Visions of Kindness. Open Call For Artists From All Over the World

For the end of this tough and truly strange year, we have decided to throw a peculiar boomerang that will fly above many countries, despite boundary closures, which we hope will return to us with the most inspiring images to warm our hearts. We are now reaching out to artists from all over the world to depict kindness in their work. We don’t want to give you - the artists - any specifics, understanding that kindness can exist in many forms, within people, nature, animals, time, distance and basically almost anything. We would like to encourage artists around the world to express their vision of what will promote and celebrate a culture of diversity, acceptance, and cooperative living, in all of its complexity and richness.

This campaign aims at raising awareness on issues pertaining to cultural dialogue, inspirational exchange, peaceful coexistence, inclusion and sustainability.

Why do we need you?

There are certainly a broad range of challenges inhibiting the attainment of peace and sustainable development in the world. Factors such as rapid urbanization, conflicts and violence, human mobility, climate change and technological revolution have paved the way for increasing urban poverty, inequality, exclusion, and racial discrimination. As such, we are calling on artists to step up as visionaries and innovators, to invite reflection and even inspire social reform. In this context, the role of art as a driver of reflection, inspiration, innovation and reform has always been incredibly powerful in steering social and personal transformations, both locally and internationally.

Brit Pruiksma, our special co-curator of the project suggested kindness as a theme. She feels that although kindness is a seemingly simple and straight-forward concept, it is all-too-often overlooked, under-practiced and under-valued, even toward ourselves. Kindness includes so many important ingredients: respect, love, attention, sharing, listening, hearing, helping, tolerance and thoughtfulness. We have all witnessed an example of kindness at least once in our lives, and appreciated its gentle, inspiring power.

A few words about our invited curator:

In 2020, Brit Pruiksma created her @mothflower_ Instagram account in order to catalogue and share her favourite artwork. Her account heading features a quotation by Meister Eckhart: “When the Soul wants to experience something, she throws an image out in front of her and then steps into it.” Brit’s view is that images have transformative power. Her daily postings of lyrical, peculiar, moving and amusing works have attracted more than 20K followers. The account has blossomed into a wonderful interactive community of international artists, art enthusiasts, collectors and gallerists and she has drawn invitations to both collaborate on and independently curate exhibitions. Earlier this year, during the first lockdown, she was approached by Distance Gallery to curate an online exhibition on the theme of “windows”. A native of New York, where she studied fine arts and fashion design, Brit now lives in the UK with her family.

The global campaign is inviting artists to:

1. Research and reflect on kindness , inclusiveness, diversity, tolerance and respect;

2. Foster critical thinking, tolerance and learning to overcome barriers and prejudice with a view to living together in our increasingly multicultural world;

3. Stimulate creative expressions through various art forms.

Winners

The contest is rated 16+ and is open to artists from around the globe. By the end of the contest all the best contributions will be included in the unique international multimedia exhibition of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center. The multimedia exhibition and winners’ profiles will be also available on a special website and will be promoted on all social media platforms of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center and the Herald of the Commission of the Russian Federation for UNESCO.

The winners will become honourable friends of the museum and will be invited to the future international projects as artists and juries.

Decisions

All decisions will be made by:

Brit Pruiksma, our special project curator and Etery Ordzhonikidze, Head of International Projects for the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center

An additional special winner will be chosen by the National Commission of UNESCO in Russia.

Entries will be judged on the basis of originality, creative imagination, artistic quality, adherence to the topic and rules established for the contest.

Visibility

The winning contributions will be published online on dedicated portals of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center as well as the Mothflower instagram blog, and feature an interview and a photo of the selected artists. The contributions may be used in the Center’s networks in exhibitions, publications or as promotional support material for actions in favor of tolerance, inclusion and rights.

The best works would be displayed in the big hall of the Jewish Museum and Tolerance Center for a month.

Fees

No entry fees of any kind are required to enter and win the contest.

Timeline

Contributions shall be submitted to kindartproject@gmail.com by January,15 2021.

Ok, so how to participate?

Please, send us 1 artwork inspired by the theme we have chosen (Kindness).

Submitted artworks should carry the following information in the supporting email:

- Artist’s Name, Instagram account and/or website if you have one

- City, Country

- Materials/Medium(s)

- Dimensions

- Optional: An additional story or title can also be included.

Please send your submissions to our project email: kindartproject@gmail.com

Subscribe to @mothflower_ and @jewishmuseum on Instagram for contest news and updates.

Technical Advice

Please note that photographs of your submissions should be of high resolution so they can later be used in the multimedia exhibition and in our promotional materials. If your submission is of poor quality, we will unfortunately be unable to consider it.

Our standard is: 1500-2500 pixels wide and in JPG or PNG format

How to take a good photograph of your painting?

We are pretty sure you already know how to do this, but for those who are interested, you may find this link useful.

Cover image by Benjamin L. Styer // Instagram: ben_styer