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Following a month-long submission process in February and a one-month voting period of March, apexart is excited to announce the five winning exhibition proposals from the International Open Call that will be presented as part of the organization’s 2025-26 exhibition season in their respective locations.
apexart Open Call exhibitions are selected through a crowd-sourced voting process, in which each "call" receives hundreds of anonymous proposals which are juried by an international cohort of more than 700 people. Without a “connection in the organization” or “well-fed resume”, jurors review the anonymous written proposal idea, communicated in 500 words or less. No images, resumes or add'l materials.
Five proposals were selected from 369 submissions, rated by over 700 jurors who cast over 20,000 votes, with submittors and jurors representing more than 80 countries.
This process reflects the interests of the hundreds of people who want to see them transformed from a proposal into an exhibition. It allows for cultural considerations that would otherwise not be considered by a small local jury. apexart does not affect the jury results.
Winning International Open Call proposals for 2025–26
A Border is Made of Papers
Submitted by Hend Ben Salah, Myriam Amri, Valeria Téllez-Niemeyer—Montréal, Canada
This exhibition explores the bureaucratic systems that enforce borders through paperwork, visas, and identification, highlighting how these mechanisms restrict movement, shape identities, affect marginalized groups, and define who belongs.
Skate, Create, Liberate: Women Artists and the Future of Radical Space in Ethiopia
Submitted by Betelihem Zena—Addis Ababa, Ethiopia
Explores Ethiopia’s feminist skateboarding movement, highlighting the Ethiopian Girl Skaters collective and the work of female artists. The exhibition addresses resistance, identity, and empowerment, showcasing how skateboarding and art intersect to challenge gender, race, and systemic oppression.
CRAFTING LOSS, WEAVING FUTURES
Submitted by VDRS—Vietnam Design Research Studio—Ho Chi Minh City, Vietnam
Reimagines Vietnamese textile traditions as dynamic, interactive archives. Through the work of three artists, the exhibition highlights textiles as evolving records of movement, resilience, and cultural memory, blending history, craft, and participatory storytelling.
Bad Lament
Submitted by Minseon Kim—Seoul, Korea
Challenges normative mourning by creating a queer, anti-structural space for grief and remembrance, disrupting traditional rituals to honor marginalized voices, and reimagining collective mourning as a form of resistance against societal expectations.
The other order.
Submitted by Obiajulu Ozegbe—Lagos, Nigeria
A multi-sensory exhibition humanizing the stories of displaced Nigerian families through sound, photography, video, and performance, exploring the global issue of land grabbing and its devastating impact on communities, particularly women and children.
Interested in submitting a proposal to our upcoming NYC or International Open Call, or finding out more about our programming in general? Learn more here.
