Free-for-All
Call-out to Artists:
Reimagining Our Common Wealth
Does “free-for-all” mean a chaotic deregulated unraveling of order and structure? Or, does it meaninclusion, access, responsibility and voluntary cooperation?
This mixed-media exhibition will connect histories of resistance to land enclosure and privatization, with open-source creators who challenge patenting and copyright law through the digital commons.
We invite artists, makers, and digital commoners to submit work and shape an exhibition that:
builds a community of like-minded artist-activists.
challenges and changes dominant narratives about our “common wealth.”
embraces environmental responsibility in theory and practice.
celebrates the public domain as a space for collective creativity and shared knowledge.
highlights the vital role of art and artists in a world ready for change.
This could include:
Traditional media
Installations
Performance
Digital art.
Short films.
3D-printed and digitally fabricated works.
Together, let’s explore how art can inspire, disrupt, and contribute.
Curators Theo Weywood (l) and Deborah Weymont (r)
Curators Theo Weywood (l) and Deborah Weymont (r)
Curated by Deborah Weymont and Theo Weywood
Mother and son artists Deborah Weymont and Theo Weywood are exploring the commonalities in their own art practices and how to situate them within the wider discourse they occupy. Working in different ways with similar themes they hope to bring an intergenerational dynamism to the curation process and exhibition.
Deborah is a retired special education teacher and art therapist. She has made art all her life and has exhibited regularly in group shows and open studios in Bristol.
Deborah works with ‘wild clay’ dug from common land and land enclosed by the crown, church and landed aristocracy. She digs surface clay and uses it to make natural pigments, pastels clay bodies and glazes. She then make artefacts which invite us to see the world differently and tell new stories about our ‘green and pleasant land’.
Theo is a creative technologist and designer who has worked on research projects exploring innovative, digitally fabricated affordable housing and has designed sustainable, inclusive playgrounds through the Green Play Project. His artwork draws on a Brutalist, Constructivist, and New Tendencies aesthetic, aiming to engage and activate the viewer. Themes of nostalgia for municipal ambition and optimism for community resilience run through his work.
Through his art practice, Theo explores ideas and methodologies at the intersections of design, architecture, and digital manufacturing. He is deeply committed to the concept of the commons, viewing it as a hopeful and practical framework for addressing contemporary challenges.
To submit your work: please email the Curator free@fringeartsbath.co.uk including:
NB: please include the exhibition / project name in the email title.
max 200 words about your work and how it fits the call-out (written, audio file, video or another way to suit you).
some images of the work, or links to video / performance work (or existing work if it hasn’t been made yet).
any relevant links, if you have them (though it’s not a requirement and Curators might not have the capacity to visit them all).
of course please include any questions you have.
you might not hear back from Curators until after the deadline, thank you for your patience.
Fringe Arts Bath Festival will take place 23 May to 7 June 2025
Submission deadline: Friday 11th April 2025 at 23h59 GMT
Media accepted: All media, including but not limited to performance, film, installation, sculpture, photography, video, sharing of practices.
Free submission. All are welcome to apply, of any age, status, and from anywhere in the world.
If selected, we ask Artists for a £22 contribution (like crowdfunding) and/or to give some of their time, as we are all volunteers. Please read our FAQs here to find out more.
See all 20 projects open to submissions on our home page: fringeartsbath.co.uk