Call for art work about Migration

ILLEGAL, TEMPORARY AND PRECARIOUS STATES OF BEING – MIGRATION

ART EXHIBTION AND SEMINAR

February 15^th – 28^th 2010, Bangkok, Thailand (gallery to be confirmed)

The Illegal, Temporary and Precarious States of Being – Migration Art Exhibition will explore the impacts of the current global responses to migration through different art media forms. While the governments of the world find more and more ways to enforce temporary status on the very migrants who are sustaining their economies and life-styles, space must be given to highlight the contradictions and to allow new ideas and approaches to emerge. This Art Exhibition hopes to be one such space.

We are inviting artists to submit art work which interprets or provokes thought on migration and illegal, temporary and precarious states of being.

Here in Thailand, migrants from Burma, Cambodia and Lao PDR who have not been able to obtain a temporary travel document  are living under the threat of  mass expulsion in February 2010. This is likely to affect millions of migrants who have worked and lived in Thailand for many decades.

Similar stories are occurring all over the world. Today’s global responses to labour migration renders people disposable commodities depriving them of human dignity. Policies aim to make migrants temporary, forced to return after short periods of work or at the whim of the countries of origin or destination. Migrant women, men, youth and children struggle to survive endless rounds of temporary policies, unable to legally stay or realistically return.   Men and women may experience these policies differently through their bodies and through their families and through the societies they move in and out of.   Men and women migrants may take different actions to respond to these policies.

Nevertheless, all over the world migrants of different genders, nationalities and religions are resisting these policies of temporariness, precariousness and illegality. They are staying and returning, they are working and surviving.

MAP Foundation (Thailand), Studio Xang (Thailand),The Asian Institute of Technology  and  the University of Leeds (UK) supported by IDRC and Japan Foundation  are organizing this art exhibition as a follow up activity to the International Workshop on Gender, Migrant Workers and Citizenship in the Greater Mekong Sub-region: Economic and Political Perspectives for a World in Crisis’ which was held on 1 -3 rd June 2009.

At this conference, participants were eager to share their ideas regarding current responses to labour migration through the development of a policy paper. It was subsequently decided that running parallel to the seminar to present the policy paper, an art exhibition on the same theme would contribute new ways of thinking and might actuate new approaches to migration.

The exhibit will be showcased in Bangkok, Thailand from Feb 15^th – Feb 28^th 2010. The gallery will be announced shortly. The deadline for application is November 20^th 2009. Migrant artists are particularly welcome.

Art work may be submitted in any of the following media:

             Painting/drawing

             Photography

             Performance

             Music and Sound

             Sculpture and installation

             Textiles

             Printmaking

             Video

Information to Submit

• Applications should be brief, but should cover the following information.
• Description of Artwork to be Submitted: Write a brief description of the nature of your project, including any images available. All work must address the theme of migration and temporary, illegal and precarious states of being. Those that address the particular impact on women and/or the gender impacts will be given priority.
• Artistic Merit: Briefly outline the artistic standard of submission in relation to its: originality, innovative approach and concept.
• Dimensions/Space Required/Production/Technical Details
• Artist Curriculum Vitae/Biodata
• Examples of  previous work – e.g. 3 – 5 images,  CD, DVD (5 mins), etc

Note: All digital images need to be resized no larger than A4, 300 dpi and in .jpeg, .tiff or .gif files.   Please do not compress files.

• Please provide a list of all attachments and support materials.

Our selection panel will shortlist a group of artists based on work which best provokes thought on the theme and on its creativity.

Limited funding is available for artists to cover production costs and/or sending costs. Should you require funding please submit a proposed budget for no more than US$500.

Payment will be on reimbursement of receipts only. Submissions by migrant workers, for whom further funding may be available in exceptional circumstances, will be given priority.

Schedule:
20.11.09                               Deadline for Entries

27.11.09                               Notification will be made

27.12.09                               Artists send pictures of work, info on work, artists statement

01.01.10 – 30.01.10          Catalogue developed

01.02.10 – 06.02.10          Catalogue published

06.02.10                               Art work arrives

15.02.10                               Seminar and Opening Reception of Art Exhibition

28.02.10                               Closing date of Art Exhibition

For further information or to submit artwork, please:

Email: precariousmigrants@gmail.com or

Post: PO Box 161,

Wat Phra Singh Post Office

Chiang Mai 50200

Thailand

For updates please visit :

www.mapfoundationcm.org