Finland | ANTI Contemporary Art Festival 2021 - open call

The 20th ANTI - Contemporary Art Festival will be held in Kuopio on September 14-19, 2021. We are now seeking work and project proposals from artists in any field that directly address the themes of gift and giving.

The ANTI festival will be held for the 20th time next year. In the current challenging situation, it is time to turn to the core idea of the ANTI festival; The festival is free to the public - a free gift, and its name refers to the Finnish anti-word, meaning “gift”.

Also check out the reality search at the Reality Research Center, which brings a new impossible performance to the ANTI Festival 2021.

“Our two-decade-long activities are quite apt to celebrate by reflecting on the basic principle of the festival - giving, participating in giving. Our work at the ANTI festival has often led us to the idea of a pure gift - a selfless activity that is not bought, that is not expected to be rewarded, that may not have been expected, that breaks, interferes with, and sometimes causes discomfort. Nothing is expected in return for the gift and its value is not determined by the value of a possible counter-gift. Instead, giving a gift involves a different kind of barter, a different encounter. The concept of giving involves other, also challenging, functions - giving care, giving attention, giving oneself. ”

ANTI Festival artistic directors Gregg Whelan and Johanna Tuukkanen

We are looking for 2-5 small scale projects through open search. The selected projects will be included in the wider program of works invited to the festival.

Successful projects involve audiences and communities and find their physical form in Kuopio. Applicants may also propose remote and digitally organized projects, but regardless of the method of implementation, the project must include an element that engages the festival visitors and the environment on site.

Projects can cover, for example, the following themes:

Giving a public gift
Presenting as a gift
Object as a gift
Subtle giving
Intangible gifts
A gift that expresses time
Giving social care
Art as a gift

DEADLINE for proposals: 15 January 2021