Imporant dates:

• Start of application period: Tuesday May 14th, 2024
• End of application period: Sunday June 30th, 2024
• Community of curatorial practice workshops: July/August, 2024
• Public announcement of results: September, 2024
• Polish Screenings: September, 2024
• Caribbean Screenings: November, 2024
• Online Exhibition: December, 2024

Call for Works:

The Fresh Milk Art Platform (Barbados) and the Centre for Culture in Lublin (Poland) as part of Lublin’s bid for the European Capital of Culture 2029 title are pleased to welcome submissions of recent film and video works – screenings, installations, new media, time-based media and expanded cinema – by contemporary artists, to be included in the fifth edition of Transoceanic Visual Exchange (TVE), a series of programmes taking place this year between Barbados and Poland, with an accompanying online exhibition. 

Submitted works must have been completed in the last five years and must be made by artists practicing in the Caribbean, Poland, Ukraine and their diasporas. 

TVE 5 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, Poland and Ukraine, TVE 5 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, Ukraine, Poland or their diasporas;
• 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 with passwords if applicable;
• 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.

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 5 Offers:

• Each selected artist will receive a stipend of $250.00 USD for their participation in the programme;
• Artists’ work will be showcased in a series of events in Barbados and Poland and a virtual exhibition on the TVE website, facilitated and promoted by the TVE partners;
• The artists’ profiles will be permanently housed on the TVE website, and their work will be widely promoted throughout Fresh Milk’s and the Centre for Culture in Lublin’s networks in the Caribbean and Eastern Europe;
• The artists will have the opportunity to grow their own networks and knowledge regarding video arts and filmmaking practices across the Caribbean, Poland and Ukraine, deepening understanding between the regions and opening up greater possibilities of collaboration.

Deadline for submissions: June 30th 2024

Click here for the online form for Caribbean submissions
Click here for the online form for Polish submissions
Click here for the online form for Ukrainian submissions

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

This edition of TVE is also supported in part by TEOR/éTica, our partner organisation for TVE 4, from whom we received a 2023 Catalyst Grant with the generous support of Arts Collaboratory, and by a grant received from the Mellon Foundation.

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.

The Centre for Culture in Lublin

At the Centre for Culture, our “home of imagination” we want to manage human talents wisely and create favourable conditions for artistic work, education and presentation of art and artistic activities. We want to be open to new people, new projects and phenomena. We believe that we will have the courage to take creative risks.

Lublin 2029 – European Capital of Culture Candidate City

The project is part of Lublin’s bid for the European Capital of Culture 2029 title. Re:Union, the bid’s motto refers to the historic concept of the Union of Lublin (1569), a commonwealth treaty signed by the Kingdom of Poland and the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. It is understood as reintegration, reconnection of broken ties, cross-generational, cross-cultural and intersectional dialogue.