Express Newark Open Call

Description

Open Call:

Perceptual Engineering, Window Gallery at Express Newark

Exhibition Dates: February 2 – June 30, 2023 

Submission End Date: December 4, 2022

Drop Off Work: December 12 – 15, 2022

Works to be collected: 7/11/23, 7/12/23, 7/12/23

Express Newark invites Newark and regionally based artists to submit work for the upcoming exhibition Perceptual Engineering, at the Window Gallery, Paul Robeson Galleries, Rutgers – Newark.

This exhibition is in conjunction with Express Newark’s Artist in Residence, Willie Cole, and the Problems in Contemporary Art course co-taught with artist and American Studies PhD student, Colleen Gutwein O’Neal.

Artists are welcome to submit work following the prompt entitled Perceptual Engineering below. Students from the Problems in Contemporary Art course have been given the same prompt and will be included in the forthcoming exhibition.

The exhibition is organized by Colleen Gutwein O’Neal. Artworks will be selected by a jury including: Colleen Gutwein O’Neal; Keary Rosen, Artist and Founding Director, Form Design Studio; Willie Cole, Artist; Alliyah Allen, Senior Programming Director, Express Newark; and Problems in Contemporary Art students.

The opening reception for Perceptual Engineering will coincide with the unveiling of an art installation, PET (polyethylene terephthalate) Projects, by Willie Cole, in Express Newark’s main lobby and the Hahne’s building atrium on February 2, 2023.

The Window Gallery, Express Newark – Hahne’s Building, exhibits small-scale exhibitions of two-dimensional and/or low-relief works on the third floor of the Hahne’s Building.  The Window Gallery occupies the hallway spaces leading to the Express Newark Paul Robeson Galleries and SHINE Portrait Studio.

Submission Guidelines

Size Limit: 40” x 18” x 18” (Height x Width x Depth)

Weight Limit: 20 lbs 

Work must be freestanding or able to be hung on the wall (no suspension from ceiling). 

Work must be ready for presentation upon delivery.

Artists featured in the exhibition will receive stipend (amount will be announced at a later date).

How to Submit

Submissions will only be accepted through the official submission form:

https://forms.gle/owAaRyDD9yGp8ZP48

* maximum of 5 images for each submission, no larger than 1mb each.

Delivery of Work

Delivery dates need to coincide with Paul Robeson Galleries Staff availability.  Deliveries must be by prior email appointment with Bryant Lebron blebron@newark.rutgers.edu  Deliveries can be scheduled between 10am and 4pm, Monday 12/5/22 – Thursday 12/8/22.  Loan Contracts will be issued and signed when work is delivered. Works are to be delivered to Paul Robeson Galleries Offices, Room 305 (Third Floor) of Express Newark, in the Hahnes Building, 54 Halsey Street, Newark.

Collection of Work

Work can be collected from the Paul Robeson Galleries at Express Newark 10am and 4pm on the following dates 7/11/23, 7/12/23, 7/12/23.  A specific collection time must be made by prior email appointment with Bryant Lebron blebron@newark.rutgers.edu.  If you are unable to collect, you may nominate another person to do so on your behalf.

Contact for any questions:

Colleen Gutwein O’Neal  cg725@newark.rutgers.edu

Include “Perceptual Engineering” in subject line.

PROMPT:

PERCEPTUAL ENGINEERING PROMPT

It is the certainty of “knowing” that limits one’s ability to see familiar things in new ways, and the imagination that allows one to perceive things differently.  Visual transformation occurs only when one can discard what one “thinks” he or she knows.  Upon doing so one can then view the world as if it is being seen for the first time.  It is ironic however that the roots of any new perception are often based in subconscious memories or recollections of things previously seen.  One might even say that it is almost impossible to see something that you have never seen before. 

Each object or object part in this project should be approached as if it is being seen for the first time. Ask yourself “what is it?” then open your imagination and allow an answer to flow out.

MATERIALS:  Sketch book, found object, hand tools

PHASE 1: DISCOVERY

• Choose an object and disassemble it into as many pieces as possible.
• Save all the parts.

The parts revealed via dismantling their chosen object are the ancient bones, or relics, or even an unearthed civilization, that they must ultimately notate, and reconstruct.  At this stage however the outcome should be mysterious and unknown.

GOAL: to totally disassemble the object into as many parts as possible.

PHASE 2: DOCUMENTATION

• Notate each part of the disassembled object into a sketchbook with emphasis on the shape or silhouettes of the part drawn from different vantage points and angles.
• Minimize details in the drawing unless they offer a strong visual suggestion that might allow the student to see the part as something other than what it is.

GOAL:  to be able to see the object or part(s) as something other than what they are. For example, a flat toothpick might look like a small oar.  A gear might look like a graphic representation of the sun. An electrical outlet might look like a happy face mask.

PHASE 3: TRANSFORMATION or “phoenix stage”

• Using only the parts “discovered” in the previous phases, create a new object via reassembly.

GOAL: The goal is not to put the old object back together in its original form but instead the goal is to transform the old object into something new using all the same parts.  These resulting objects can be representational or abstract and does not have to relate directly to the drawings created in Phase 2.

*Reassembling might require additional ways of connecting.  Preferably any screws removed can be reused.  But in some cases, depending on the object, wire, new screws, sewing, threading, or even hot glue might be needed.

How to Submit

Submissions will only be accepted through the official submission form:

https://forms.gle/owAaRyDD9yGp8ZP48

* maximum of 5 images for each submission, no larger than 1mb each.