Difference between revisions of "Informal Art"

=='''Open Call for Papers and Artistic Contributions'''==

<big>'''Global Informality in the Arts'''</big>

At the same time, the accompanying exhibition ''''The Impossible Encyclopaedia: Informality in the Arts', Pushkin House (January-February 2026, dates TBC)''', will showcase the artworks already realised that challenge conventional categorisation, exploring themes of decolonisation, visibility/invisibility, subversion, resistance, post-humanity, self-care and environmental care, among others.<br>

The conference and exhibition are organised as part of the interdisciplinary research initiative, [[Global Informality Project]], led by the FRINGE Centre with support from the UCL School of Slavonic and East European Studies. Since 2014, the project has explored the social and cultural complexity of informal practices worldwide, culminating in the publication of three volumes of ''The Global Encyclopaedia of Informality'' (UCL Press, 2018, 2024). '''All accepted papers could be included in Volume 4.'''<br>

'''Themes and panels:'''

We aim to address the complex, anonymous, unpredictable, and seemingly irrational nature of informal power, which serves to hold society together, distribute resources, and mobilise people; and above all, to control and co-opt to ensure its own reproduction. Each contributor of a paper, art or performance is invited to capture, visualise, or reflect on patterns of complexity and ambivalence (doublethink, double motivation, double-deed, and double standards) among others.<br>

For more information on how informal power works, see [https://www.alenaledeneva.com/art www.alenaledeneva.com/art].<br>

'''Informality and Creative Labour'''

Informality is deeply intertwined with creative labour, manifesting both in the precarious conditions of cultural work and in the networks of support, collective resilience and collaborative action that sustain it (Alacovska 2018).<br>

This panel takes a transnational perspective on informality in cultural production, bringing together diverse perspectives on how informal labour practices simultaneously challenge and sustain creative work. Panellists will explore issues ranging from the insecurity and precariousness of cultural employment to the forms of collaboration that emerge within creative ecosystems. Examining these dynamics in different contexts will shed light on the sometimes hidden social infrastructures associated with creative work.<br>

'''Lecture Performance and the Edges of Performative Informality'''

Lecture performance is perhaps the most misunderstood and liminal medium in contemporary art. It can be likened to the metaphorical 'Bermuda Triangle' between experimental theatre, artistic performance and academic lecture. Museums and other 'formal' institutions have traditionally struggled with the disciplinary nature of the medium.<br>

The Lecture Performance Archive project will serve as a reference point and documentation site for the panel's interventions - [https://linktr.ee/lparchive https://linktr.ee/lparchive.].<br>

The workplace is a hierarchical site of constraints, competing motivations and performances. In response, workplaces are often also sites of informal tactical resistance and subversion by workers. These practices are covert (and sometimes deliberately overlooked) tactics that can result in unsanctioned spaces and moments of worker agency.<br>

This panel explores how such workplace actions sometimes produce art - whether through artworks that use agency-producing tactics, covert artistic practices that take place in the workplace, practices that (mis)use aspects of the artist's daily work, or artworks that share the spirit of informal, ad hoc responses to restrictions.<br>

We welcome submissions from researchers working on art-in-work issues as well as from artists working under these conditions. Contributions may include panel participation, short paper presentations, or submissions of completed artworks for inclusion in the accompanying exhibition at Pushkin House.<br>

'''Protest Art and Informality'''

'''Visibility/Invisibility'''

Visibility is never neutral. It is shaped by power, by apparatuses that range from satellites and surveillance systems to the movement of a cursor and the gaze of an eye. In our daily lives, telepresence – especially videoconferencing – has become an informal yet deeply structured practice of being seen and unseen. This panel explores the artistic tactics that emerge within these conditions: the ways in which visibility is negotiated, erased, or subverted. How do informal gestures – glitches, distortions, refusals – reshape what can and cannot be seen? How does the act of looking become a form of governance, and how can it be disrupted? What are the sanctions of the visual, the thresholds beyond which visibility becomes exposure, risk, or disappearance?<br>

'''Submission guidelines:'''

We welcome submissions from scholars, artists, and practitioners working on the themes outlined above.<br>

*'''Deadline for abstract submissions:''' 1 September 2025<br>

*'''Abstract length:''' 250-300 words<br>

*'''Formats accepted:''' Papers (15-20 minutes), lecture performances, artistic interventions, and completed artworks (please include photos or websites for exhibition consideration)<br>

Submissions should include the title of the proposed paper or artistic contribution, an abstract, a short biography (150 words), and whether the participant intends to present in person or online.<br>

For further information about the project, please visit [https://www.in-formality.com the Global Informality Project].<br>