Attention! We are looking for writers, art historians, art critics, artists or anyone who experiments with writing in their practice and feels able to offer an in-depth reading of selected local and regional art practices to write an essay for publication in SOFT Critique.
The publication will be produced as part of the exhibition SOFT Critique (11 August – 24 September 2023) curated by Seda Yıldız and Tia Čiček at Škuc Gallery. This discursive exhibition will focus on art criticism and methods of feedback exchange. It will include a spatial installation by artist Valentina Karga and a discursive programme centred around the questions of independent criticism, knowledge-sharing and critical discourse while questioning the exploitation of the art space for the rapid production and reception of artworks.
The jury for the open call consists of independent curator and art writer Seda Yıldız, curator and artistic director of Škuc Gallery Tia Čiček and curator Urška Aplinc.
Applications should include:
- a short bio (max. 250 words)
- a proposal on a selected artwork and/or artist (active in Slovenia and/or the wider region) you would like to write about, with a brief explanation of your position/perspective (max. 500 words)
- a writing sample (finished and/or published texts)
Applications can be submitted in English or Slovenian and sent by email to: galerija@skuc.org!*
Application deadline: 6 March 2023
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Additional information:
Open call results: 16 March 2023
The successful participant in the open call will be invited to contribute an essay (max. 2500 words) on the artwork and/or artist of their choice. They will receive a fee of € 200 gross for their written contribution (expected for editorial review by 30 April 2023).
*Please send a follow-up email if you do not receive an answer within 24 hours.
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Seda Yıldız is an independent curator and art writer based in Hamburg, born and raised in Istanbul. Her socially engaged practice is inspired by thinking across disciplines, including visual arts, design, music, literature and activism. Her recent curatorial projects include the performative exhibition of the artist and musician Vigan Nimani, “Unfixed Place, Ambiguous Time” (2022) at Kino Armata & The Grand Hotel Prishtina, the archive exhibition “Memory of Kundura: The World Within a Factory” (2021) at Beykoz Kundura in Istanbul and the roller disco weekend “We Live Together, We Dance Together” (2019) at Kunstverein Harburger Bahnhof in Hamburg. A member of AICA Turkey, she occasionally writes about art and design. She is the editor and co-author of the book “Building Human Relations Through Art: Belgrade Art Collective Škart, from 1990 to Present” (Onomatopee, 2022).
Tia Čiček holds a master’s degree in Art History from the University of Ljubljana and works as an independent curator, producer and writer. While working for the Centre of Urban Culture Kino Šiška and DobraVaga Gallery as a programme coordinator, producer and curator, they attended the “Thinking with Works of Art” course at the Salzburg Summer Academy and completed the World of Art School for Curatorial Practices and Critical Writing (2020). Since January 2020, they have been the artistic director of Škuc Gallery and have recently started co-heading the World of Art School for Curatorial Practices and Critical Writing with Lara Plavčak and Urška Aplinc. They are part of the ‘bad curating inc.’ collective, which runs the reading and thinking workshops “Work, Curator, Work!”. They have curated numerous exhibitions and programmes at home and abroad, and are increasingly interested in processual and caring curating, restructuring and reimagining exhibition-making.
Urška Aplinc is a freelance curator and producer. She is an associate of the Centre for Contemporary Arts SCCA-Ljubljana and head of the World of Art School for Curatorial Practices and Critical Writing with Tia Čiček and Lara Plavčak. In 2021, she received her master’s degree in Sculpture from the Academy of Fine Arts and Design, University of Ljubljana (ALUO). In 2018, she graduated from the World of Art School. Between 2019 and 2022, she was part of the DobraVaga Gallery collective, where she worked as a programme coordinator and curator. From 2020 to 2022, she was the head of the culture and art education programme at the Kino Šiška Centre for Urban Culture, and in 2022, the artistic manager of the visual, audio-visual and intermedia art programme at Kino Šiška. In the same year, she was part of the production team of the Igor Zabel Award 2022. She has curated several group and solo exhibitions in Slovenia and abroad. Until 2020, she worked as an artist and participated in many exhibitions and festivals nationally and internationally. In her curatorial practice, she is concerned with exploring labour conditions, institutional contexts and limitations, the margins of the exhibition format and practices of accessibility.
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The open call is organised in cooperation with SCCA-Ljubljana | World of Art, School for Curatorial Practices and Critical Writing.
The Škuc Gallery programme is supported by the Ministry of Culture of the Republic of Slovenia and the Municipality of Ljubljana.
