Call for Applications: Participation Grants for 2nd General Assembly & Conversations

CALL FOR APPLICATIONS

Participation Grant for the 2nd General Assembly & Conversations program on March 4–7, 2015, during the opening of Sharjah Biennial 12.

Event description

The International Biennial Association is a not-for-profit arts association created as a platform for establishing, researching, and exchanging knowledge and information necessary for institutions and professionals who plan and curate periodic art events such as biennials and triennials, as well as artists, researchers, and others concerned with contemporary art. IBA is a centre for producing multidisciplinary discourse that embodies the productive and discursive voices of the contemporary art world. It develops a range of diverse programmes to promote rights and mutual understanding between institutions and their individual members, who play pivotal roles in research and practice.

IBA is an initiative conceived during the World Biennial Forum No. 1 Shifting Gravity held in Gwangju, South Korea, in October 2012. Over 60 biennial representatives gathered, and the IBA was established as one of the outcomes of the discussions. A Preparatory Committee comprised of 21 delegates from various biennials, triennials and art institutions met in Sharjah in March 2013. Representatives from different regions, histories and backgrounds were chosen to voice the diversity of political and social perspectives. Three separate meetings in Venice, Istanbul and Karlsruhe were then organized for the establishment and growth of the association. Most recently, the inaugural General Assembly was held in Berlin at the Haus der Kulturen der Welt (HKW) in July 2014 during the 8th Berlin Biennale for Contemporary Art.

In Sharjah, the 4-day event will consist of the 2nd General Assembly, as well as a public program that will include critical discussions on the contemporary world of biennials. The event will bring together professionals from across the world in order to engage today’s issues.

For more information about how to become an IBA Member please visit our website: www.biennialassociation.org

The Conversations program during the IBA’s 2nd General Assembly is organized, hosted and generously supported by the Sharjah Art Foundation.

Each participant is offered:

• Travel and accommodation to attend 2nd General Assembly and Conversations on March 4–7, 2015 in Sharjah.

Selection Committee:

• One Representative of the Sharjah Art Foundation
• Two Members of the Board of the IBA

Application conditions:

• Applicants must be representatives of a biennial/institution/organisation that has organized biennial-type international art exhibitions.
• Each biennial/institution/organization can only propose one representative.
• The biennial/institution/organization is located in a country listed on the DAC-List of ODA Recipients released by the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) and the IMF-List of emerging market and developing economies.

The application should contain the following documents:

1.          Completed Application Form

2.          Short description of the represented biennial/institution/organization (aims and organizational background)

3.          Letter of Motivation of the representative, stating why the participation grant is essential for their participation at the General Assembly (including financial aspects)

4.          CV of representative

5.          Letter of Commission of the biennial/institution/organization naming the representative as their official participant for the IBA General Assembly

6.          References or press material about the biennial (max. 3 pages)

Please send applications in English and in digital form—we can only accept doc/docx/pdf—as ONE document with max. 10 pages (including the Application Form).

Application DEADLINE: 26 January 2015
Application should be sent to: participationgrant@sharjahart.org

For further questions or to receive the Application Form, please contact:
Batool Mohammed: participationgrant@sharjahart.org / T+971 6 5444 113
Sharjah Art Foundation
PO Box 19989, Al Shuwaiheen, Arts Area, Sharjah, UAE