Deadline for Submissions: 15 January 2025
Exhibition Dates: 13 March - 6 April 2025

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Treehouse NDSM is thrilled to announce the Open Call for our next exhibition, which will take place during March/April 2025. The theme will be “Carnival”. Carnival evokes strong and mixed feelings. Whether you love it or hate it, its complex history and symbolism cannot be ignored. With its origins in ancient European rituals celebrating the coming season of Lent, all the way to its transformation into an iconic Brazilian summer celebration; Carnival is a time for indulgence, transformation, connection, and reflection which manifests in different cultures with their own unique traditions.

For this exhibition, we invite artists to share their perspectives on Carnival: the moments of excess, the themes of renewal and role-reversal, the blur of boundaries and shift in identities, and its cultural or historical significance in a particular place. This Open Call is for artists of all disciplines and using any media who explore Carnival’s significance, both personal and universal, with a focus on works that highlight the rich contradictions within Carnival itself.

“Carnival” as a festivity has always been about more than just revelry. It was also the freedom of the anonymity that masks provide and a time of expressive indulgence before a period of restraint (such as fasting). How does Carnival represent the tensions between indulgence and reflection, order and chaos, winter and spring, identity and anonymity? Artists are encouraged to engage with these and other perspectives, offering their own artistic interpretation of the rich and layered Carnival traditions.

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Please submit your application through this form

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SELECTION OF ARTISTS
The selection committee, led by Treehouse NDSM director and this exhibition’s curators Johannes-Harm Hovinga and Bruna Souza, will choose up to 10 artworks that bring unique interpretations to the Carnaval theme. The artworks will be exhibited on the 100m2 mezzanine of Treehouse NDSM’s Pavilion. The curators will consider the relevance to the theme and the medium used, and will be especially interested in giving a voice to artists from Amsterdam Noord. An artistic fee will be given to each artist participating in the exhibition.

Please keep in mind that Treehouse NDSM is not a traditional gallery space. Treehouse NDSM supports multi-disciplinary artists in bringing their projects to life by offering 100 individual and affordable studios for rent, as well as access to exhibition spaces and the opportunity of participating in a vibrant and collaborative artistic community. It is an artistic incubator where artists and audiences use their imagination to create their vision of the world.

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ABOUT TREEHOUSE NDSM
Treehouse NDSM is an arts incubator located in Amsterdam’s creative heart. Our goal is to foster the growth of creatives from diverse disciplines and help them bring their projects to life. We do this by offering 105 individual and affordable studios for rent, access to exhibition and performance spaces, and the opportunity of being part of a vibrant artistic community. Since the spring of 2022, Treehouse NDSM has organised and hosted exhibitions open to the public, showcasing the work of both its residents and artists outside the community