FINESTRERIA (WINDOWRY)
March 2020 request module

Finestreria is a call for artists aimed at emerging talents. the contest relies on the no-profit cultural association Overground, founded in 2014. its specific aim is to
create local collaborations leading to social cohesion. Finestreria also collaborates with studio ipogeo, founded in 2017 in milan, as an artist studio and exhibition space.
From our window, our gaze is directed towards contemporary art in any of its
forms: flash mob, painting, poetry, video art, installations, performances, happening, audio, digital art and much more. The art that fascinates us is imperceptible, relational, utopic, urban, art with no expressive boundaries to limit the artist’s personal research. Because of the coronavirus pandemic, 2020 seems to be a continuous succession of poetic of plan b’s and improvised ideas.

Finestreria stems from the idea of creating an online gallery, “a windowry” via the only place that today enables us to come into contact with the external world: the window. Us italians need to have a self-certification document in order to leave our houses, to justify every movement. Going out is only allowed if strictly necessary: if we do not have a good reason to leave the house, in doing so we are committing a crime and our criminal record won’t be clean anymore. We are allowed to: go to work, exercise within 200 metres of our house, or take a walk alone with our dog.
We do not need a self-certification document to watch the sunset from our balcony, to watch the streets from our window, and to show the world our most profoundly creative truth.
As Italian artist Alberto Garutti once said during one of his lectures, “we may watch what a bee is doing and ask ourselves what it is thinking”, but only to the extent that this freedom does not surpass the rectangular limits of the window that enables us to observe the external world. The window, in 2020, is the most open space that we know and we cannot but relate to ourselves and to others through it.

Italy will officially be a “red zone” until the 3rd of April, 2020, even though we all are expecting this quarantine to potentially last much longer. Italians are quarantined, and in a short time the whole world could come to be too. In our houses, we take walks within our rooms to protect ourselves and those around us.

HOW ARE YOU?
This question has never sounded as profound as it does today. How are you spending your time during this quarantine? What is happening in your country? What do you see from your window?
Do tell us.

DEADLINE
Artwork is to be submitted no later than 23:59 on the 30th of March, 2020. No later than the 5th of April, the participants will receive an e-mail with the list of the week’s winners. The second series of artwork is to be submitted no later than 23:59 on the 6th of April.
No later than Sunday, the 12th of April, the participants will again receive an e-mail with the list of the week’s winners. This will continue for the duration of the quarantine. Every week an artist will be randomly selected and their work will be exposed.
The material will not be returned, instead it will be published in the Finestreria’s online social platforms (on Facebook and Instagram). Every week only one artist will be selected for this, and the images will tell the story of 2020 from their point of view. Artists of every nationality, age, and ethnicity are welcome, and as for the artwork there are no expressive limits.
The call is open to everyone and no fees are required. The completed artwork is only to be sent through the email address finestreria@ gmail.com.