Open Call: Third Space Is a Verb
Li Tang Gallery is pleased to announce our open call for submissions for the upcoming online exhibition, Third Space Is a Verb. This exhibition invites artists to reconsider identity not as a fixed place, but as an ongoing action. Moving beyond conventional understandings of diaspora as a condition of in-betweenness, the exhibition explores how identities are continuously constructed, negotiated, and transformed through memory, language, movement, labor, and material practice.
We welcome artists whose work engages with hybridity, cultural translation, migration, belonging, and the creation of new forms of identity. We are particularly interested in works that approach identity as a process of making rather than a stable condition, where experimentation, resistance, adaptation, and transformation become active forms of cultural production.
Artists at any stage of their career are invited to submit their work for consideration by our distinguished jury, Matilda Berke, Oorja Garg, and Abhishek Tuiwala. Selected works will be featured in an online group exhibition curated by the Li Tang Gallery team and promoted through our website, social media platforms, and international outreach channels.
Deadline
July 15, 2026, 11:59 PM EST
Submission Fee
$5
*All fees collected will be divided between Li Tang Community, Inc. and Jury
Guest Jury Judges
Matilda Berke
Oorja Garg
Abhishek Tuiwala
Eligibility
Open to artists 18 years and older worldwide
Primarily seeking 2D and wall-based works like Painting, Video work, Performance documentation, Photography suitable for virtual exhibition presentation
All visual art mediums will be considered
Artwork must be original and artists are responsible for copyright compliance
Submit
- Complete the submission form and donate the submission fees.
- For exhibition submissions: Provide an artist bio (150 words max) and upload up to 3 images of your work.
Submitted images should be renamed as follows
Firstname_Lastname_Title_Medium_Dimensions_Year. jpeg
Jpeg files should not exceed 1MB. Selected artists will be contacted for high-resolution images.
For video submissions, time-based or kinetic artwork can be presented in videos limited to 2 minutes. For security reasons, we cannot access sites with passwords or download attachments from the web.
We do not accept submissions via email.
Timeline
- Submissions will be accepted until July 15, 2026, 11:59 PM EST
- Selected artists will be notified by July 31, 2026
About Jury
Matilda Lin Berke
Matilda Lin Berke is a New Yorker from Pasadena, California. She has written theory and criticism for publications including Purple Fashion Magazine, Mutt Art Review, the Brooklyn Rail, Impulse Magazine, Whitehot Magazine of Contemporary Art, Filmmaker Magazine, Spike Art Magazine, and The Whitney Review. She teaches at the Center for Fiction in Brooklyn and has also published fiction and poetry. Her second short film premiered at Olney Gleason.
Oorja Garg
Oorja Garg is a curator currently based between New York and New Delhi. Her practice moves between research, exhibition-making, and critical writing, foregrounding speculation, archives, and play as curatorial methods. She examines how contemporary art engages science, fiction, games, and popular culture to question dominant narratives of technology, identity, and history. Garg holds dual master’s degrees in Curatorial Practice from the School of Visual Arts and in Art History from the MS University of Baroda.
Abhishek Tuiwala
Abhishek Tuiwala is a conceptual sculptor whose practice examines identity, labor, and social structures through materials that carry cultural and personal associations. His work spans sculpture and large scale installations, and he is currently developing installations using elastic strips that explore adaptability and behavioral flexibility. He is the recipient of the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship, the Rema Hort Mann Artist Community Engagement Grant, the Stutzman Foundation Award for Sculpture, and awards from the Bombay Art Society and the Hyderabad Art Society.
https://www.abhishektuiwala.com/
(text & photo courtesy of the artists)
Contact
If you have any questions regarding the submission process, please reach out to info@litanggallery.com.
*Li Tang Gallery Disclaimer
The Li Tang Gallery team will not be involved in any sales related to the Materiality Unleashed International Juried Exhibition. All sales inquiries will be redirected to the respective selected artists, who will handle all transactions independently.
Additionally, the Li Tang Gallery team kindly requests permission from the selected artists to utilize their artwork images for promotional purposes. We understand the importance of respecting artists’ rights and will ensure proper accreditation and permissions are obtained.
Li Tang Gallery 