Frictions of Futurity in Transplant Medicine: Open call for artists

In collaboration with Tangled Art + Disability, the Frictions of Futurity in Transplant Medicine project invites disabled, crip, d/Deaf, Mad, Sick, and chronically ill artists to submit proposals for new commissioned works on the theme of futurity, curative imaginaries, and solid organ transplantation. We are especially interested in proposals from transplant recipients or their support persons. Two artists will be selected for a 6 month artist-in-residence with the Frictions project, and invited to create, construct, deconstruct, and challenge knowledge related to transplantation through their artistic practice.

The Frictions of Futurity Project connects artists, researchers, academics, health care providers, transplant recipients, and their support persons, bringing our varied perspectives together. We aim to understand what possibilities arise when the challenges of heart, liver, and kidney solid organ transplant are reconsidered through a feminist/crip technoscience frame. Some of the questions we ask include: How might lives become more liveable pre- and post-transplant? What are novel ways that technologies in transplantation are cripped by users? How do we understand networks of care, obligation, and issues of justice in light of organ failure, long waitlists and supply-demand issues? What is “risky” and how is risk conceptualized in relation to disability?

Themes may include, but are not limited to:

  • Ethics of organ transplantation
  • Crip futurity, chronicity, and disability culture
  • Systems of care and interdependence
  • Lived experience of transplant
  • Challenges of organ procurement and waitlisting
  • Experience of organ failure and/or transplant failure
  • Experiences of risk, liminality, friction, thriving, livability, ambivalence
  • End of life care, MAiD

Artists’ work should address these themes in relation to organ transplantation, but a wide range of interpretations are welcome, i.e. the approaches toward transplantation may be abstract, non-literal, and unexpected. Playing with the notion of “friction” is welcomed.

Artists will exhibit their work at a public salon event and through Tangled Art + Disability gallery and website. Artists will also have the opportunity to participate in a multi-day stakeholders symposium at the conclusion of the project in Summer 2023. There are also opportunities for interested artists to take part in a series of multidisciplinary salons through the project’s duration.

First Residency Details:
Duration: November 1, 2021 – April 30, 2022
Stipend: $12,000 + $2,000 material costs
The application deadline for the first residency is October 4, 2021

Second Residency Details:
Duration: May 1, 2022 – October 31, 2022
Stipend: $12,000 + $2,000 material costs
The application deadline for the second residency is April 4, 2022

Submission Details

All applications must include the following:

  • Statement of interest with brief project proposal (two pages max). It should also describe how you will consider and integrate access into the aesthetics of the proposed work
  • CV or resume
  • Sample of past work: up to 10 images of or links to previous work
  • Artist statement/bio (up to 250 words)
  • A budget that lists materials, technical requirements, and any other equipment that is needed and their associated costs
  • Any additional support materials you would like to include (such as a letter of reference or reviews of your past work)

We are dedicated to inclusion, access, and openness in the application process. We will accept submissions in the following formats:

  • Zipped folder (no larger than 20 MB) or through a file hosting service (such as WeTransfer, GoogleDrive, or DropBox)
  • PDF file
  • Audiovisual format (maximum 10 minutes and 200 MB)
  • ASL video (maximum 10 minutes and 200 MB)

Please send all applications to: submissions@tangledarts.org

Please also include the subject line: Frictions of Futurity Submission in your application.Image description: Digital graphic in white, black, grey, and hot pink. Text says “Call for artists. Frictions of Futurity in Transplant Medicine. An Artist Residency hosted by Tangled Art + Disability. Application deadline: October 4th, 2021. submissions@tangledarts.org.” There are small yellow stars that appear hand-drawn around the edges of the text. The Tangled logo is on the bottom-left.

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