Important dates:

Start of reception period: May 4th, 2021
End of reception period: June 30th, 2021
Community of curatorial practice workshops: July – August, 2021
Public announcement of results: September, 2021
TVE 4 2021: November –  December, 2021

Call for Works:

The Fresh Milk Art Platform (Barbados) and TEOR/ética (Costa Rica) are pleased to welcome submissions of recent film and video works – screenings, installations, new media and expanded cinema – by contemporary artists, to be included in the fourth edition of Transoceanic Visual Exchange (TVE), a series of programmes taking place online this year, with accompanying screenings in Barbados and Costa Rica.

Submitted works must have been completed in the last five years and must be made by artists practicing in the Caribbean and Central America.

TVE 4 will be a collection of recent artists’ films and videos from each region. However, the final shape and content of the programme will be informed by a community curatorial process, which aims to involve and promote discussion within the wider creative communities of each participating initiative.

Working between the Caribbean and Central America, TVE 4 aims to negotiate the in-between space of our cultural communities outside of traditional geo-political zones of encounter and trade. TVE intends to build relations and open up greater pathways of visibility, discourse and knowledge production between the regional art spaces and their publics.

Submission Requirements:  

• Must be work from artists practicing in the Caribbean or Central America;
• Must be work that has been completed/made in the last five years;
• Can be films of any length (shorts, experimental, features and video artworks);
• Can be in any language (films originally produced in regional languages are welcome);
• Up to 3 submissions per applicant are welcome;
• Must be accompanied by a description of the work (500 words max), a bio (200 words max) and details of any technical requirements i.e. audio, installation, equipment required, preferred setting etc.;
• Works must be mp4 files no larger than 100MB, or Vimeo/Youtube links;
• Works must not have been submitted to the previous edition of TVE;
• Please specify whether your submitted works have permission to be exhibited on an online space, particularly as the virtual aspect of TVE 4 will be a significant focus of the programme.

Selection Process:

One of the core values of TVE is the model of community curatorial practice as opposed to one of solely contracting curators or hiring a jury to review submissions in isolation. This has taken the shape of open roundtable conversations with interested members of the community in each partner’s country/region, where current trends, concerns and interests in the areas of video art, film and new media are discussed. After these conversations, the partners will convene to select works which align with and reflect the research gathered, including the community’s input in the design of the final programme.

What TVE 4 Offers:

• Each selected artist will receive a stipend of $200.00 USD for their participation in the programme;
• Artists’ work will be showcased in a virtual exhibition on the TVE website, facilitated and promoted by the TVE partners;
• Artists’ work will be exhibited or screened physically in Barbados and Costa Rica (pending safety and with COVID measures and protocols enforced);
• The artists’ profile will be permanently housed on the TVE website, and their work will be widely promoted throughout Fresh Milk and TEOR/ética’s networks in the Caribbean and Central America;
• The artists’ will have the opportunity to grow their own networks and knowledge regarding video arts and filmmaking practices across the Caribbean and Central America, deepening understanding between the two regions and opening up greater possibilities of collaboration.

Deadline for submissions: June 30th 2021

Click here for the online form for Caribbean submissions
Click here for the online form for Central American submissions

To view this open call in Spanish, visit TEOR/ética’s website here

For more information on TVE and its first three iterations, visit the website transoceanicvisualexchange.com

About the Partners:

Fresh Milk

Fresh Milk is an artist-led, non-profit organisation founded in 2011 and based in Barbados. It is a platform which supports excellence in the visual arts through residencies and programmes that provide Caribbean artists with opportunities for development, fostering a thriving art community.

Fresh Milk offers professional support to artists from the Caribbean and further afield and seeks to stimulate critical thinking in contemporary visual art. Its goal is to nurture artists, raise regional awareness about contemporary arts and provide Caribbean artists with opportunities for growth, excellence and success.

TEOR/ética

Located in San José, Costa Rica, TEOR/éTica is a private, independent, non-profit, dedicated to the research and promotion of contemporary artistic practices.

Throughout more than two decades, TEOR/éTica has worked as a platform that promotes the research and dissemination of contemporary art, with an emphasis on Central America and the Caribbean. It aims to create spaces for doubt, debate and the generation of critical thought relevant to its context. It does this through exhibitions, publications, talks, workshops, grants, an archive and a specialized library, understanding art as a common space from where to generate study and find other ways of being together that build collective learning.