Festival ’26 Open Call – Exhibitions / Installations
Sonorities welcomes proposals for art exhibitions and installations that incorporate sound and listening as a key element.
Deadline for this open call is the 31st August 2025.
A selection of submissions to this open call will be programmed in the new SARC Gallery, an immersive space dedicated to high quality audio-visual work. There will also be a limited number of exhibition spaces at external galleries partnering with Sonorities at locations across Belfast. Selected works will be matched to appropriate spaces by the Sonorities Programme Committee.
The new SARC Gallery consists of a four-sided continuous projection square space and a rig of 16 channel loudspeakers in an equally spaced grid mounted at the ceiling, plus two subwoofers. The space is acoustically treated and invites close engagement with the artwork as well as potential interaction through remote controlled cameras. The AV infrastructure is controlled remotely from SARC’s Control Room. For this space, we invite engaging experimental audio-visual artwork in the following format: 4 channel HD video with 16 channel audio (point source or ambisonics). Selected works will be scheduled to run on a loop or at scheduled times for at least one day during the festival. Video format should be a strip of four times HD from left to right to be mapped to the four projectors. Adjustments through QLab are possible during the installation phase.
Participating artists for this open call must be present on-site during the festival to set up, operate and take down their installation. For technical production of exhibitions and installations programmed at external galleries in Belfast, Sonorities can help with provision of loudspeakers, stands and a computer for playback. Other equipment and any physical construction must be provided by the artist.
To apply, please complete the submission form and submit a proposal (in PDF format) containing:
- Proposal Title
- Names and roles of all artists involved
- Description of proposed work, including duration, and image(s) or diagram(s) indicating layout
- Technical requirements, indicating what you will provide and what you expect Sonorities to provide
- For SARC Gallery submissions, include a download link to audio-visual media (binaural or stereo reduction is possible for the audio)*
- For external gallery submissions, links to online audio/video documentation are encouraged*
*It is the responsibility of submitting artists to ensure that any links provided are operational until the end of the open call review period (i.e. end of September 2025). For online video documentation, streaming platforms with unlisted and other privacy options such as YouTube and Vimeo are recommended. Avoid using platforms such as WeTransfer due to expiring links.
All artists selected through this open call will receive a fee (£100 per local artist, £250 per artist traveling to Belfast to offset travel expenses). Up to three nights’ accommodation can be provided upon request. Sonorities can also provide a letter of support to assist with funding applications to cover additional costs.