Sant Cugat del Valles, Barcelona, Spain. Máximo Tuja aka Max-o-matic is a designer, illustrator, and artist. He works with appropriation art and collage, drawing influences from Oulipo to psychedelia. His work prompts reflection by presenting thought-provoking questions, rather than simple answers. art aims to initiate conversations about the power of perception and the nature of reality.

At The Whitaker Museum & Art Gallery in Rossendale, Lancashire, England through 18 August 2024. “The Lie of the Land” is an exhibition of works by Carolyn Curtis Magri and Déirdre Kelly, wandering pathways, tracing trajectories point to point, exploring isotherms, unfolding narratives with global threads. Evolving from a shared interest in mapping and researching place and creativity through textile-inflected lenses, both artists make particular reference to lace making and a pattern of interconnectedness which relates to both local networking and global diaspora. It is a journey without borders; although there is a difference between gazes, the artists have overlapping viewpoints stretching across the Mediterranean, Malta and Venice and now, here in Lancashire, where both artists have been inspired by The Whitaker Collection and Archives.

Amherstburg, Ontario, Canada. Dee (Denise) Calzavara flips through magazines randomly collecting images that call to her, “Hey, cut me out! You’ll need me someday!” With stacks and stacks of images from magazines, calendars, old books, cards, etc., she pieces these Ready-mades into new images that sprout from her imagination. The mixing and matching of images evolves in an unplanned and playful way, (it’s like the art “Happenings” in the 1960-70s) you don’t know what will emerge. The creative process of collage art absorbs Calzavara in its clutches for hours on end…or until her fingers get so stuck together with glue that she has to stop!

Like other goddesses of myth, Maureen Alsop works at the crossroads, the place where words give shape to images, where images speak back, and our sense of language expands beyond the page. Crafted from the perspective of Écriture Feminine, Alsop’s visual poems engage an intuitive process that conjures buried incidents from our collective history of violence and longing into a series of connected vignettes. Within her vivid and complex juxtapositions, warships and birds, horses and women’s faces, our orientations toward who we see, and what we see, is made new again.

Deadline to Apply: Sunday, 18 August 2024. A week-long, in-person residency in which artists will explore how to adapt their collage practice to game design or incorporate games and play as a theme in their artwork. Play is a critical part of being human. Play is how we try new things, discover new skills, and incorporate new ways of being. Play can also reinforce social bonds and bring us into community with others. Games are an incredible tool for storytelling, worldbuilding, and social engagement. In this residency, we will explore the history of collage and games, gaming and play as a theme for artwork, and brainstorm and workshop our ideas together. We will have dedicated time for playtesting them with each other as well as with gamers who are not artists in order to get feedback from varied sources. We will talk about collage as art assets and illustrations for games, games that use collage as a mechanic, and game diffusion models. Artists will leave the residency with a plan for finishing and distributing their games or artwork. At Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025 residency artists will be invited to debut their games.

Final Deadline: Sunday, 28 July 2024. In five virtual meetings over five weeks and through ongoing, online discussion, we will explore the history of collage on screen and the various ways that collage makes its way to the screen and how collage artists operate in the space of moving images and sound. Unlike two-dimensional art, collage on screen is temporal art, meaning it moves through time. Because of this, viewers experience Collage on Screen not as a linear series of images but as an immersive experience. This residency asks, How do we, as collage artists, make artwork that speaks to that? Residents will make a 30 second film that will be considered for Collage on Screen at Kolaj Fest New Orleans 2025. If selected, the film will be included in Kolaj Institute’s traveling screening program. Artists may also choose to make longer works which will also be considered. Read the full Call to Artists on the website.

Final Deadline: Sunday, 28 July 2024. The goal of the Queer Men Artist Lab: New Orleans takes as its premise that 21st century queer men’s identity is the culmination of decades of construction and ask: What does it mean to be a queer man in the 21st century? and many other questions. The goal is to equip artists with tools and strategies for picking up the unfinished work of history and speak to contemporary civic discourse around social, economic, and environmental issues. Through interactive sessions in the Lab and panel discussions, artists will explore their process and practice; present a slideshow of their work; receive supportive, critical, curatorial feedback about their ideas; and discuss contemporary issues. 

Next Deadline: 31 July 2024 (for Fall 2024 dates). Residents stay in Kolaj Institute’s space in the New Orleans Healing Center, where they will have their own bedroom, and access to a shared kitchen and bathroom with shower. Residents work in Kolaj Institute’s Gallery that includes access to collage making supplies and a printer. The Gallery and Resident space is located on the second floor of a building in the Marigny neighborhood. The wrap-around balcony overlooks St. Roch Market. Residents work independently to complete their plan. At the end of the residency, we meet with the artist to review their progress with them and discuss next steps. Submissions are reviewed on an ongoing basis.