CONTESTED DESIRES 

A transnational project using contemporary visual arts as a tool to explore our shared and contested Colonial heritage and its influence on contemporary culture. CONTESTED DESIRES seeks six exceptional artist film and video works by women and transgender artists and filmmakers internationally. Work must be existing, not in development, and have a clear, critical dialogue to the conceptual framework of CONTESTED DESIRES.

CALL FOR ARTIST FILM AND VIDEO

Project Duration:    February 2020 - August 2021

Project Fee:        € 500

Artist Geographies:    Global

From the Greeks, to the Romans, the Ottomans to the Venetians, from the seafaring nations of Northern and Western Europe embarking on crusades and trade missions,  Europeans have exploited, imposed and foraged cultures and communities to build their Empires. 

This legacy presents a complex shared cultural heritage, too often untold, unknown and contested.  A legacy of individuals, communities and nation states constructing their identities through a mosaic of cultural choices and desires.

CONTESTED DESIRES is a transnational capacity building programme for artists and producers engaging with communities and heritage spaces. With a focus on exchange and learning, the programme will offer unique opportunities for artists and communities to explore our shared heritage through research, workshops, residencies and exhibitions. Working in the UK,  Portugal, Cyprus, Spain, and Barbados CONTESTED DESIRES will dig deep to explore, and reveal the links between our colonising ancestors and our cultural identities today.    

At a time of increasing right wing populism, CONTESTED DESIRES aims to challenge the de-stabilising and divisive impact of political landscapes of Europe and beyond, where the response to the complexities, diversity and expansion of our communities, continues to be met with the power play of fear-mongering, discrimination and exclusion; where our borders become our protectors and our heritage our place of sanctuary. 

Through a new and dynamic partnership, CONTESTED DESIRES connects six innovative arts and cultural organisations across the global north and south. Led by D6: Culture in Transit (UK) they include La Bonne (Spain), LAC (Portugal), Xarkis (Cyprus) and Fresh Milk (Barbados). ECCOM (Italy), cultural experts in the field of interdisciplinary practice, will develop a unique capacity building and evaluation strand to the project, in association with the writer and researcher, François Matarasso.

CONTESTED DESIRES is supported by the Creative Europe programme of the European Union, and as a legacy of the European Year of Cultural Heritage in 2018, uses the positive forces of co-operation and co-production to address the ‘authenticity’ and values of the heritage we share.

FILM AND VIDEO CALL

CONTESTED DESIRES seeks six exceptional artist film and video works by women and transgender artists or filmmakers internationally. Work must be existing, not in development, and have a clear/critical dialogue to the conceptual framework of CONTESTED DESIRES.

CRITERIA

• Film and video work must be produced by women and transgender artists from around the world, over 18 years old.

• Up to two film and video works can be submitted per application.
• Film and video work must be completed after January 2018 onwards to be eligible.
• Film and video work across any genre (fiction, documentary, animation or experimental art) will be considered.
• The maximum duration of the film and video work must not exceed 15 minutes including credit titles.
• Film and video work can be produced in any format, but the presentation must be in a high-quality digital format.
• Film and video work can be in any language but must include English subtitles.

The CONTESTED DESIRES artist film and video programme will be screened in various heritage/ gallery settings, concluding with a site-specific screening at the Xarkis Festival in August 2021 (please see TIMELINE below).

ARTIST FEE

The total fee for the work described in the brief is €500 covering all exhibition screenings and online presentation of the film and video works. Payment will be made according to an agreed schedule and on receipt of invoices.

There is no fee to submit work.

The selected artists will each be provided a contract and will be managed by La Bonne. All copyrights for the work produced will remain with the artist.

TIMELINE

HOW TO APPLY

• Please upload your video to a Youtube/Vimeo account, a website or other video sharing platform before completing your registration. The link and, if necessary, the password must be attached in the registration form.

• Complete the registration form: link to Google form. This form includes: 
• Artist name;
• Date of birth;
• Contact information;
• Country of residence;
• Artist biography (no more than 200 words);
• Title, date, duration, synopsis (no more than 50 words) and URL’s for the work submitted.
• The person completing the registration form will be the person responsible for ensuring that the work fulfils the requirements of the open call.

COPYRIGHT:

All the works submitted must include original material. Each applicant recognises that all the information, images, text, pictures, sound, video, etc., included in the work are the responsibility of the author of the work.

Application opens:                MONDAY 16th DECEMBER 2019

Application closes:                 MONDAY 31st JANUARY 2020, 6PM CET

Selected applicants will be notified by:    FRIDAY 21st FEBRUARY 2020 

All selection decisions are final.

All selected entries must take into account the following technical specifications:

• File extensions: *.mov or *.mp4.
• Video Codec: Apple ProRes 422 or H.264 / MPEG-4 AVC.
• Audio Codec: AAC or PCM.
• Recommended format: HD Video 1920x1080 (1080 p) or 1280x720 (720 p).
• The authors of the selected works agree to maintain the link to their works.

EQUALITY AND DIVERSITY

This is a call for women artists and transgender artists, who are currently underrepresented in the visual arts. CONTESTED DESIRES otherwise seeks to ensure that no present or potential member of staff, artist or participant is treated less favourably than another on grounds of race, colour, nationality, ethnic origin, marital or civil partnership status, disability, sexual orientation, religious or political beliefs, age, social class or offending background. If you have any access needs you would like to discuss relating to submitting your proposal, please contact us. 

FURTHER INFORMATION

Please contact Miriam Sánchez, Audio Visual Project Manager, La Bonne: contesteddesires.shortfilms@gmail.com