Open Call: Comfort Zone

We are inviting artists to propose their artistic projects for the upcoming fourth issue of ETC. Magazine titled Comfort Zone!

ETC. is an annual showcase magazine dedicated to presenting current artistic production from the Balkans to the Baltics. The most comprehensive section of the magazine is the Portfolio Showcase, presenting selected artworks and projects in detail, consisting of a visual presentation and short descriptions of individual projects. The projects for the Portfolio Showcase section will be chosen and curated by the magazine’s curators (Lara Mejač and Ajda Ana Kocutar) and this issue’s guest curator Katarzyna Różniak Szabelska.


Under the title Comfort Zone, the fourth issue of ETC. magazine explores all the ways in which we understand comfort and safety as they translate into our ideas of family, love, friendship, and community. Inside the sphere of intimacy and community, we’re interested in the myriad ways kinship is formed in families both biological and chosen. From open relationships to throuples, how has the relationship unit changed and what kind of dilemmas does it open? Is there a future for the conventional nuclear family and why are tradwives becoming a lifestyle brand? Despite the effort toward body positivity, how difficult is it to feel comfortable in one’s own skin? And how does our own relationship with the body translate into sex and kink? What kind of togetherness is formed in the digital sphere and does it open new possibilities of coexisting or hinder old ones? When homes are lost in conflicts and disasters, and entire communities are displaced, how can a zone of comfort be made anew? In parallel to the sphere of human relationships, comfort is packaged and sold, commodified to push products, and promised to us in the forms of period pads, streaming platforms, and comfort foods. Is consumerism an acceptable refuge or is it paralysing us into Wall-E’s post-apocalyptic space humans? Are we not comfortable enough or too much so for our own good? In this issue, we seek to explore comfort and care as struggles for physical, sexual, and emotional liberation, as well as the often dangerous consequences of retreating into our comfort zones.


If you think your artistic project or work would fit the topic, send us your project proposal to: curators@etcmagazine.art.

Deadline: 20. 9. 2024

• emerging artists
• based anywhere between the Baltics and the Balkans
• haven’t had major publishing deals, major exhibitions or retrospectives yet
• are submitting an existing project

• an existing project published in the fourth issue of the ETC. Magazine

• invitation to exhibit your work in ETC. exhibition projects 
• presentations and visibility on our digital platforms

• contact information
  

• description of the project
  The text length should be 1000 - 2000 characters with spaces. In case it was written by another writer they should be signed with their full name underneath. The text should be submitted in MS Word format ( .doc or .docx). In case your project was financed by a grant you should include a short disclaimer.
  
  
• short bio of the artist and author of the text (if different from the artist)
  The text length should be up to 500 characters with spaces. The text should be submitted in MS Word format ( .doc or .docx).
  
  
• high-res images of the project (300dpi)
  Images should include details of the artwork and/or artwork installation. The minimum submission is 8 images. Images should be named as follows: Name and surname of the artist_ title_year_name and surname of the photographer (if different from the artist). Multimedia (video, sound, etc.) can also be published online alongside the article.
  
  
• portfolio / web page / Instagram