The Book Lovers: The Novel As Fantasy

The Novel As Fantasy open call is an opportunity for visual artists to submit a proposal for the creation of a new artist’s novel. There are many artists who have written novels, but the artist’s novel is something else: it is a medium in the visual arts. It is a contemporary phenomenon in which visual artists employ their novels within their broader projects, as they would employ installation, performance, or video. Here, the creation of a novel doesn’t differ from any other artwork. Both processes, writing and art-making, feed each other as they evolve within the same body of work. In an artist’s novel the reading experience is part of the work, but it does not constitute the entire artistic experience. The narrative expands beyond the space of the page to take place in a body of work that belongs to the same art project.

Proposals should describe an art project in which the creation of a novel occupies a central position. Project proposals that employ this medium in unexpected, creative ways will be given preference. For example, the artist must not necessarily sit down and write her novel on a piece of paper. Instead, she can opt for using artistic tools, such as performance, public events, installation, collaborative strategies, appropriation, in order to produce the narrative fiction text, to generate innovative conditions of readership, and/or to alter conventional notions of authorship.

The selected project will start in April 2016 and will finish in December 2017, with the final presentation in CCA Ujazdowski Castle in Warsaw and the publication of the artist’s novel. Proposals are encouraged to engage with the process and not only with the final result, and to include a plan to render such a process visible to an audience. The selected artist should develop the project primarily in CCA, always in communication with The Book Lovers curators. For this, CCA’s residency program will be available to host the artist during the necessary production periods.

We offer
–Production budget for the art project
–Final presentation of the art project in CCA
–Assistance and accompaniment through the process
–Publication of the artist’s novel
–Artist’s fee
–Temporary residencies in CCA throughout the project, with individual living and working space
–The use of CCA’s facilities upon discussion with the curators

How to apply
Please send a PDF document (one file in English) with:
–Your proposal for the art project and artist’s novel in one A4 (max. 500 words) + 1 image
–Description of your art practice with any relevant background in one A4 (max. 500 words) + 1 image
–Your contact details (country of residence, website, phone number, Skype address)

Please label the document "your surname_your name_title of your project.pdf," and send it in an e-mail attachment to thenovelasfantasy [​at​] gmail.com before January 24, 2016 (11:59pm CET).

The selection procedure consists of two rounds that take place in February–March 2016. All applications are considered in the first round, during which a shortlist from the submitted proposals are selected. In the second round, the selection committee (consisting of The Book Lovers and CCA's internal advisors) invites the shortlisted candidates for an interview in March. After that, the selected project will be announced. Applicants who do not receive communication after February 20, 2016 are not shortlisted. Unfortunately, we cannot correspond with each unsuccessful applicant.

Please check the frequently asked questions

About The Book Lovers
Since 2011, The Book Lovers is the name of the collaboration between curator Joanna Zielinska and artist David Maroto. It is focused on the research of the artist’s novel employed as a medium in the visual arts. Its base is the creation of a collection of artist’s novels with a parallel online database, which is complemented by a series of exhibitions and public programs and pop-up bookstores. In 2015 they edited Artist Novels (Sternberg Press, Cricoteka).

Supported by Mondriaan Fund, The Netherlands.
CCA's Partner: REGENT Warsaw Hotel.
CCA's Media Patronage: Gazeta Wyborcza, Wyborcza.pl Warszawa, Gazeta Co Jest Grane, TOK FM, ELLE, Elle Decoration, Esquire Polska, Aktivist, artinfo.pl, Stolica.