OTHONI - Open call for video artworks

Nicosia 2030, candidate city for European Capital of Culture, organizes the series of public interventions "OTHONI" curated by visual artist PASHIAS and invites local and international artists to submit video artworks. The series "OTHONI" forms part of the Parallel Program of the Nicosia International Festival 2024.

"OTHONI" aims at connecting citizens, residents and visitors with the city they inhabit, utilizing pre-existing means of visual communication installed around the capital by the Smart Nicosia team. These digital displays, centrally located at Nicosia’s streets and avenues, provide a window into the daily life of the passerby. By integrating art into the urban landscape, "OTHONI" exhibits cultural output in common space and time, making it accessible to all.

Artists, from Cyprus and abroad, are invited to submit their entry in the form of a video artwork delving into the urgent necessity for social inclusion. Each video proposes a moving image, unfolds into an environment and takes the form of a poetic gesture, a personal statement or of public interference. "OTHONI" motivates cultural practitioners to reexamine their relationship with the urban environment and their social surroundings, in dialogue or in confrontation with the dominant modes of utilizing public space and perceiving individual differences. The work of each selected artist will occupy, in continuous repetition, the Smart Nicosia digital displays for a whole weekend.

Video parameters:

Artists can send one to three artworks each. The video can be of any length and should preferably be in 1920 x 1080p or 1080 x 1920p resolution, as the Smart Nicosia screens have both horizontal and vertical orientations. The organizing team is responsible for converting the work into both formats. No audio will be included in the final presentation. As far as content is concerned, the depiction of violence and hate speech is not permitted.

An intervention example is the untitled and unannounced takeover of the Smart Nicosia screens by visual artist PASHIAS on the weekend of 27th and 28th of January 2024. Coordinated by Maria Efstathiou, the artwork was implemented by the organizations YEU - Youth for Exchange & Understanding Cyprus and ABR - Alternative Brains Rule, within the framework of public intervention project "Art.Act.Disrupt". The press release and full project documentation are available at www.pashias.art/untitled.

Entry submission:

Artists can send their entry by Sunday, October 27th via email to the address othoni.open@gmail.com, with their full name, personal website, artwork title and a link to the video (YouTube / Vimeo / Google Drive / WeTransfer) with the corresponding password if necessary.

Clarifications:

Video submissions will be evaluated by the Committee of the Nicosia International Festival, the curator and independent cultural professionals to be announced alongside the open call results. Each artist will receive a fee of 150 Euros for permission to display their video artwork on the Smart Nicosia screens. All copyrights remain with the artist. The videos will not be published in their entirety by the organizing team, but only in image and short trailers for promotional purposes.

Information:

For enquiries, participants can contact the organizing team via email at othoni.open@gmail.com.