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EXHIBITION PROPOSAL GUIDELINES

GUIDELINES

As Filter Photo is dedicated to serving and supporting the contemporary photography community, all exhibition proposals should relate to photography, photographic materials, or lens-based artwork. This definition is purposefully open-ended; moving-image work, installations, and performances related to photography may all be included in proposals. Artists, curators, and collectives are all welcome to submit proposals. For example, a single artist could submit a proposal for a solo show, or a collective could submit a proposal for a large group show.

PROPOSAL MATERIALS

Proposals will be accepted online via Submittable. Only proposals submitted in this manner will be considered. We recommend that you make use of the gallery floor plan in developing your proposal and include any layout plans in your proposal narrative. This is especially true for proposals that include site-specific installations and multimedia elements. Please add any proposed related programming to your proposal such as artist talks, performances, etc if you see them as relevant to your proposed exhibition.

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In addition to contact information, applicants will need to provide the following materials and pay a submission fee of $25.

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  • A proposal narrative describing the exhibition/curatorial statement and related programming (500 words max)

  • A brief bio for the applicant(s) and, if possible, for all the proposed artists

  • A CV for the applicant(s)

  • 10 - 12 sample images. These should be in JPEG format, sized 1000 pixels on the longest side, and titled by last name, initial of first name, and image number (e.g. DoeJ_1.jpg). Images should be of artworks intended for exhibition, but a small number of prior installation images may be included if the applicant thinks they may be helpful to the review panel.

  • Links to videos and other multimedia content, no more than 5 minutes in length (if applicable)

STIPEND

In order to defray exhibition costs, Filter Photo offers a stipend to accepted applicants. This amount is calculated based on recommendations by the Working Artists and the Greater Economy organization (W.A.G.E.), scaled to match Filter Photo’s budget. Filter Photo strongly supports W.A.G.E.’s initiatives and while we cannot always meet the recommended stipend amounts, we are committed to the spirit of W.A.G.E efforts. With grant and foundation support, Filter Photo looks forward meeting W.A.G.E recommendations whenever possible. Sample stipends are listed below, and exact amounts are subject to change based on Filter Photo’s operating budget.

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Solo Exhibition: $1250

Two-Person Exhibition: $625 each

INFORMATION FOR ACCEPTED APPLICANTS

  • Applicants will be notified of the panel’s decision in early March. Accepted applicants will work with a Filter Photo staff member to determine the exhibition’s date, layout, and other details.

  • Artists are responsible for all shipping costs to and from the gallery for their exhibition. 

  • Any revenue obtained from sales of artwork on display will be split between Filter Photo and the artist, with the artist receiving 70% and Filter Photo receiving 30% of the final sales price. This split will apply to works sold directly through Filter Photo.

EXHIBITION ADVISORY COMMITTEE

Aimée Beaubien reorganizes photographic experience while exploring networks of meaning and association between the real and the ideal in immersive installations, collages and artists books. Her work has been shown in national and international exhibitions including SF Camerawork, San Francisco, CA; Art Institute of Chicago, IL; Museum of Contemporary Photography, Chicago, IL; Newport Art Museum, RI; Houston Center for Photography, TX; UCR Museum of Photography, Riverside, CA; Gallery UNO Projektraum, Berlin, Germany; Virus Art Gallery, Rome, Italy. Aimée Beaubien is an Associate Professor of Photography at the School of the Art Institute of Chicago, IL where she has taught since 1997.

 

Leo Hsu is the Executive Director of Silver Eye Center for Photography in Pittsburgh. Silver Eye’s mission is to promote the power of contemporary photography as a fine art by supporting and sharing the work of emerging, mid-career, under-represented and underseen artists. Leo is an editor at Fraction Magazine, wrote and edited for Fraction and Foto8/EI8HT and was a news photographer. He taught in criticism and history of photography and studio at Carnegie Mellon University. Hsu is interested in recent work by emerging artists that speaks to contemporary social concerns while driven by subjective experience; that expands the possibilities of photography or engages critically with the history of photography; and/or that expresses a deep personal investment in the processes of art making.

 

Kelly Kristin Jones was raised on the West Side of Chicago and received her MFA from the School of the Art Institute of Chicago. She is the recipient of a number of awards and fellowships including a 2022 Individual Artists Program Grant from the Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events, a 2021 Illinois Arts Council Agency Grant, a 2019 Chicago Artists Coalition HATCH residency, 2019 LATITUDE residency, and 2019 Luminarts Cultural Foundation Project Grant. She was a featured artist in the 2021 Chicago Architecture Biennial and the 2023 Chicago Humanities Festival.

 

Yechen Zhao is the Assistant Curator of Photography and Media at the Art Institute of Chicago. He also serves as a visiting critic of photography at the Yale School of Art. His writing has appeared in History of Photography and Aperture.
 

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