How to make a good exhibition application!

The application period for Hippolyte’s exhibitions in autumn 2021 and spring 2022 is now on, and will continue until the end of May 2020. There are two exhibition spaces, the larger being Photographic Gallery Hippolyte and the smaller Hippolyte Studio. The applications are processed by the exhibition committee of 3-5 members, who are all also members of the Association of Photographic Artists. Exhibition slots are applied for using an online form and you can read more about the application procedure from here.

But how to make an exhibition application?
The online application form should be accompanied by an appendix describing the proposed exhibition, along with curriculum vitae, image and text examples that support the exhibition concept. The purpose of the exhibition application is to convince the exhibition committee of the interestingness, professionalism, and feasibility of the exhibition. Be sure to consider your own motivation to implement the exhibition right now and in the space you have just chosen. Do you want to run the exhibition without funding, and how?

What is a good application like?
The application must clearly state the key issue of the exhibition; how does the exhibition relate to society, the field of photography, and the contemporary art field in general? The exhibition plan tells the committee what, why, how, when, who, and with whom the exhibition is to be realised. A meaningful, and well and clearly executed application is strong. The language of the application should be mainly written commonly, and pictorial and textual examples should be clear. Remember to weed out unnecessary factors! The plan may also be incomplete, as long as the main issues are clear from the application. Contact information in the exhibition plan itself facilitates the work of the exhibition committee. You can find the exhibition process as a graph from here.

Good luck with your application!

images: Milla Talassalo (Karl Ketamo, Figures, December 2019) &
Eija Mäkivuoti (Sheung Yiu, The Twinkling of an Eye, January 2020)