


CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS TO OUTSIDER ART FESTIVAL 2023!
Outsider Art Festival celebrates cultural equality and invites all artists in the field of outsider art to join the festival. OAF will be held in August 2023 as part of the Helsinki Festival.
Outsider Art Festival connects international art audiences, outsider artists, cultural professionals and influencers. Outsider Art Festival is a multi-disciplinary showcase festival in Helsinki and online. OAF showcases art that is made in the marginals of the society. OAF gives power to artists to make choices and define what is outsider art. OAF creates new space and encounters to bring diverse people together. Equally, side by side.
OAF gives voice to the Finnish outsider artists by presenting a vibrant collection of music, visual arts, performing arts, films, literature and life stories. The full festival programme will be announced in April 2023.
In 2022, the festival organized 34 live events and 13 online and radio events, reaching a total of 8,800 people. The events took place at Pertti’s Choice, Helsinki Central Library Oodi, Helsinki Art Museum HAM, G Livelab Helsinki, Music Centre’s Club and Mediawall, Hospital Nova, Radio Helsinki and the Online Stage. The festival was described as inspiring, communal, diverse, fun, different, and joyful.
OPEN CALL - INSTRUCTIONS FOR APPLICANTS
Join the Outsider Art Festival! The artists of the festival are selected by open call submissions. The admission process is open 24.10.–30.11.2022. You can apply for one or more art field categories. The art genres of the festival are film, performing arts, literature, music and visual arts. The artist residency is aimed at artists living outside of Finland.
You can apply by filling in the application form below. Please read the terms and the privacy policy carefully before submitting your application. The selection criteria for each art genre are explained in detail in the application forms.
Artistic decisions and curating are made by the festival’s artistic team. The team consists of outsider artists and artistic mentors from the fields of music, visual arts, film, literature and performing arts. OAF is developing a model of inclusive curation that enables outsider artists to have equal involvement and influence in the arts field.
The team expects to receive experimental, bold and surprising submissions and fresh ideas. The artists are offered the chance to explore and answer the question: what is Finnish outsider art?
Please send all questions and other concerns regarding the festival and the open call to the production team. The selection team does not respond to questions concerning the selection process. Festival production is managed by Pertti’s Choice. Contact us by email: info@outsiderartfestival.fi.
More information about last year’s festival: www.outsiderart.fi.
OPEN CALL FOR OAF ARTIST RESIDENCY FOR INTERNATIONAL ARTISTS!
Outsider Art Festival is looking for an international artist for artist residency. The admission process is open 24.10.–30.11.2022. The aim of the residency is to support international collaboration in the outsider art field. Any outsider artist can apply, regardless of their art field. The works of the residency artist will be showcased at the festival in 2023.
The duration of the residency is three month in total. It is possible to complete the work period either entirely in Finland, partly remotely and in Finland or completely remotely. The time of the work period can be decided by the artist. Please present a project plan and explain how you intend to use the 5 000 € budget (fee, travel, accommodation).
OAF is developing a model of inclusive curation that enables outsider artists to have equal involvement and influence in the arts field. OAF wants to be as flexible as possible in terms of implementation and gives the artist the freedom to implement the working period as they wish. The team expects to receive experimental, bold and surprising submissions and fresh ideas for the art residency.
You can read more about the artists in residency of 2022 Malin Karlsson and Marianne Schmidt here and check out the film created during the residency by Marianne Schmidt here.