The BECA Foundation issues 2 Calls to Artists + Designers and opens applications for AiR Program

The BECA Foundation (www.thebecafoundation.org) has recently posted 2 new Calls to Artists + Designers and has begun accepting applications for its Artist in Residence Program:

 

Call to Artists + Designers: Receive Deadline is June 25, 2009: The theme and title of this exhibition, 'Money is the Root of All Evil Carnival Barkers', was chosen to create an entertaining commentary on the historical and contemporary pitch people of industry, who we call carnival barkers. Money has always been a powerful motivator of dealers. Maybe it's the recession or maybe the carnival barker's voices are just getting louder but we have definitely noticed an increase in the hawking of everything from infomercial products to art. The hawking of one's wares could be called the world's second oldest profession and while early carnival barkers shouted their best persuasions to you to as you walked by their cart or stand, today's carnival barkers have a much wider distribution for their barking, delivered through electronic and printed text, television and radio.

 

Whether or not the products/wares have value is irrelevant. Today's carnival barkers have taken their predecessors cues and elevated their barking into a true work of hilarious absurdity. Carnival barkers on infomercials hawk and over hype everything from food slicers, cosmetics, clothing, cars and trucks, knives, gadgets of all kind, creams and pills promising the fountain of youth and more recently there's been an increase of mega-hype around the sale of art. Art dealers and related carnival barkers are hawking their new, up and coming artists as 'renowned' and as 'art stars' regardless of whether or not the term is applicable beyond their pocketbook's hopeful imagination.

 

From the humorous and ridiculous to the absurd, carnival barkers and the methods they employ to distribute their messages offer much fodder for the creation of new works. For this exhibition, we're looking for artists and designers to create visual commentary on carnival barkers from every industry and their historical craft from a contemporary perspective.

 

The exhibition will be held at BECA gallery, located at 527 St. Joseph Street, New Orleans, LA, in the heart of the Warehouse Arts District across from the Contemporary Arts Center. The exhibition dates are from August 8 – September 6, 2009 with a closing artist reception on Saturday, September 5, 2009 from 6pm-9pm. The exhibition catalog will be available beginning August 3, 2009.

Artists selected for this group exhibition will be amongst the first artists included in The BECA Foundation's new curated Artist and Designer Global Registry set to launch this Fall 2009. The Registry will eventually contain artists and works selected by a variety of curators from around the globe and made publicly available to writers, curators, gallery directors and collectors. This Registry will be the first curated global digital database of its kind that features both emerging artists as well as emerging designers on the leading edge of what's next in contemporary art + design. Complete submission information and guidelines may be downloaded from: http://www.thebecafoundation.org/global/calls-to-artists.html

 

 

 

Call to Artists + Designers: Receive Deadline is October 1, 2009: The BECA Foundation presents the second installment of CURATE THIS! opening this November, 2009 and will run through December 2009. The first installment of CURATE THIS!, held in 2008, was an experimental success with over 100 artists and over 400 'guest curators' from 9 countries participating. We're looking forward to even more participation from around the globe via CURATE THIS! 2009. Once again we will be enlisting the input of art enthusiasts from around the world via an online juried event which allows anyone from anywhere in the world with an internet connection and email access to select their favorite 10 artists from the compiled selection of submitted works. On October 14 and 15, 2009 art enthusiasts from around the world will view the works submitted by artists from all corners of the globe and will vote to choose their favorite 10 artists of CURATE THIS! 2009. This year's CURATE THIS! exhibition is being held in conjunction with PhotoNOLA 2009 (www.photonola.org). As such, we are seeking submissions of photography based works including, but not limited to, painting, sculpture, mixed-media, drawing, printmaking, fiber, textiles, installation, photography, design and functional art.  Those artists whom the guest curators' select as their top 10 artists will have their works featured in the exhibition CURATE THIS! 2009 at BECA gallery and in the upcoming 2009 edition of the publication titled, CURATE THIS! 2009. Artists selected for CURATE THIS! 2009 will also have their works featured online at The BECA Foundation website. PhotoNOLA is a month long celebration of photography in New Orleans, coordinated by the New Orleans Photo Alliance in partnership with galleries, museums and photographers citywide. CURATE THIS! EXHIBITION DATES: November 21 - December 27, 2009. Complete information and submission guidelines may be downloaded from: http://www.thebecafoundation.org/global/calls-to-artists.html

 

Artist in Residence Program: This program was created as a complimentary supplement to the organization's core emerging contemporary art exhibition program. Each year, 6-10 monthly studio residencies will be granted to one or two emerging artists or designers per month and take place at BECA gallery/Ju-Ju Space Studio in the heart of the Warehouse Arts District in New Orleans, LA, USA. Each Artist in Residence receives a non-living, semi-private studio space for a period of 4 weeks culminating in both a public Artist Talk and a public Open-Studio event at the end of the residency. Artists in Residence are also featured on The BECA Foundation's website and introduced to art enthusiasts, curators, writers, collectors, galleries and other related arts organizations via BECA's public visiting hours, e-newsletters, announcements, printed literature and other outreach. The BECA Artist in Residence Program accepts applications from local, national and international emerging artists and designers who are at least 21 years of age. Complete information and submission guidelines may be viewed at: http://www.thebecafoundation.org/global/artist-in-residence-program.html

--
BECA gallery - Bridge for Emerging Contemporary Art
527 St. Joseph Street (across from the Contemporary Arts Center)
New Orleans, LA 70130

View our exhibitions online at: www.becagallery.com
Read BECA news at: http://becagallery.typepad.com

Gallery Hours: TH/FRI. (1pm-6pm), Sat/Sun (11am-6pm) and also by appointment +1 504.566.8999

Facebook: http://www.facebook.com/pages/New-Orleans-LA/BECA-gallery/137271890561

Twitter: http://www.twitter.com/becagallery