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Open Call: Third Space Is a Verb Past

Open Call: Third Space Is a Verb

poster credit: Li Tang Team

Open Call: Third Space Is a Verb

Diaspora is often understood as a condition of in-betweenness, a space located between cultures, geographies, and identities. This exhibition’s open call challenges that assumption. It proposes that identity is not a fixed position, but an active process that is constantly constructed, negotiated, and performed through everyday gestures, language, memory, and material practices.

Here, the third space operates as a condition in which artists become active producers of new cultural identities. Hybridity becomes a method, not a label. Belonging is sculpted rather than inherited. This open call invites artists from across the world who approach identity as something always in flux, moving, shifting, and responding.

We are interested in works that move beyond representation and instead function as sites of making, through experimentation, resistance, translation, and transformation, where identity is not described as a condition, but enacted.

Deadline  

July 15, 2026 23:59 EST

Submission Fee

$5

Guest Jury Judges

Matilda Berke

Oorja Garg

Abhishek Tuiwala

Eligibility

Open to all artists 18 years and older from all over the world.

All visual art media will be considered.

Artwork must be original. Artists are responsible for copyright compliance.

Submit

  • Up to 3 images and/ or 1 video.
  • Brief bio and artist statement 
  • CV
  • Portfolio/ website
  • Instagram handle

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 23:59 EST
  • Selected artists will be notified by July 31, 2026
  • Exhibition opens on August 15, 2026
  • Exhibition closes on September 15, 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 MagazineMutt Art Review, the Brooklyn RailImpulse MagazineWhitehot Magazine of Contemporary ArtFilmmaker MagazineSpike 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.

Website/portfolio: matildalinberke.neocities.org

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.

IG: https://www.instagram.com/oorjag/

ABHISHEK TUIWALA

Abhishek Tuiwala is a conceptual artist whose practice spans sculpture and drawing, working primarily with metal, wood, marble, and graphite. His work engages with material as both substance and metaphor, exploring tensions between industry and nature, structure and elasticity, and inherited systems of labor and production. His inquiry is informed by his proximity to Surat, where his family has long been involved in the manufacturing of elastic, creating a personal and industrial framework that continues to shape his conceptual approach.


His work has been exhibited internationally at venues including Gallery LVS (Seoul), the Raza Foundation (New Delhi), L’Space Gallery (New York), Aicon Gallery (New York), Swivel Gallery (New York), Dinner Gallery (New York), Mana Contemporary (New Jersey), the International Sculpture Center
(New Jersey), and the India Art Fair (New Delhi). Tuiwala has received the New Jersey State Council on the Arts Fellowship for his large-scale graphite drawings, 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.

Based between India and the United States, Tuiwala maintains a studio at Mana Contemporary in Jersey City, where he continues to expand his practice through material experimentation and conceptual inquiry.

Website/portfolio: https://www.abhishektuiwala.com

(text&photo courtesy of the jurors)

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.

Categories
Exhibition

Collective Marks and Strokes of Imagination, Li Tang Community 5th Anniversary Exhibition



Poster Credit: Li Tang Community

New York, NY – 𝘊𝘰𝘭𝘭𝘦𝘤𝘵𝘪𝘷𝘦 𝘔𝘢𝘳𝘬𝘴 𝘢𝘯𝘥 𝘚𝘵𝘳𝘰𝘬𝘦𝘴 𝘰𝘧 𝘐𝘮𝘢𝘨𝘪𝘯𝘢𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 marks the fifth anniversary of Li Tang Community, bringing together 31 Asian diaspora artists and art groups from Los Angeles to New York. This exhibition celebrates a vibrant spectrum of practices, each work a gesture of imagination, connection, and resilience.

Founded in April 2020, Li Tang Community is a New York-based, artist-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to amplifying the voices of the global Asian diaspora. Created as a safe space, Li Tang functions as both an assembly hall for open dialogue and a quiet shelter for those seeking support. It is a place to gather because we care—for art, for each other, and for the stories we carry.

As we mark this milestone, the exhibition affirms our belief in mutual support, collective growth, and the courage to embrace our individual paths as we journey onward.

Exhibition Dates 

May 10 – 30, 2025

Opening Reception 

Saturday, May 10 | 1:30 – 6:00 PM

Curators

Webson Ji

Artists

Abhishek Tuiwala, Ami Park, Anh Đào Hà, Ari Fu Hong, Catherine Chun Hua Dong, Cheng Gong, Chengtao Yi, Danyang Anna Song, Ellie Kayu Ng, Han Qin, Hannah Bang, Jiannan Wu, Jingyi Wang, Kimin Kim, Larry Li, Nix Liu Xin, Paul Mok, Sao Tanaka, Se Young Yim, Sin-ying Ho, Sizhu Li, Sophie Ruoyu Zhang, Suki Violet Su, Timon I, Xianglong Li, Xin Song, Xinan Helen Ran, Yang Mai, Yue Zhou, Zhen Guo, zzyw

Venue 

THE BLANC | Ground Floor
15 E 40 St, New York, NY 10016

Community Friend

Accent Sisters 
A Space Gallery
Fou Gallery
RainRain Gallery
Site
Tutu Gallery
VillageOneArt
7s Art

Contact

iinfo@litang.community

About Li Tang Community

Li Tang Community is a New York-based artist-run 501(c)(3) nonprofit organization dedicated to amplifying the creative voices of the worldwide Asian diaspora. Founded in April 2020, Li Tang Community aims to feature the works and talents of today’s most innovative Asian practitioners working in the varied fields of art, design, and contemporary culture.

Website: www.litang.community
Instagram: @litang.community

About THE BLANC

Located in midtown Manhattan, THE BLANC is a versatile and dynamic hub for artistic innovation and expression. Our mission is to build an inclusive and transformative space that champions emerging artists and professionals, and to offer our community access to New York’s vibrant cultural landscape. 

Through diverse programming—including exhibitions, performances, public events, keynotes, workshops, panels, and incubator initiatives—THE BLANC offers artists, designers, and creative entrepreneurs unique opportunities for professional exploration and growth. We are dedicated to fostering interdisciplinary partnerships to bridge the institutional gaps between the educational, commercial, and administrative branches of the art world in the hopes of reimagining the professional world of art.

THE BLANC empowers our artists to push artistic and professional boundaries and engage with and shape their worlds in meaningful ways. By nurturing the next generation of creative visionaries, we strive to cultivate a thriving, global community of talents.

Website: www.theblanc.art
Instagram: @theblanc_ny

Team Credit

Director: Webson Ji
Event Manager: Adrian Cameron
Event Assistant: Sophie Ruoyu Zhang
Visual Designer: Adela Sun

Co-producer: THE BLANC Team

(text & photo courtesy of Li Tang Community x THE BLANC)