Call for art – Sympoiesis

| Amy Youngs

We are pleased to announce Sympoiesis, an exhibition of curated and juried artworks.

Important Dates

Submission Deadline for Applications: August 31, 2025. The exhibition runs from October 24 – December 11, 2025. Exhibition Space: The Fort Hayes Shot Tower Gallery, Columbus, Ohio

About The Lichen Likers’ Research and Art Project

Since 2023, members of Lichen Likers have employed art as a creative research practice for learning from lichens’ symbiotic lifestyle. This process has centered around collaboration between artists and scientists as well as communal artmaking via public workshops, field excursions, exhibitions, and performances. More information on the group’s central project, Learning Lichens: A Symbiotic Co-creation, is shared on the website: https://u.osu.edu/lichen/.


Exhibition Theme

Sympoiesis is a term derived from the Greek words for “together” and “creation”, coined by Canadian ecologist Beth Dempster in the late 1990s to describe the way in which organisms co-create their ecosystems. Philosopher Donna Haraway popularized the concept of Sympoiesis, extending it to highlight the deep interdependence of all life forms through the processes of “making-with” and “becoming-with” each other. Haraway’s vision encourages us to see humans not as separate from nature, but as part of a web of mutual relationships with other species and environments. From this background we come to her concept of “natureculture”, the inseparability of the natural and the cultural, which asks us to rethink our place within the world. As symbiotic organisms, lichens are a good model for exploring this subject. Other biological examples include the human microbiome, where bacteria, fungi, and viruses shape our health, digestion, and immunity. An example of how a symbiotic community can be extended into “natureculture” can be found in compost systems, where human cultural wastes are transformed by multispecies collaborations and processes of “making-with” that become organic soil – benefitting humans, non-humans, and the ecosystem. Artists are encouraged to consider alternative ways of living and sustainable responses to today’s complex environmental and social challenges. Potential topics include:

Sympoiesis and Interdependence

Ecological and Societal Dimensions

  • Co-habitation, co-existence, or creative collaboration with nonhuman life
  • Ecological concepts of coevolution, symbiosis, and mutualism
  • Interdependence between humans and nonhumans
  • Alternative living environments for sustainability, resilience, and adaptability
  • Engaging with the Anthropocene, Plantationocene, or Capitalocene
  • Ecological justice for human-nonhuman-environment

Haraway’s “Becoming-With” and “Natureculture”

Speculative Engagement

  • Non-binary, multiplicity, and hybridization for being together or “becoming with” others
  • Alternative relationships with other beings
  • Posthumanism
  • Ecology and art between humans and the botanical, fungal, entomological worlds
  • Macro/micro perspectives, speculative narratives / fictions and imaginations of any of the subjects listed


Eligibility:

We encourage all artists, inventors, landscape architects, and creative scientists to submit works in the following art forms: electronic art; interactive installation and interfaces; robotic art; visual performance; 3D modeling and animation; game art; virtual and augmented reality; experimental video and moving images; video mapping; digital imaging; sound art; Internet art; creative coding; bio-art / eco-art; and other emerging forms. We will also consider traditional forms of fine art and film, provided that they explore the exhibition theme.

  • Artworks that were produced before 2022 will not be considered.
  • Selected artwork must be exhibited during the full seven-week-long exhibition period. However, performative artwork will be scheduled to occur at a specific time and place during the exhibition.

Considerations

Both U.S.-based and international applicants are encouraged, however we cannot accommodate international shipping, and we do not carry art insurance. Lichen Likers is a volunteer, non-profit academic research group. We endeavor to create this exhibition with a small budget that will allow us to produce an exhibition, documentation, website, and promotion, but we cannot provide honoraria or guarantee funds for travel or shipping costs.

There are no entry fees.

How to Submit

Applicants are required to submit the following in an email to doosung@thefusefactory.org with the title “Sympoiesis 2025 APPLICATION_your full name” in the subject line. Include to following:

  1. Links to 3-5 images and/or videos posted online (website URL links only, do not send media in email). For video links, include 2-minutes-or-less video highlights posted on YouTube or Vimeo. If your videos are private, please include passwords so jurors can access your links.
  2. Short art statement (less than 500 words, .pdf file) describing what you propose to exhibit and how your artwork fits within the exhibition theme
  3. CV (.pdf)
  4. One-page document (.pdf) specifying your installation requirements, dimensions, and other technical requests
  5. Contact details (email, phone, & website)

Timeline

  • Application deadline: Sunday, August 31st
  • Artists notified: Monday, September 8th
  • Public announcement of artists lineup: Monday, September 15th
  • Artists drop-off artwork & Installation: Monday, October 13th – Thursday, October 23rd
  • Exhibition duration: Friday, October 24th – Thursday, December 11th (closed weekends and Thanksgiving & Fall break, November 24th – 28th)
  • Opening reception: Friday, October 24th, 6 pm – 8 pm
  • De-installation and Art pick-up: Thursday, December 11th – Friday, December 12th

Jury

  • Diane Willow, Professor, Department of Art, University of Minnesota Twin Cities, Minnesota
  • Amy Youngs, Associate Professor, Department of Art, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
  • Doo-Sung Yoo, Assistant Professor of Teaching, Department of Art, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio
  • Emma Kline, Living Art and Ecology Lab Specialist, Department of Art, The Ohio State University, Columbus, Ohio

Contact:

Exhibition curator and coordinator -Doosung Yoo doosung@thefusefactory.org Exhibition space and venue – Megan Evans mevans4119@columbus.k12.oh.us and Stephen Takacs stakacs@columbus.k12.oh.us

Partners