PICTURE STORM: A Call for Works About Image Overload

PICTURE STORM is a call for works of art about multiplicity, reproduction, excess, archives, records, overload, and about how we navigate a world that feels overfull of visual information.

Our lives are loud with pictures. Evolving technologies broadcast images widely, fostering connections and spreading information. As all of this "content" comes to us faster and faster, the demands on our attention places intense strain on our psyches. The glut of pictures, movies, adverts, news items and propaganda floods us in a constant stream.

There is an emergent need for us to better read images, fed to us non-sequentially, in bursts, juxtaposed, printed, and projected, lest the distortion of truth distort us. How do we slow the stream of pictures? How do we process too much information? How do we develop the ability to detect a lie from truth? How do we cope with having to participate, willingly and unwillingly, in the production of images to do something as loving as exchanging a picture with a friend, as essential as producing and revealing an artwork or scientific discovery, as discomfiting as being photographed in public? Does anything emerge from this monumental flood of images besides a destructive tidal wave?

Eligibility

PICTURE STORM is open to everyone internationally. The only limitation is that entries must represent original works which address the broad theme described above.

Media

Open to all traditional and non-traditional genre and media. Manifest's carefully assembled juries change from project to project, and have no collective predisposition towards any particular kind or style of art.

Size Limit

Manifest has no size restrictions on submissions other than what can fit in our spaces, on our walls, and through our door. Artists considering submitting who have work which may exceed these limits are welcome to contact us to inquire about specific limits.

Date Restrictions

Manifest has no requirements on timeframe when submitted works must have been made. While most work submitted has been made within the past five years or so, sometimes older works are submitted and accepted. Our jury process does not consider this information when scoring or selecting works for exhibit.

Exhibiting Artist Honoraria

Each participating exhibitor will receive a $50 honorarium. The honorarium has no strings attached (other than full participation in the relevant exhibit). It is a modest thank-you for collaborating with us, and may also be helpful as practical support for shipping, framing, delivery, or travel to attend the Manifest exhibit reception events.

$9,000 in Grand Jury Awards

The Grand Jury Award format results in the awarding of $1,000 to one work during each of nine exhibition periods, determined by a re-jury process selecting from among the pool of all top-scoring works from each show's initial jury. This applies to all shows during the 23rd season, including this one.

Entries go through a two-part selection process. The exhibit is juried by an anonymous several-member panel of professional and academic advisors with a broad range of expertise relative to art and design. The jury passes along its recommendations to the exhibit curator, who makes the final selections from the jury-approved pool.