OPEN CALL: Szombathely Mural Commission 2023

PARTNERS: Department of Foreign Affairs, Embassy of Ireland Hungary, City Of Szombathely, Istvan Szantho – the Mural Workshop and Project Arts Centre, Dublin.

The Project: Bloomsday, Szombathely, Hungary

Bloomsday, Szombathely has an ongoing, annual mural project and will present its new iteration in June 2023. In June 2022, artist Aideen Barry presented her mural work in the city of Szombathely to great acclaim. We are delighted to announce that this project will continue in 2023 and the partners wish to invite applications from artists based in Ireland to take part.

The Bloomsday project attempts to map the various references to Leopold Bloom (the protagonist of James Joyce’s novel Ulysses) in the city of Szombathely, Hungary. According to the book, Bloom’s father, Rudolf Virág, is from the city. This reference has given rise to a number of cultural projects that draw on this fictional history and try to enact real-world connections: to Ireland and to the artistic legacies of the 20th-century avant-garde.

For more details on the 2022 edition of the project please visit: https://projectartscentre.ie/announcing-a-new-public-art-commission-by-aideen-barry/

We would ask artists to submit a 300-word proposal, a CV/bio and 5 images (at least 1 of which is of previous work and at least 1 of which relates to the proposal). Links to video or audio submissions are welcome (2 mins max). All materials should be gathered into a single PDF document.

The artwork should be inspired by either episode 5 or 6 of Ulysses. Here are some images of the site for the 2023 mural artwork are displayed at the bottom of this news post.

The fee for the Project will be €2500, along with materials, travel accommodation and per diem. Artists should be available to travel to Szombathely, Hungary between 1-17 June for the installation and opening of the artwork

Deadline for applications: Noon, Monday 5 December 2022

Final decisions will be communicated by Friday 16 December

The applications will be shortlisted by Project Arts Centre’s Artistic Director, Curator of Visual Arts and artist Aideen Barry. The final selection will be made by representatives from each of the project partners.

Please submit your application by email to submissions@projectartscentre.ie (we will accept Dropbox or WeTransfer links). You can also send any questions and queries to this email address.

The partners welcome applications from all artists working in visual forms but would like to encourage applications by artists from a diversity of national, ethnic or cultural groups (including, but not limited to Asian, Black, Traveller and minority ethnic, refugees, people with disabilities, working-class and LGBTQI+ artists). We are committed to accessibility and want to make sure that our opportunities are accessible to all artists. If any additional supports are required to enable you to take up this opportunity, please include the details in your application. We will work with you to see how we can help remove any barriers, within a limited budget.