State of Fashion: ’Open Call for Contributors’

State of Fashion: ’Open Call for Contributors’ now is over!

State of Fashion: ’Open Call for Contributors’: State of Fashion recently has announced its Open Call for Contributors, sets out to find makers and practitioners with radical ideas and perspectives, to co-create a collectively commissioned work for the exhibition “Fashion as Encounters” curated by NOT_____ENOUGH Collective as part of State of Fashion 2022 | Ways of Caring.

Short description

With this Open Call for Contributors, State of Fashion sets out to find makers and practitioners with radical ideas and perspectives, to co-create a collectively commissioned work for the exhibition “Fashion as Encounters” curated by NOT_____ENOUGH Collective as part of State of Fashion 2022 | Ways of Caring.

State of Fashion is a pioneering platform that explores an urgently needed radical change in fashion. Moving towards a more equitable fashion industry requires more than just changing the way we produce and consume garments, or the way we reward labour. It requires a deeper understanding of what fashion is, and of the role clothing has in our daily lives. Fashion is more than just a production system of objects for individual consumption. It is a way to communicate about who we are, how we feel, how we relate to each other. It is a way to care for communities, nature and animal species. For the biennial 2022, organizer will host a series of multiple Open Calls. Through this first Open Call, they invite individual and collective fashion practitioners - designers, artists, performers, activists, healers, farmers, educators, etc - to join and co-create the exhibition “Fashion as Encounters” curated by NOT____ENOUGH Collective. As NOT____ENOUGH Collective considers collective work as pivotal in resisting the dominant standards in fashion, they are looking for max. 9 practitioners to collectively create 3 new works, especially for this exhibition. With this Open Call for Contributors, they are looking to find creators and thinkers with radical ideas, who are willing to contribute to the biennial's plural approach, to actively challenge and transform fashion.

You are invited to join this Call by responding to one of the following themes. Share your initial ideas and an explanation on how the theme connects to your personal practice:

1) TRANSFORMING NARRATIVES

Transforming Narratives is a call to recognize and defy the dominant discourses and aesthetic standards fashion has been promoting for decades. We invite (fashion) practitioners that use the body as a territory of resistance, challenging the notions of gender, beauty and identity within the fashion system. This encounter looks for untold stories, unseen bodies and existing beauties that have been historically erased. Only by caring for what has been unvalued, we are able to transform hegemonic mainstream narratives.

2) EXERCISING COMPASSION

Exercising compassion is a call to care for others’ suffering, willing to collectively take action and improve for the future. We invite (fashion) practitioners that focus on collectively experiencing feelings and sensitivities that the fashion industry tends to ignore in order to avoid confrontation and discomfort. This act of care activates different emotional responses and experiences that connect us to each other through sharing and making. We seek social practices, community-centric and culturally-sensitive initiatives in fashion that address sensing and valuing otherwise, through individual and collective practices such as rituals, performances and interactions.

3) COEXISTING KNOWLEDGES

Coexisting knowledges is a call to care about fashion education. Rethinking formal ways of knowledge production in fashion at its roots is essential for transformation. We invite contributions of practitioners who radically experiment with educational practices, create space for differences and enable plural world views to coexist. There are many ways of understanding, teaching and researching that deserve recognition. We are looking for practitioners who actively question the production and distribution of knowledge, allowing plural forms of education to coexist within fashion.

WORKING METHOD

The process of co-creation will take place over a period of 4 months and will be moderated by the members of the Not Enough Collective. The process will start in February 2022 and will end in May 2022. By May, the works must be produced, reproduced and/or transported to the Netherlands. State of Fashion 2022 | Ways of Caring opens on 2 June 2022. Through online working sessions, participants will work collectively to respond to the theme of their choice.

Submission requirements:

➜ Portfolio (max 6 x A4)
➜ Initial proposal (max 1 x A4) describing the practitioner's interests to the theme and motivation to apply
➜ Contributor profile (CV, personal story, biography, statement, etc) (max 1 x A4)

Evaluation Criteria:

➜ Submission and completeness of the materials
➜ Relevance of the works, and relation with the selected themes
➜ Practitioner’s ability to work collaboratively and collectively
➜ Practitioner's ability to reflect in their work
➜ Initial ideas that are feasible in a 4-month working period
➜ Practitioners who through their work connect with current social issues

Who may enter?

This Open Call welcomes designers, artists, activists, knitters, seamstresses, researchers, educators, performers, photographers, filmmakers, writers, and fashion enthusiasts all over the world. Individuals and groups of any age, nationality and country of residence are invited to send proposals.