OSTRALE Biennale

OPEN CALL OSTRALE Biennale from 15th of May, 00:00 CET until 30th of June 2024, 23:59 CET

O25 – 15. International Exhibition of Contemporary Arts

7th of June – 5th of October 2025 | Dresden, robotron-Kantine (Germany)

For the 15th time the OSTRALE – Centre for Contemporary Art will host its international exhibition of contemporary arts in 2025 which runs from 7th of June to 5th of October at the robotron-Kantine in the heart of Dresden and at other locations.

All artists, regardless of age, nationality, background, or career status, are welcome to apply with artworks related to the theme for participation in the OSTRALE Biennale. All forms of contemporary visual art are approved, including drawing, painting, graphics, photography, sculpture, installation, performance, digital and video art, sound installations, as well as not named here.

The application fee is 20 EUR (10 EUR for students), regardless of the number of artworks proposed. All costs for art transportation, insurance, catalogue and exhibition organization will be covered by the organizer. With the participation in the OSTRALE Biennale, each artist or artist group receives a one-time exhibition fee in the net amount of 300 EUR.

Applications are accepted online only and filled out completely, via the OSTRALE database from 15th of May to 30th of June 2024.

THEME O25

Colour Dialogue / OVERTONE(S) / Mother of Pearl / Endlessly Blue / Dear Colours, … / Blue Light / Evergreen / Wavelength / … (Working Title)

“Colour is a power which directly influences the soul.” — Wassily Kandinsky (1866-1944)

“Those who think in terms of black and white abhor nuances / overtones.” — Jürgen Wilbert (1945)

We live in a worrying time filled with never-ending existential crises and challenges: The consequences of the worldwide pandemic, inflation and the noticeable impact of climate change, the wars in Ukraine and the Middle East, as well as increasing radicalization of society, populism, and growing xenophobia are the oppressing reality.

What is the purpose of art in our present day? Where is it effective? How can art further dialogue, tolerance, democracy and peace? Are individual and societal changes possible through engaging with art?

We believe that art as transformative aesthetic experience is able to trigger deep emotions, stimulate imagination, open up fresh perspectives, and generate food for thought that inspires dialogue, discourse und our togetherness. Through sensual experience and its immanent language, art is able to introduce complex issues to everybody.

In sensory perception processes colour has a prominent role as an artistic design medium. As sensory elements of our perception and imagination, colours directly affect thoughts and feelings and are a significant component in the process of visual communication. Colours are the carriers of emotion and affect psychological and physical processes. Evidently, colours contain powers that we humans relate to in a positive or negative way.

Colours constitute a complex system of communication; therefore, their perception consumes a large part of the neural capacity of living beings. They are indicators of health and well-being in humans and nature. Implicitly or explicitly, we transfer biological basic functions like warning, deterrence, or communication into our cultural interactions.

Colours are a means of identification. As an expression of civil protest movements, they signal societal upheavals, are symbols of resistance and embody the hope for a better world without threats and external constraints.

The more colourful we are able to think the more peaceful can our interactions with each other be.

DATES AND DEADLINES

Application period: 15th of May – 30th of June 2024

Exhibition period: 7th of June – 5th of October 2025

1st Jury meeting: Mid-August 2024

2nd Jury meeting: End of November 2024

We kindly ask you to refrain from questions regarding the selection of artworks before the jury sessions are over. After the 1st jury session, there will be questions from the curators sent out to the artists to answer. Final decisions will only be published after the end of the 2nd jury session. Applicants will be informed of the decisions in writing via E-Mail.

Jury members: The jury is put together from curators and the leaders of the OSTRALE:

Curators:

N. N., Art Scholar, Curator / Israel

N. N., Art Historian, Art Critic, Curator / Palestine

Dr. Veronika Krülle Kotoucova, Art Historian, Curator, OSTRALE / Czech Republic

Artistic Directors OSTRALE:

Andrea Hilger, 1st Executive Board, OSTRALE / Germany

Antka Hofmann, 2nd Executive Board, OSTRALE / Germany

Applications for O25 here

Website link: https://ostrale.de/en/