Call for Art, Unboxed: Rethinking the Grid – Missouri State University
The grid is everywhere — a silent architecture underpinning the rhythms of our lives. It orders our cities, traces our maps, illuminates our screens, and segments our days into hours and minutes. On one hand, the grid embodies humanity’s aspiration for control and clarity, a testament to our impulse to tame the unruly. On the other, it is far more than a blueprint or tool of containment. Grids also emerge in nature, weaving structure through root systems and neural networks. They shift, stretch, and evolve into webs of connection. As much as grids constrain, they also liberate; as much as they impose order, they harbor chaos. Unboxed: Rethinking the Grid invites artists to engage, unravel, redefine, or reimagine this ubiquitous structure. We call on creators to explore the boundless possibilities of grids — to critique their constraints, celebrate their order, subvert their rigidity, or transform them into something wholly unexpected.
Submissions
We welcome submissions from artists working in all disciplines whose works engage with the theme(s) of the exhibition. Each submission should include a statement detailing how the work connects to these themes, enriching the curatorial process and offering deeper engagement for the audience. Below are potential guiding frameworks or relationships for exploration:
- Geometry as Inspiration: Grids as aesthetic tools, exploring symmetry, repetition, perspective, and abstraction.
- Frameworks of Order: How grids organize and structure space, from urban plans to architectural designs, and their impact on our daily lives.
- Natural Tension: The interplay between human-made grids and organic forms. How do grids respond to or impose upon the chaos of nature?
- Hidden Systems: Grids as invisible systems — power grids, data networks, supply chains — that underpin our existence.
- Divisions and Patterns: The cultural and political dimensions of grids, from borders and land division to symbolic patterns in textiles and traditional geometries.
- Broken Structures: The subversion of the grid: what emerges when grids are broken, disrupted, or reinterpreted through imperfection, play, and fluidity?
- Dynamic Grids: Grids that shift and adapt, including hybrid grids that blend order and chaos. How do these dynamic forms represent modern systems of connection and flow?
Submission Requirements - Up to 4 images of each submitted work, including detail shots as relevant (please format as jpeg, png, or PDF).
- A brief description of each work’s response to exhibition theme (maximum 250 words).
- Optional artist statement (maximum 250 words).
- Artist bio or CV.
- Proposal for installation or performance works, if applicable.
Submission Deadline
Midnight, May 10, 2025
How to Submit
Submissions should be sent via https://tinyurl.com/Unboxedcallforart
Please email Jodi McCoy, Director of Exhibitions at jmccoy@missouristate.edu with questions
Acceptance notifications will be sent out early /June 2025.
Exhibition Details
- Location: Brick City Gallery
- Dates: September 2 – October 3 | First Friday Art Walk receptions: September 5 and October 3, 6-9pm
Website: https://brickcitygallery.missouristate.edu/
Contact: jmccoy@missouristate.edu
About Brick City Gallery
As part of the downtown campus IDEA Commons initiative, the Brick City Gallery and Carolla Arts Exhibition Center are committed to serving their communities through exploring what’s next in visual and material culture. Serving as extensions of our Art and Design Department classrooms, both galleries exhibit fine art and design that engages and enriches the academic and cultural experience through:
Expanding awareness of and accessibility to the arts and promote an understanding of the importance of art and design in culture.
Offering exhibitions, interpretation, and associated programming exploring trends in contemporary art, the evolving significance of art and design in relation to culture and society, and the department’s place in that story.
Provide professional exhibition space for undergraduate and graduate Art and Design Department students to exhibit work and gain professional experience with contemporary art and design practices throughout their academic career.