief Walden), but there will be some online and offline moments together with all five artists and commissioners throughout the season. Collectively, all artists and commissioners will decide on a common thread at the start of the project, to ensure the ‘family resemblance’ of the five different works. This can be through the use of common materials, similar processes or through another way. 

This project includes an artist fee and production budget, which will be individually agreed upon with the selected artists. This call closes on July 31 2023. Applications after this date will not be taken into consideration.

Persons interested in participating in the Call shall send their applications including: the Application Form (with personal data and answers to questions), artistic portfolio and CV .

We are pleased to announce that Karolina Szymanowska has been selected for the artistic realization within the open call “Ciężar powietrza / The Weight of Air.” Congratulations!

Karolina Szymanowska was born in Wrocław and studied Sculpture at the Eugeniusz Geppert Academy of Art and Design. She is currently affiliated with the academy as a faculty member. From 2014 to 2018, she served as a member of the Academy of Young Scholars and Artists. In 2021, she earned a PhD for her research on the topic “Automata: Reflections on Discipline, Loops, Repetitions, and Fatigue.” She has participated in numerous exhibitions both domestically and internationally.

She writes about herself: “Although sculpture is the foundation of my work, I use various media. I am interested in art rooted in everyday life. I observe people and their surroundings and try to integrate my works into this context. In my artistic strategy, I often use concepts that illustrate collective and individual psychological processes. Loop, reflection, displacement are just some of the phenomena that underpin my actions. I am fascinated by organic adaptive processes – transformations and distortions caused by abstract forces. In my latest works, I focus on people engaged in technological progress and the costs of this highly complex interdependence.”

The Big Green is a 4 year long project that brings environmentally-engaged artists under one large-scale umbrella initiative and experiment with innovative ways of using art to promote sustainability. Together with 14 other partner organisations, we aim to highlight the potential of the environment and the creative and cultural sectors to work together.