Africa-Press – Namibia. VISUAL artists eager to make their solo debut are invited to submit their work to the Goethe Stage Exhibition programme until 20 February.
The call is open to visual artists working in various visual art mediums, including painting, photography, architecture, printmaking, drawing, sculpture and multimedia installation.
“The call is for artists who have never exhibited solo work before. This could range from emerging artists to graduates who have only exhibited in group exhibitions,” says Goethe-Institut Namibia’s cultural programmes coordinator, Michelle Namases.
“The artists’ artworks, however, should be new bodies of work never exhibited before or not in their entirety,” she says.
“The platform aims to give these artists a space and opportunity to catapult their careers.”
Three artists per call will be selected to exhibit their work at the Goethe-Institut Namibia gallery, and each exhibition will be professionally curated by Hildegard Titus of contemporary pop-up gallery EFANO EFANO.
“Ms Titus will assist with the planning and mapping of the exhibition. The sale of the works will be done at 0% commission and the artists will receive a small artist stipend,” says Namases.
“The exhibition programme will also present a series of talks, walkabouts and school visits which will give audiences and creatives a glimpse of the artist and their work.” The first exhibition is scheduled for 15 March and will run for three weeks, followed by exhibits in June and September.
Artists who have previously exhibited with the support of the Goethe-Institut include Masiyaleti Mbewe (‘The Afrofuturist Village’), Hildegard Titus (‘Us Now’), Jaimee-Lee Diergaardt (‘Disruption in Time’), Nelago Shilongoh and Shomwatala Shivute (‘Ma Ndili’), and Jekonia Ndakalo (‘In Conflict’).
“Since its inception in 2017, Goethe Stage has always aimed to develop, train and grant emerging artists and creatives an opportunity to showcase their works,” says Namases.
“It has done so through skills-exchange workshops and platforms for local artists to promote their work.”
While Goethe Stage has awarded grants to artists across various disciplines, the platform has recently focused on the development of budding film-makers, producing three short films in 2020, and with three more set to premiere in March.
“The gear change for Goethe Stage will focus now on visual arts and will try with its programming to support the visual arts industry as it has with the short film industry,” Namases says.
Artists are invited to submit an artist statement, a concept document and images of the work they would like to exhibit to before midnight on 20 February. Full submission guidelines are available on the Goethe-Institut Namibia’s social media pages.
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