K.L.8 is looking for visual artists who incorporate writing / type / text into their works

Oproep
K.L.8 Exhibition Space

What?

For the next exhibition at the artist-run space K.L.8 in Jette, Brussels, we are looking for artists to respond to the theme of “Avant la lettre”. For this exhibition, we are focussing on visual artists who incorporate (hand)writing / type / text into their works, and who aim to explore the interaction between written word and visual art. “Avant la lettre” will be a group show taking place at the end of October 2022.

Concept of the exhibition

Both Word and Image are distinct artistic media, with long histories, with their own sets of connotations, impediments, and advantages, with different ways of establishing meaning. They have different powers, and their relationship has taken on surprising shapes throughout different cultures.

The Image came first, without a doubt. Our ancestors left paintings on cave walls, carved animal bone into effigies, thousands of years before the invention of the first writing systems. But writing got the upper hand, myths and holy Scripture came to determine how human beings related to their surroundings and to each other. We explored the world and aimed to capture all of creation in taxonomies, botanical treatises, laws of physics. Only the supposed truth was ever written down.

In the Modern age however, the power balance started to shift. The written word no longer maintained its precedence over other modes of representation, and the author (who was of course white and male) was  no longer accepted as the all-determining voice, whether in academia, film or journalism.

Now, under the aegis of new media like television and the internet, the Image appears to have emancipated itself, and has gained an unprecedented ubiquity in all parts of the cultural landscape. None of us have been taught as children how to interpret images, but reading and writing on the other hand are acquired skills.

Does this mean that looking at a painting requires more spontaneity? Is reading more challenging? Can written words offer more meaning than images? We are curious what associations or prejudices contemporary artists have about these two extraordinary human devices. What are their respective powers and shortcomings? And what processes are set in motion when the two are combined into one single piece of art?

How to apply?

Does your practice or one of your work(s) resonate with these ideas? Send the following information to kl8exhibitions@gmail.com:

  • Artist statement (max. 1 A4)
  • Short bio (max. 1 A4)
  • Overview of exhibitions / residencies
  • Maximum 5 works or 2 series which you would like to exhibit (clear images, title, year, material, dimensions). Each work or serie can have an explanatory text of maximum half an A4.
  • Portfolio of recent work

DEADLINE: 11 September 2022

We are open to all forms of visual and performance arts.  We will host two selection rounds. After firstly reviewing all portfolios, we will contact the artists with which we would like to have a video call. After this second round, we will contact the final artists with which we would like to collaborate. 

Submission and participation are free, but due to our financial constraints we aren’t able to insure the work, nor pay for the transport or an artist fee.  To gain insight into our artist-run space, you can see our previous projects on dilumcoppens.com/k-l-8