EN CREUX / Call for applications
*en creux = underlying: intrinsic, elemental
The CRP/ Centre régional de la photographie Hauts-de-France turned 40 in 2022.
As part of the celebrations, the CRP/ is launching a commission. The call for applications is aimed at professional photographers and artists. The CRP/ will support and accompany the creative process piloting all of the projects through the creative direction.
Four photographers will be chosen by a jury of industry professionals presided by the CRP/ to create a personal piece of work.
The subject matter of the work produced must touch on the iconic Mining Basin of the Nord-Pas de Calais, to reflect the tenth anniversary of its inclusion on the UNESCO World Heritage List.
The Mining Basin, an integral part of the CRP/’s DNA, represents the region’s industrial past, and its storied heritage on a social, economic, architectural and historical level. It is also the focal point of many of the region’s questions about the future in terms of ecology, landscape transformation, heritage and transition to other sectors of activity and ties in with much of the CRP/’s research, given that it is located in Douchy-les-Mines, in the very heart of the region.
In the spirit of the Mission Photographique Transmanche, which forms the core of the photography archive at the CRP/, this new commission aims to continue to develop the collection, clearly affirming its continuing support for photography that is rooted in the region’s issues of representation.
The CRP/ is looking for works that presents an original, innovative, interactive, participatory and/or artistic approach.
The Mining Basin
The Mining Basin was added to the World Heritage List in 2012 as a “cultural landscape”. This once rural region stretches from the Belgian border to the east, to the hill of Artois to the west and is peppered with technical and architectural treasures left by three centuries of coal mining. It spans 120 kilometres from east to west, covering a wildly diverse range of buildings and landscapes. In order to better represent the wealth and diversity of the region, the World Heritage List includes 353 heritage sites and 4,000 hectares of landscape, from Condé-sur-l’Escaut to Enquin-lez-Guinegatte.
These elements include the now iconic slag heaps, hoists and headframes, that have truly become part of the landscape in the Mining Basin. Other landmarks are equally representative such as mine shafts, railway lines, company offices, mining towns, and all the community establishments (churches, schools, town halls, pharmacies…). The latter bear witness to the way the mining companies took care of the miners and their families “from the cradle to the grave”.
While the perimeter outline on the World Heritage List might seem fragmented, it cannot be reduced to a collection of sites or individual monuments. The entire Mining Basin is included in the distinction. The 353 remarkable assets are the components of a landscape that allows us, still today, to take in the history of the past three centuries.
For more information: http://bassinminier-patrimoinemondial.org/en
Calendar
Call for applications opens > February 2nd 2022
Call for applications closes (strict limit) > April 1st 2022 at midnight
Jury session and announcement of the four winning projects > April 2022
Work on the piece/ pieces > late April 2022 – February 2023
Pre-submission interviews > March 2023
Submission of finished piece/ pieces (to be defined) > 2023
Once the four winners are announced, the pieces will be commissioned from each photographer. They will each have ten months to carry out their project. Each photographer will receive a grant of 6,000€ (incl VAT). This grant will cover the research and production phase of the project (not including the final production of the pieces), expenses, fees and intellectual property rights. CRP/ will pay the sum on receipt of a bill from the photographer.
The terms of the project will be outlined in a contract between the CRP/ and the photographer. The artistic direction of the entire project will be carried out by the CRP/, that will supervise and support the creative process through individual and collective meetings at each stage throughout the process.
In March 2023, at the end of the creative process, there will be an interview with the artistic director where the photographers will deliver their finished project in the form of a portfolio.
The final production of the photographs, the valorisation of the projects, and the rendering in a form yet to be determined, as well as the conditions under which the pieces will become part of the CRP/ collection, will take place during the second phase, in 2023.
Eligibility
The call for applications is open to all professional photographers and artists, over the age of 18, both French and non-French.
Applications
Applications are to be submitted online as a .pdf file no bigger than 8 Mo to: encreux40@gmail.com.
The application should include:
– A portfolio presenting the artist’s work (10 pages max.),
– A note from the artist presenting their project, how they intend to carry it out and their personal and artistic motivations (1 page A4 max.),
– A curriculum vitae (1 page A4 max.)
Incomplete applications will not be considered.
In tandem with the Mission Bassin Minier
With support from the DRAC Hauts-de-France