OPEN
/CALL
/2025
We are looking for artists to join the Art For All Festival – Success & Glory, taking over the shopping center Easton Hansakäytävä in Itäkeskus from 22 to 24 August 2025! Propose your artwork via an open call by July 6th.
Money, grind and consumerism! Steps on the way towards Success & Glory. Art For All Festival of 2025 invites reflections on what success means in contemporary society.
Through the theme SUCCESS & GLORY the festival explores narratives and ideals in a society that pushes individualism, competition, and constant self-development. Evolve or perish! Be the best version of yourself! Behind success narratives are stories of people who are messy, complicated, and exhausted. What about when your efforts do not succeed? Does contemporary society allow failure?
The festival takes place in Itäkeskus in East Helsinki. The area was built from the 1960s onwards as a modernist car city situated in the crossroads of major highways, hypermarkets and parking lots. Fossil economy was harnessed for better quality of living for all. Behind Itäkeskus were utopian visions of society: an urban machine where people worked, lived, and consumed.
In the eyes of the City of Helsinki however the utopia did not succeed. In 2019 the City launched an architectural competition for a new Center of East Helsinki. As a result of the competition major urban renewal is planned leading to demolition of many of the area’s landmarks, including our festival venue.
In the midst of the City’s visions for success are the local people. Since its construction Itäkeskus has become home to many immigrant communities and cultures. Many small businesses and entrepreneurs have operated for years in the shopping malls such as Easton Hansakäytävä. As a result Itäkeskus is home to an exceptionally vibrant and diverse urban culture in Helsinki.
We invite artists to look beneath the surface: what do concepts such as success or places such as shopping centers mean in the context of Itäkeskus?
We welcome artworks from all fields of art (from installations to dance and music performances). We are looking for works to be exhibited in the weekend long exhibition as well as time specific performances as part of the festival opening programme.
The festival takes place in the empty spaces of the shopping center Easton Hansakäytävä.
You can get to know the venue and the different spaces by clicking here.
CALL FOR WORKS WITH LOCAL BUSINESSES
As part of the open call we are inviting artists to create works that engage with the businesses of the shopping center.
What are the stories behind the shops in Easton Hansakäytävä? Some businesses have been in the shopping center for years, building a clientele and connections to the local community. What meanings are embedded in the building from the perspective of those who work there from dawn to dusk?
What do artists and entrepreneurs have in common? The seemingly different worlds share similar experiences of self-employment, precarity and constant competition. What joys and challenges can passion towards one’s work, be it in the arts or running a business, lead to? Who takes care of the local shopkeeper?
We invite artists to build a dialogue with the community of the shopping center. Those artists proposing a collaboration will be connected with the local businesses by the festival team. The businesses can be the topic of the proposed work or possibly the space where the work is exhibited (this has to be agreed upon with the business in question together with the artists, business, and the festival team).
The collaborations with local businesses compose a subsection of the open call. Artists are also able to propose their independent works to be exhibited in the empty spaces festival venue with their own topics and themes.
Open call starts
10th June 2025
Send by
6th July 2025 23:59
RESIDENCY
AND PRODUCTION
AND PRODUCTION
The festival will take place 22.-24.8.2025.
Final production and installation of the works will be carried out during the “Mall Residency" on-site at Easton Hansakäytävä 18.-21.8.2025.
We offer a five-day residency at the venue for the artists to explore the shopping center and the area, engage the local community and meet the working group. The program includes workshops, conversations and curatorial support.
During the Residency, the participants will have time to get to know one another and will receive technical and curatorial support from our festival team: young professionals working in different fields of artistic production.
Project compensation
Festival can provide a small 200€/project (tax included) compensation to the artists and working groups for the artistic work.
Project materials
AFA also provides general communication, publicity, quality documentation and curatorial and limited technical support in Finnish and English language.
At the moment we are not able to provide accommodation or travel expenses.
The festival team will provide artists with:
👁 a 200 euro fee
👁 material support in installation
👁 logistical support
👁 curatorial support
👁 technical equipment (within reasonable demands)
👁 quality documentation of each work
👁 working spaces (with electricity and running water)
👁 storage spaces for materials and personal belongings
👁 space for resting and eating (with a kitchen)
👁 space for exhibiting their work
HOW TO APPLY
Go to the online application.
Fill in the details.
Upload the application materials.
Documents/Materials checklist
Write your project/artwork proposal (max 500 words). Please leave out all personal information of you or your working group so that the applications can be assessed anonymously.
Supporting material for your project, for example sketches and technical needs in an ANONYMOUS PDF-document. Please leave out all personal information of you or your working group so that the applications can be assessed anonymously.
Write a brief letter of motivation about why you want to participate in AFA festival 2025 (max 500 words).
CV and/or Artist statement. (Will be used only to check the balance of the selected artists after the anonymous selection)
SEND YOUR APPLICATION!
Drag to move/Click to zoom
SAFE SPACE
Art for All is committed to safer space guidelines.
The festival will follow the principles of a safe work environment.
ART FOR ALL
Art for All ry supports artists and art workers at the beginning of their career and offers a network of peer collaboration. With this mission in mind, the AFA Festival is a platform offering students and emerging talent across Finland visibility and an opportunity to grow. The Festival team puts into practice their knowledge and creativity as artists, technicians, communicators, photographers, curators, project managers, to bring the Festival to life.
Art For All ry was started by students and alumni from the University of the Arts and Aalto University. The first edition of the AFA Festival took place at Malmi Airport Hangar in August 2021, the second on in Kaisaniemi Botanical gardens 2022, and the third in the residential buildings of Kalasatama neighborhood in 2023.
END NOTES