FAST FOOD

VS.

PRIME RIB

Due to today’s fast pace, many folks eat on the run and know the menu of every fast food joint in town.

However, evidence shows that a non-stop diet of fast food is not healthy.

Today’s theme? Stop and smell the prime rib.

In art as in food, it can’t all be fast food.

Here’s a call from The Open Society Institute that definitely qualifies as prime rib:

The Open Society Institute invites photographers to submit a body of work for consideration in the Moving Walls 18 group exhibition.

Moving Walls is an exhibition series that features in-depth and nuanced explorations of human rights and social issues.  Thematically linked to OSI’s mission, Moving Walls is exhibited at OSI’s offices in New York and Washington, DC and includes seven discrete bodies of work.

Moving Walls recognizes the brave and difficult work that photographers undertake globally in their documentation of complex social and political issues.  Their images provide the world with human rights evidence, put faces onto a conflict, document the struggles and defiance of marginalized people, reframe how issues are discussed publicly, and provide opportunities for reflection and discussion.  Through Moving Walls, OSI honors this work while visually highlighting the mission of our foundation to staff and visitors.

For participating photographers, a key benefit of the program is to gain exposure for both the social justice or human rights issues they photograph, and for themselves as photographers.  When the tour ends, photographers may keep their professionally-produced exhibition to use however they wish.

View images from current and previous Moving Walls exhibitions.

Areas of Interest

Since its inception in 1998, Moving Walls has featured over 100 photographers whose work addresses a variety of social justice and human rights issues that coincide with OSI’s mission.

Each Moving Walls exhibit includes seven distinct bodies of work that address issues or geographic regions where OSI is active.  Priority is given to work whose subject has not been recently addressed in Moving Walls.

Listed below are some topics that are focus areas for OSI and about which they are interested in receiving submissions.  Please note that photographers are welcome to submit their work for Moving Walls even if their subject area is not included on this list.  All work submitted will be considered for exhibition. In addition to the focus areas listed below, please visit their website (www.soros.org) for a complete listing of OSI priorities and programs.

• Migration-related issues
• International LGBTQI issues
• Muslim communities in Europe
• Women in post-conflict countries
• Pre-trial detention (international)
• Public health issues in Africa, including access to essential medicines, access to health care, palliative care
• Climate change
• Economic downturn in the United States, including the foreclosure crisis
• Images that reframe mainstream media representations of African American men and boys
• Transgender individuals in the United States
• Detention of immigrants in the United States
• Youth movements, especially political participation

Who Can Apply

Any emerging or veteran photographer who has completed a body of work on a human rights or social justice issue may apply for Moving Walls. Work in progress may be submitted as long as a substantial portion of the work has been completed. We will accept any genre of photography that is documentary in nature and is not staged or manipulated. In addition, priority will be given to work that addresses issues and geographic regions of concern to OSI.

Seven portfolios will be selected based on the quality of the images, the project’s relevance to OSI, and the photographer’s ability to portray a social justice or human rights issue in a visually compelling, unique, and respectful way.

Moreover, Moving Walls values work by photographers who have a long-term investment in a community or issue. Photographers working in their home countries, women, emerging artists, and people of color are also encouraged to apply.

OSI does not discriminate based on any status that may be protected by applicable law.

Emerging Photographer Travel Grant

To support the professional advancement of photographers who have not received much exposure, an additional travel grant will be provided to select Moving Walls photographers to attend the opening in New York and meet with local photo editors and relevant NGO staff.

Recipients must apply for the travel grant after being chosen for inclusion in the Moving Walls exhibition. The grant is subject to the applicant obtaining the necessary visa to the travel to the U.S.

Recipients will be determined based on, among other things, prior international travel experience, prior attendance at workshops and seminars outside their home communities, publication and exhibition history, awards, and potential impact on their professional development.

Application Process

The Moving Walls application has switched this year to an online application system.  Please go to http://apply.movingwalls.org/ to access it.  You will be asked to submit the following materials:

1. application cover page
2. a project statement* (600 words maximum) describing the project you would like to exhibit at OSI;
3. a short narrative bio (250 words maximum) summarizing your previous work and experience;
4. your curriculum vitae;
5. 15-20 jpg images

Optional materials:

Multimedia:  Moving Walls has the capacity to exhibit multimedia in addition to (but not in place of) the print exhibition. A multimedia sample should be submitted only if it complements or enhances, rather than duplicates, the other submitted materials. The sample will be judged on its ability to present complex issues through compelling multimedia storytelling, and will not negatively impact the print submission. If you are submitting a multimedia piece for consideration, please post the piece on a free public site such as youtube and include a link. If the piece is longer than five minutes, let them know what start time to begin watching at.

NOTE: The one-page statement is intended to give the Selection Committee a better understanding of the project. Non-native English speakers should describe their projects as accurately as possible, but do need not be concerned with the quality of their English.

Deadline

Complete submissions must be received at OSI-NY by 5pm (Eastern Standard Time) on Friday, June 11, 2010.

Review and Selection Process

Phase 1: Applications will be reviewed and selections made by a committee of foundation staff and the exhibit curators, Susan Meiselas and Stuart Alexander. In evaluating the work, the committee considers the quality of the photographs and their relevance to OSI’s overall mission and activities. In addition, the committee aims to select a diversity of issues and geographic areas in order to avoid repetition of topics shown in recent exhibitions. View images from their recent exhibitions at www.movingwalls.org.

They tend to receive between 150-200 submissions each round.  For Moving Walls 18, they plan to select seven bodies of work.

Phase 2: The selected photographers will be designated wall space and encouraged to visit OSI’s offices in New York in order to meet with their curators and prepare installation plans. Please note that travel to OSI is not part of Moving Walls payment and is not a requirement. Photographers who are unable to travel to OSI may correspond with our curators by e-mail or fax and submit their installation plans electronically.

While curators work closely with photographers to determine an installation plan, final curatorial decisions are at the discretion of the Moving Walls curators and selection committee.

During this time, the selected photographers will be invited to apply for the Emerging Photographer Travel Grant.

Time Frame

Applications are due by 5pm E.S.T. on Friday, June 11, 2010. To participate, you must be available to follow the exhibition schedule detailed below. Moving Walls 18 is scheduled to open in March 2011. The approximate duration of the exhibition in New York is nine months. After the New York exhibition closes, OSI will select (at its discretion) a portion of the exhibition to travel to its Washington, D.C. office for an additional nine months.

Please note that, in connection with prior Moving Walls exhibitions, certain photographers have been asked to participate in subsequent exhibitions in Baltimore, Maryland (in conjunction with the OSI office located there) and in New York City (at the Columbia University School of Social Work and John Jay College of Criminal Justice). Should you be selected, the decision to participate would be entirely yours and a separate agreement would be executed.

Exhibition Schedule

Participating photographers must be able to commit to the following exhibition schedule:

June 11, 2010: Deadline for submissions.

July 2010: Notification of participants begins.

Summer 2010: Selected photographers meet with curators to plan their shows. Selected photographers invited to apply for the Emerging Photographer Travel Grant.

September 2010: Deadline for selected photographers to submit detailed budgets and installation plans.

December 2010: Deadline for submission of the following:

• artist’s statement, bio, captions, and other wall texts
• High resolution jpeg files of each exhibition image for use in exhibition-related printed materials and for inclusion on our website.

Recipients of the Emerging Photographer Travel Grants notified.

January 2011: Deadline for photographers to have their completed prints delivered to the framer. Photographers are responsible for making these arrangements.

March 2011: Opening reception

Payment

Upon selection, photographers must submit a budget application for printing, drymounting, and other production costs. Once the budget is approved, participants will be responsible for working within this budget and must use OSI-approved labs. OSI will then pay for standard framing and window matting or back-mounting. In addition, selected photographers will receive a $2,000 royalty payment. When the exhibition tour is completed, photographers will receive the framed and matted work. OSI will cover the costs of returning work up to $750 for photographers based in the United States and $1250 internationally. Any shipping costs that exceed these amounts will be the responsibility of the photographer.

OSI will offer travel grants to emerging Moving Walls photographers to attend the opening in New York and meet with local photo editors and NGOs.  Applying for this grant is optional.  Recipients will be determined at OSI’s discretion.

Licensing

By participating in the exhibit, you grant OSI a nonexclusive, irrevocable, fully paid-up, royalty-free, and worldwide license in perpetuity to reproduce, distribute, publish, make derivative works from, and publicly display the work for purposes relating to the OSI Documentary Photography Project, including, but not limited to, the following formats:

• exhibition invitation
• exhibition wall texts
• exhibition catalog
• educational or promotional material for the exhibition
• OSI’s website or any successor or comparable medium of display

In addition, you grant to OSI a nonexclusive, irrevocable, fully paid-up, royalty-free, and worldwide license in perpetuity to reproduce and publicly display the work on OSI’s website, or any successor or comparable medium of display, solely for OSI’s non-commercial advocacy or educational purposes.  In any and all uses, OSI shall provide a photographer’s credit and identify it as related to Moving Walls 18.

Contact

If you have any questions, please contact Quito Ziegler at 1-212-547-6909 orqziegler@sorosny.org .

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