Not for what was, but for what still lingers.
Z-2025open call
︎ what: collective exhibition
︎ who: no restrictions
︎ when: end of October 2025 (exact dates TBC)
︎ where: TBC ( Tokyo - JP )
︎ submission fee: 10 $ single image / 25 $ series
︎ deadline: 30 September 2025
︎ announcement of selected works: 5 October 2025
Photographers, artists, authors, video artists and designers from anywhere in the world can submit their work, without any limitations on age, approach, or technique.
Whether it is a single photo, a series, a drawing, a video or mixed-media, anything that can be printed on paper or show on a monitor is acceptable for submission.
After the payment is completed, you will receive a link containing detailed instructions for uploading your files.
Whether it is a single photo, a series, a drawing, a video or mixed-media, anything that can be printed on paper or show on a monitor is acceptable for submission.
After the payment is completed, you will receive a link containing detailed instructions for uploading your files.
︎Overview
Not for what was, but for what still lingers.
Inspired by "dustsceawung" an Old English term for “the contemplation of dust”, in this quiet act, we look at the fine grey drift settling in the light.
Not as an absence, but as a persistent echo. It is the lingering trace of all that we build and love, the material evidence that the past is never truly gone, only transformed.
In a world frantic with acquisition and obsessed with pristine permanence, we invite artists to embrace the radical act of looking at what remains. We seek works that challenge the myth of perpetual growth and the fear of decay, finding meaning not in possession, but in the graceful, inexorable process of dissolution.
︎Intent
We are calling for submissions of photography, moving image, installation, and mixed-media works that give form to this lingering. How do you picture the slow erasure of time? What is the texture of a fading memory? Can an object narrate the story of its own unmaking?
We value conceptual rigor and aesthetic precision. Whether your practice is documentary or experimental, the work should demonstrate a profound engagement with the theme, where the medium itself becomes a carrier of the message of impermanence.
︎Mission
Where our previous inquiries traced the subjective architectures of dream and memory, this call turns to the material evidence of their collapse. The exhibition will be a collective exhibition dedicated not to disappearance itself, but to its after-image. It rejects sentimental lament in favor of a clear-eyed meditation on the nature of value.
By assembling a collection of works that confront the mortality of all things, we aim to prompt a collective rethinking of legacy, ownership, and consumption.
︎Keywords
1. Entropy
2. Impermanence
3. Residue
4. Erosion
5. Trace
6. Absence
7. Materiality
8. Decay
9. Echo
10. Lingering
This overview is intended to provide context, not to limit your artistic expression. You may choose to focus on any single aspect of these themes/keywords.
Should the curators deem it necessary, you will be asked for additional text to contextualize your submission.
︎Selected participants
Selected artists will have their work exhibit in a group exhibition, the artwork for the exhibition will be printed by zerofeedback.
Additionally, each selected artist will receive a catalogue of the exhibition, with only the shipping costs to be covered by the artist.
The exhibition will take place in Tokyo, we are still deciding the gallery.
Stay tuned for more details.
> For any inquiry regarding this open call write to: opencalls @ zrfdbck.com
> To ensure to keep you updated, all email addresses provided by submitters will be added to our mailing list.
Not for what was, but for what still lingers.
Inspired by "dustsceawung" an Old English term for “the contemplation of dust”, in this quiet act, we look at the fine grey drift settling in the light.
Not as an absence, but as a persistent echo. It is the lingering trace of all that we build and love, the material evidence that the past is never truly gone, only transformed.
In a world frantic with acquisition and obsessed with pristine permanence, we invite artists to embrace the radical act of looking at what remains. We seek works that challenge the myth of perpetual growth and the fear of decay, finding meaning not in possession, but in the graceful, inexorable process of dissolution.
︎Intent
We are calling for submissions of photography, moving image, installation, and mixed-media works that give form to this lingering. How do you picture the slow erasure of time? What is the texture of a fading memory? Can an object narrate the story of its own unmaking?
We value conceptual rigor and aesthetic precision. Whether your practice is documentary or experimental, the work should demonstrate a profound engagement with the theme, where the medium itself becomes a carrier of the message of impermanence.
︎Mission
Where our previous inquiries traced the subjective architectures of dream and memory, this call turns to the material evidence of their collapse. The exhibition will be a collective exhibition dedicated not to disappearance itself, but to its after-image. It rejects sentimental lament in favor of a clear-eyed meditation on the nature of value.
By assembling a collection of works that confront the mortality of all things, we aim to prompt a collective rethinking of legacy, ownership, and consumption.
︎Keywords
1. Entropy
2. Impermanence
3. Residue
4. Erosion
5. Trace
6. Absence
7. Materiality
8. Decay
9. Echo
10. Lingering
This overview is intended to provide context, not to limit your artistic expression. You may choose to focus on any single aspect of these themes/keywords.
Should the curators deem it necessary, you will be asked for additional text to contextualize your submission.
︎Selected participants
Selected artists will have their work exhibit in a group exhibition, the artwork for the exhibition will be printed by zerofeedback.
Additionally, each selected artist will receive a catalogue of the exhibition, with only the shipping costs to be covered by the artist.
The exhibition will take place in Tokyo, we are still deciding the gallery.
Stay tuned for more details.
> For any inquiry regarding this open call write to: opencalls @ zrfdbck.com
> To ensure to keep you updated, all email addresses provided by submitters will be added to our mailing list.