Open call for curators

State of Fashion is launching an Open Call to find a new curator (or team) for its 2022 biennial, based in Arnhem, the Netherlands. The platform is on the lookout for fresh thinkers with an outspoken view on the challenges the world faces, the necessity for fundamental change, and the role that fashion plays in this transition. State of Fashion is calling out to individuals as well as groups, teams and collectives, with groundbreaking and novel ideas on how to use the cultural and safe space of the biennial to actively challenge and change fashion. The invitation to apply is open to creative practitioners including (but not limited to) designers, artists, researchers, writers, makers and performers.

State of Fashion considers fashion as a driver of positive change and aspires to be a catalyst for cultural transformation.

For its next biennial, the platform is posing three main questions:

Humanity
Fashion is a medium for conversation about who we are as humans, how we relate to one another and to other species, and how we belong to nature. If compassion, sympathy and a generous disposition define humanity, how can fashion contribute to a world that is more humane for all?

Equity 
Real change in fashion requires more than changes in the way we produce and consume garments, or the way we reward labour. It also requires a radical shift in power, one that dissolves the idea of the oppressor and the oppressed. What are groundbreaking ways to create true, just and sustainable equity? Who has access and agency in this matter? How do we remain critical of our own endeavours?

Community 
Fashion weaves together a worldwide community of people, practices, skills and materials associated with dressing the body. How can fashion practices inspire deeper relational connections between the people in this community, and between people and their environment? How do we make the knowledge that is exchanged within communities accessible and sustainable?

Profile
The above questions are an open invitation for a conversation. With the Open Call, State of Fashion is looking for curatorial proposals that respond to one or more of these questions, and for curators that:

–Have a critical and outspoken view on the urgencies of our time, the necessity for fundamental change, and the role that fashion can play in this transition.
–Are able to look at fashion through a decolonial lens.
–Have a proven collaborative spirit and working method.
–Are eager to reimagine the form and/or behavior of a biennial.
–Bring in a stimulating network of collaborators from inside and outside of fashion practice.

State of Fashion is explicitly not looking for a singular perspective. Following the example of its sister-event sonsbeek20-24.org, State of Fashion encourages applications that work from a curatorial team, a collective view or a conversational approach. State of Fashion is open to curators from different backgrounds and practices, such as design, research, education, crafts, production and media. Individuals and groups of any age, gender, nationality and country of residence are invited to send their proposal.

Application deadline
Interested candidates are asked to send their applications by completing and sending the online application form before Feburary 1, 2021, 11:59pm CET.

Apply here.

Questions concerning the application process may be sent to opencall [​at​] stateoffashion.org