‘Costs of Living' exhibition 2024
Dates: Tuesday 30th April – Sunday 5th May 2024
Information for participants
THE PROJECT
What does ‘cost of living’ mean? It is, of course, different for each of us, and Wikipedia defines ‘cost of living’ as “the cost of maintaining a certain standard of living”. But we intuitively have an idea of what lies behind and beneath the headline.
Although currently in the daily news, the issues and consequences around the ‘cost of living’ have, of course, always been with us. We tend to define it in purely economic terms, and money does shape life expectations, choices and chances, alongside factors such as race, gender, disability and age. The effects and consequences can, though, be expressed through class, wealth, housing and health outcomes, etc.
We are, therefore, looking for submissions that interpret the theme in the widest possible sense and context – in terms of the ‘costs of living’ and the price to be paid – to form a depth of creative, documentary responses. For this project, we won’t be setting a strict time limit for when images were taken, opening up the possibility of making connections across time. This will offer opportunities to highlighting continuities and differences, persistent inequalities and social injustices, and contrasting life choices and chances. For curation purposes, then, we are looking to receive images perhaps taken over years and decades, but also in the last few years.
IDEAS AND WORK IN PROGRESS
As an integral part of the project, we will be developing, over the months leading up to the exhibition, an ongoing, dynamic website gallery of ideas – please follow this link.
We’ll encourage participants, and anyone interested in exploring the themes, to submit ‘works in progress’ (and accompanying short texts) – either directly to admin@photobath.co.uk, or via our social media; we will select images, from time to time, for our gallery of ideas. Such images are intended to focus on process, not final images, and to expand, not limit, possible creative responses to the theme – a sketchbook of ideas for our community of participants and steps on the road to the exhibition. [Format for ‘work in progress’ submissions: 1920px (longest side) at 72dpi.]
SUBMISSION PROCESS
The exhibition is open to any photographer and it is free to submit up to three images for final consideration for inclusion in the exhibition later in 2024. There will only be a charge if one of your images is chosen and that cost will include framing, printing, venue hire and publicity: likely to be around £60. Fees will be due on notification of selection in mid-July and will need to be paid within 10 days of that date. Further details on payment will be emailed to participants after the final selection process. We will offer appropriate discounts for students. It should be possible for any participant who prefers to print their own image to do so, provided they contact us first. Again, the appropriate discount will apply.
FINAL SUBMISSION DEADLINE, FORMAT AND RULES
All images to be sent to admin@photobath.co.uk on, or before, 30th July 2023. Participants may submit up to three images for consideration, and they can be in black and white, or colour. Images should be formatted, where possible, within our favoured 3:2 ratio, and at 1920 pixels (longest side) and at 72dpi
If chosen, the final exhibition print image will need to be submitted at 1920px (longest side) and at 300dpi. Actual print size in centimetres will be determined by the curation team and successful participants will be contacted nearer the time with specific details.
Successful applicants will be expected to submit a short introduction/bio about themselves, and how they have responded and interpreted the theme. A short paragraph will suffice.
Title and contact details, including date and location, should also be provided.
THE EXHIBITION
The exhibition venue is situated in the centre of Bath and the show will run for a week from 29/04/24. All chosen images will be featured on our website and printed in a souvenir exhibition zine. In addition, images that do not make the final exhibition will also have a presence on the website, an exhibition slideshow and in the zine.
CURATION
A panel of 6 recognised photographers will meet during summer 2023 and choose approx. 20 images for exhibition in the show. 10 images will be printed at a large size, the other 10 images at A3 size. Decisions on sizing will be made by the curation team and will be dependent on exhibition flow and the nature of images submitted. It is expected that 6 spaces will be reserved for active PhotoBath members, 4 spaces for student work and the remaining 10 spaces for other participants.
We recognise that technology is constantly evolving and may affect the authenticity of an image. As a documentary group we reserve the right to refuse images that in our opinion, are overly manipulated at the creation stage e.g use of AI technology
COPYRIGHT
The submitting photographer owns the copyright to all of his/her images. The photographer grants the PhotoBath a non-exclusive right to use submitted images to promote and publicise the call. PhotoBath reserves the right to use images within the scope of its own non-profit associational activities. The Author, whose name will always be attributed to the work, maintains in any case his/her moral rights in regard to the work, in addition to the intellectual property rights to the same.
CANCELLATION
If for any reason the exhibition cannot run as planned, PhotoBath reserves the right, to cancel, terminate, modify or suspend the exhibition. If PhotoBath elects to cancel or terminate the exhibition, it will not retain any rights to the submitted photographs and will return any entry fees paid. All decisions regarding this exhibition will be made by the PhotoBath exhibition team and as such, are final.
Thanks for engaging with this project and we hope that the outcomes will provide an informative and creative visual document For any further information please feel free to contact us at admin@photobath.co.uk. We look forward to receiving your submissions.