Gallery Siva invites artists, curators and artist collectives to apply to its open call for 2020.
The application deadline is September 25th 2019.
You can apply by filling out the form at the following link: forms.gle/7Q4XBxamFETfsvpB9
For all questions, please contact galerijasiva@attack.hr
The program of gallery Siva is based on presentation, production and education – closely related with street art, graffiti art, design, comics, illustration and other fields of visual art with the main criteria being unconventionality and creating outside of the mainstream.
What distinguishes gallery Siva from other similar spaces and programmes are its location and its founders. It is located inside of Medika – an old medical factory which was squatted by various subcultural collectives forming the Autonomous Cultural Centre, and was transformed into an independent cultural centre. The centre functions as various similar European spaces, by the principle of revitalisation of abandoned venues with an aim of transforming them towards becoming spaces for production and work of various artistic and cultural collectives that act by do it yourself principles, and realized primarily by voluntary work. The second specificity arose from fulfilling the needs of one subcultural group – graffiti artists, who formed the gallery in 2012 – to create a space for work and presentations.
Even though one specific subcultural group formed it, gallery Siva does not have programmatic and conceptual restrictions – one of its main objectives is the affirmation of artists creating in various styles and media, as well as ones who do not have an opportunity, or refuse to, exhibit in institutional galleries. Conventional galleries providing an established mode of functioning, unchanged for decades, often render artists invisible, which results in them turning to themselves, by means of self-organizing and creating their own autonomous spaces. There isn’t enough space provided by institutions to unknown or young artists, while those who are oriented towards younger or not affirmed artists base their program on strict selection, blocking presentation opportunities for the majority of underground artists. For these reasons our goal was to create a gallery specifically oriented to both – institutionally educated and amateur artists creating street art, graffiti art, illustration, comics, researching new media, and dealing with artistic experiments and / or subcultural currents.
The majority of gallery Siva’s program is created and based in do it yourself (DIY) poetics, realizing exhibitions important for underground scene as low-budget productions, but sometimes even with hundreds of people attending the opening nights. The programme is designed to provide support to artists in the form of a contemporary art gallery venue, and an unconventional Croatian and international cultural / subcultural exchange spot. The featured artists are free to exhibit in different formats – starting from a classical exhibition setup to a total transformation of the whole space by means of 3D scenery, light or paint.
Gallery Siva offers:
- travel expenses for artists from Croatia, up to 100 euros directly related to the realization of the programme
- travel expenses for international artists, up to 300 euros directly related to the realization of the programme
- partial coverage of production expenses (only for new work produced at a residency)
- basic technical conditions and full coverage of technical expenses for an exhibition
- promotion and marketing support
- full expense coverage of promo materials
- Documenting the exhibition