Informal Art
Open Call for Papers and Artistic Contributions to The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality in the Arts
The Global Informality Project invites submissions for the Global Informality in the Arts Encyclopaedia volume that will examine the role of informality in artistic media, practices, creative labour, and cultural production. It will bring together artists, academics, and cultural practitioners to explore how informal networks, unwritten rules, hidden practices and informal power shape cultural production across different contexts.
An interdisciplinary research initiative since 2014, Global Informality Project is associated with the FRINGE Centre supported by the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies and the UCL Press FRINGE series. The three volumes of The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality are in open access and available to download at https://uclpress.co.uk/book-series/fringe/.
We welcome proposals of entries to the Encyclopaedia (papers and artistic contributions) exploring themes related to visibility/invisibility, subversion, resistance, post-humanity, decolonisation, self- and environmental care and many others. This is an opportunity to shape the future of the Informal Art field. The Encyclopaedia book proposal will be prepared by the editorial team, led by Dzmitry Suslau and Diana Kudaibergen, on the basis of the 2026 inaugural conference, a co-creation by the UCL and Pushkin House.
Watch The Global Informality in Arts themes brainstromed at https://www.youtube.com/results?search_query=global+informality+in+arts
We welcome expression of interest from scholars, artists, and practitioners working on the loosely-defined as 'informal' themes.
- Deadline for abstract submissions: This is an ongoing project, do send us an expression of interest and state the deadline that would work for you.
- Abstract length: 250 words.
- Formats accepted: Conceptual entries, artistic performances, completed artworks (please include images as separate files).
- Submission email: informalart2024@gmail.com.
Expression of interest should include the title of the proposed paper or artistic contribution, an abstract, and a short biography (100 words).
For further information about the project, please browse the Global Informality Project.
We look forward to receiving your submissions (samples below)!
Organising Committee
Global Informality Project
NO TALKING // NO READING // NO DRAWING (2019)
The Invigilator Research Network (IRN) is an evolving group of visual artists who work as gallery guards, while using their jobs as sites of performance. Produced by this partially anonymous UK network of 16 guards, the 2019 exhibition examines the informal practices contesting the existing rules for invigilators. This contemplative collection of drawing and writing when on duty explores the degree of privacy and freedom at the workplace. Such practices have no collective name: they are less universal than individual doodling at meetings, but more consolidated, even if by word-of mouth, as practices of secret resistance to the gallery management culture. Identifying these semi-covert, knowingly overlooked, or unacknowledged informal practices is a step towards the conceptualisation of the transgressive, bottom-up performances of self-expression by invigilators in art galleries and museums across the United Kingdom.
Author: Invigilator Research Network
Venue: Transforming Finance Conference 2019 by People's Private Equity, University of Greenwich, London
Link to the work: https://invigilatorresearch.org/nodrawing/
Direct link to the catalogue: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1BJ6JGFF1ToKBiSF7QKA8qFlADehnQC-m/view
Gallery: See more
Further reading: Mathur, S. and Singh, K. eds., 2017. No Touching, No Spitting, No Praying: the Museum in South Asia. Routledge
NO TALKING // NO READING // NO DRAWING © 2019 by Simon Farid is licensed under CC BY 4.0 / Attribution 4.0 International
The Informal Museum (2024)
The project emerged from research into informal vending practices and related production networks on Istanbul´s streets. The gained knowledge was then transferred into the museum context, dealing with creative and flexible strategies of art production and how these might enable a more open and participatory form of museum. By editing architectural sections of the venue, the drawings first break with the form of the museum before adding new „informal“ ideas. It´s not their intent to musealise informality, but to create awareness of social groups which are excluded from museum institutions and the art scene.
Author: Helen Hümmer
Venue: Pera Museum, Istanbul, Türkiye
Gallery: The Informal Museum (2024)
As Beru (2024)
The photos attached were taken during the Kazakh custom named As Beru (literally: giving out the meal). It is given to show respect and remembrance of one's ancestors. The host invites guests who are familiar with their ancestors. Usually, guests are people from the same village, colleagues, and other relatives. From the perspective of informality, the host family organizing the event establishes its status and power among other members of the community. This is demonstrated through organization and leading the event (Picture 2) and through financial investments (Picture 3). The event also involves financial donations (bata) for local religious leaders (imam) (Picture 4).
Artist: Madi Zhakupbayev
Date and Venue of Exhibition: 16 June 2024; Dolon Village, Beskaragay District, Abay Region, Kazakhstan
Gallery: As Beru (2024)