Open call. XII International Biennial of Textile Miniatures 'Visiting Card'

July 15, 2021
Author Echo Gone Wrong
Published in Calls from Lithuania

This is an international project reflecting contemporary textile art, organized every two years. The 2021 biennial is dedicated to the narrative of a visiting card as a small-format artist’s recognition mark, presenting a specific author’s style, mastered technique, or the creative exploration of themes that shape the artist’s identity.

We often use the term “visiting card” to metaphorically describe the distinctive features of a particular nationality or signs of a historical event. This continuous exhibition, which develops Lithuanian cooperation with artists from other countries, is an opportunity to learn more about the authors and the countries they represent, to encourage artists to create a visiting card not only of their own but also of another country (including Lithuania), which the participants are offered to look at from various angles – historical, ideological, social, artistic – and to examine not only the themes of personal experiences but also of memory. A standard-sized card that briefly conveys information today is mostly used for exchanging contacts. However, the history of the card is full of strange rituals, its function has been constantly changing since its appearance in seventeenth-century Europe. In the etiquette of the nineteenth-century nobility, it functioned as an invitation to dance, initiating a visit or a business meeting, an addition to a gift or a bouquet of flowers. The surviving names of the card – business card or visiting card – conceal the stages of history when the card played the role of presenting the entrepreneur or requesting a visit. In the beginning, the cards were handmade, and from the 18th century onwards, mass printing began. The size standard set in the early 20th century was the format of one cigarette’s length and seven cigarettes’ width, as the cards were stored in tobacco packaging. Modern technology has made a visiting card an attribute of everyday life, and a variety of technologies are used to produce it.

The exhibition is organized on the principle of open invitation. Materials, execution techniques, manner of expression are not restricted.

The exhibition is planned for 2021 October – November and will be held at LAA’s gallery “Arka”, which is the organizer of the biennial. Main curator is prof. Žydrutė Ridulytė.

Five main criteria will be considered when selecting works for the exhibition:

1) compliance with the theme – to create an alternative visual presentation of oneself (country, other), as if a postcard, a document, and an interpretation on the topic of the presentation;
2) the originality and relevance of the idea in today’s context;
3) mastery of technology;
4) the quality of the execution of the work;
5) the work must comply with the standard parameters of textile miniature (20 × 20 cm). Not only two-dimensional, but also three-dimensional images may be chosen, a variety of materials, records, and identification marks may be used.

Additional provisions of the competition:

1) One author may propose no more than 1 textile work or composition.
2) Works offered for the competition must not have been exhibited in other competition exhibitions or published in catalogs.
3) University works or their copies may not be submitted.
4) The application is completed electronically. Digital photographs of a textile work not exceeding 2 MB in size shall be submitted for selection.
5) Only electronic applications submitted in the following form will be considered: https://forms.gle/5oq76ehnWrZu5RpY8
6) Applications are accepted until 20 August 2021.