Open Call
We are delighted to announce an open call for our pavilion as part of The Wrong Biennale, 7th Edition. Our online pavilion, The Doughnut (W)Hole, will feature the work of ten artists, five of whom will be selected from this open call to join an artist-led cohort. The pavilion will be curated by Kim Shaw, former Director of Photofusion. In keeping with this year's biennale theme, this call is for artists working with absence who also utilise AI – either directly, with reference, or in response.

We are open to all kinds of work, but it must be possible to present digitally.

There is no fee to enter.

Selectors:

Dr.Flora Dunster, Sam Mercer,
Christiane Monarchi and Kim Shaw
.


Theme  We are looking for five artists to join our pavilion, a doughnut stand, what else?!

We are looking for work that experiments with absence, that endeavours to fill the hole in the doughnut or perhaps argues that the hole in the doughnut is what makes the doughnut, well, whole.

We are interested in how absence shapes our experiences. How ‘lack’ creates meaning. Whether wholes need holes. If your work experiments with these ideas, if absence is present in your practice, please read on!

The search for what is missing, for what has been lost, has long captured the attention of artists. How do you capture the presence of an absence? How do you contend with the holes? Sometimes the artistic solution is fairly straightforward. The Family of King Henry VIII (artist unknown), for example, is a dynastic painting which sought to reunite Prince Edward with his mother, Jane Seymour, who died when Edward was two weeks old. Sometimes the work is more abstract, such as Rothko’s large canvas invitations to be enveloped by the void, to almost feel it on your skin.

Psychologists believe that confronting what is lost or what is missing is driven by one surprising emotion – hope. The hope that something will be found, illuminated, resolved, healed.

It’s your hope-filled journey that we are interested in.

Selectors                          We are honoured to have Dr. Flora Dunster, Sam Mercer, Christiane Monarchi and The Doughnut (W)Hole’s own curator, Kim Shaw, helping us with selection.  

Dr. Flora Dunster:
Dr. Flora Dunster is co-author of Photography: A Queer History (2024) and Course Leader of MA Contemporary Photography: Practices and Philosophies at Central Saint Martins. She completed a CHASE/AHRC-funded PhD from the University of Sussex and was a Paul Mellon Postdoctoral Fellow, with her writing published in journals including Third Text and The Routledge Companion to Global Photographies. She has presented her research at international conferences, including the Association for Art History and at institutions, The Photographers' Gallery and Studio Voltaire.

Sam Mercer: Sam Mercer is an artist, curator and producer. Since 2014, Sam has been working at The Photographers' Gallery, London, curating projects for the Media Wall and online, and assistant curating the exhibition All I Know Is What’s On The Internet. In 2019 and 2020, Sam co-curated Data / Set / Match, a year-long programme of commissions that sought new ways to present, visualise and interrogate scientific image datasets. Recent exhibitions and projects include Imagin(in)g Networks (2021-2022), Aarati Akkapeddi – A-kin (2022), Between Worlds (2023) and Planetary Portals – I am in your dreams but you are not mine (2025).  

Christiane Monarchi: Christiane Monarchi is the founding co-editor of Hapax Magazine and founding editor of Photomonitor, which has published over 1,400 features online since 2011. Through Hapax Magazine, she commissions international lens-based artists to create new photographic work that departs from their established practice, with content appearing only in print and not online. She regularly reviews artists' portfolios, mentors emerging photographers, and currently serves as a Trustee of the Centre for British Photography, having previously served on the boards of several photography institutions, including Photofusion.

Kim Shaw: Kim Shaw is an American artist and curator based in London. She is the former Director of Brixton-based NPO Photofusion (2015–2024), where she was responsible for delivering the organisation’s objective of supporting under-represented artists alongside delivering Photofusion’s artistic programme. She has chaired a number of panels, including On the Making and Materiality of Photography at London Art Fair and On Photography at The Photographer’s Gallery. She has been nominated for the Royal Photographic Society’s 100 Heroines. In 2024, she completed her MA in Contemporary Photography, Philosophy and Practice at Central Saint Martins. Her personal practice, which often takes the form of institutional critique, includes photography, sculpture and installation. Kim is the lead curator of The Doughnut (W)hole.

Programme


We are building a programme which includes the following so far:


  1. An IRL opening event at Hapax Living Room in London, 1st November 2025

  2. Followed by artist talks and workshops at Hapax Living Room, 2nd/3rd November 2025

  3. A commissioned essay by participating artist and writer Sarah-Jane Field responding to the exhibition 

  4. A publication compiled and edited by the artists’ cohort. Additional events and activities are in development.


More in the pipeline!

Apply

Please use this
Online Application Form

or download a
Word Application Form

and email to

thedoughnutwhole@gmail.com

Our online form requires a Google account for file uploads. If you are applying via the downloadable document and email instead, please share example files via links that won't expire. Please use the subject heading ‘Open Call Doughnut (W)Hole’ in your submission email.
    DEADLINE 15th AUGUST 2025


    Confirmed Artists

    Maria Ahmed investigates historic and contemporary languages of the image through collage and appropriation, with a practice encompassing photography, books and moving image. Her most recent artist’s film, Epistemologies, was screened by Turku Video Arts festival in Finland in March 2025. Maria’s self-published artist’s books have been shortlisted for international book awards, including Images Vevey, Belfast Photofestival, Skinnerboox/ Fotografia Europea and Fiebre. Maria’s interactive moving image work The Smooth Space is the Habitat of the Nomad was commissioned by Format photography festival in 2022, as part of Kipya Ki (What’s New?).


    Evangelia Danadaki is an artist and researcher working with video, performance and film. Her work is situated at the intersection of visual art, feminist philosophy and psychoanalysis, conceptualising imaging as a practice of plurality and affection. Currently, she is a PhD candidate at the University of Leeds, in the School of Fine Art, History of Art and Cultural Studies as a recipient of the Amanda Burton Scholarship, and an Associate Editor at Parallax. Recent work has been presented at the Association for Art History (University of York, 2025), the American Comparative Literature Association and the Samuel Beckett Society Conference (University of Edinburgh, 2025 and California State University, 2024).


    Sarah Deane is a visual artist exploring how personal and cultural histories are remembered, forgotten, and reimagined—particularly through the lives of women. Through photography, collage, and archival materials, she layers, fragments, and reconstructs images to revisit personal and cultural histories, with a focus on memory, place, and transformation. She was recently awarded a bursary from Galway Arts Centre and Galway Culture Company, as well as funding from Galway County Council, to experiment with AI in her visual arts practice. Her work All that is solid… received Honourable Mentions in the AI categories of the Tokyo International Foto Awards and the B&W International Photography Awards.


    David Koh is a Singaporean-American artist exploring the intersection of technology, humanity and cultural identity through hybrid digital-physical works, interactive media installations and web-based art. He earned his MA in Fine Art from Central Saint Martins in 2023. David has exhibited internationally, including in Germany, Italy, USA, France and Mexico. He co-curated De-Oriented, featuring emerging Southeast Asian artists (London, 2022) and was an artist in residence at Objectifs photography centre (Singapore, 2022). His work was recently profiled in Art & Market magazine.


    Sarah-Jane Field works with text and image. Recent work includes generated images in Prompt Magazine (2025),a meditation titled Prompt-Engineer for Lexiconia, a research project creatively exploring terms used to describe generative AI processes (2024), and Beyond Romanticism: Relationship Advice for the Now for Source (2023). In 2022, her project why is there an astronaut in a field of flowers/ was exhibited and awarded by Format Photography for Future Focus, Quad Gallery, Derby. Sarah-Jane is looking forward to joining The School of Materialist Research for their 2025 Summer School.


    About The Wrong Biennale

    The Wrong Biennale is an expansive, decentralised art event that unites artists, curators, institutions, and the public through a global exhibition of exhibitions. Organised and hosted both online and offline by independent curators, it showcases selected digital artworks within pavilions and embassies worldwide. The Wrong has earned widespread recognition and accolades from the global press, art community, and public.  It has received awards such as SOIS Cultura and an honorific mention from the European Commission’s S+T+ARTS prize. The Wrong is an institutional member of the International Biennial Association.

    From an article titled What’s Right About the Wrong Biennale? in The New York Times (2018); “Counting its viewership in the millions, The Wrong just might be the world’s largest art biennale — the digital world’s answer to Venice. To visit, art lovers needn’t purchase a plane ticket, book a hotel or queue outside galleries: Admission requires only internet access...

    The Wrong’s magic lies in the sense of discovery yielded by a simple click.”
     


    FAQs? 


    1. What media are acceptable? 
      We are seeking work made with AI
      OR
      in collaboration with AI technology: a human/machine joint venture,
      OR work that references generative technology and the image more widely. 
      We are open to the myriad ways you might use or respond to AI. We have no preconceived ideas about what your collaboration might look like. AI may be your partner in crime, a silent partner, or the theme of your work. You may submit photography, sculpture, a social media-based project, a game or something else. It needs to be possible to present digitally.  

    2. Can I submit work that was not made with AI? 
      Yes? To quote The Wrong Biennale, “Is this edition about AI? Yes. Can you choose to fully avoid AI as an artistic statement? Yes!” 

      Can you also go full throttle with AI? Of course. 

      We’re interested in seeing it all!

    3. How will the work be exhibited?  
      This website will become both a portal and a container. If suitable, your work could be contained on these pages, or the site might link to another domain, such as a gaming site or a social media platform or a video hosting site; whatever works best for your artwork and/or the curation. Part of the selection process will be figuring out how best to make concepts speak to each other within and across this and the wider networked space.

    Contact us:thedoughnutwhole@gmail.com 

    Terms and Conditions
    By submitting work to The Doughnut (W)Hole open call, you acknowledge that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by the following terms and conditions;

    Submission and Participation

    No Submission Fee: There is no fee required to submit work to this open call.

    Voluntary Participation: All submissions are entirely voluntary. By submitting your work, you confirm that you are doing so of your own free will and without coercion.

    No Payment: There will be no payment, compensation, or financial remuneration for selected artists or their contributions. Participation in The Doughnut (W)Hole pavilion is voluntary.

    Rights and Permissions

    Usage: By submitting your work, you grant The Doughnut (W)Hole, The Wrong Biennale, and associated curators the non-exclusive right to;  

    • Display your work within The Doughnut (W)Hole digital pavilion
    • Promote your work through associated marketing materials, social media, press releases, and publicity
    • Include your work in any programming, events, or publications related to The Doughnut (W)Hole pavilion
    • Archive your work as part of The Wrong Biennale's permanent digital collection.

    Permission Requirements: You must provide names, links, and other identifying information only with the explicit permission of their owners. You warrant that you have obtained all necessary permissions for any third-party content included in your submission.

    Ownership: You retain full ownership and copyright of your submitted work. The rights granted above are for exhibition and promotional purposes only.

    Editorial Control and Curation

    Curatorial Discretion: The curators of The Doughnut (W)Hole reserve the right to;

    • Select which works will be included in the final exhibition
    • Where necessary, determine the presentation format, duration, and context of selected works within the possibilities available to the curatorial team.

    Quality Standards: All submissions must meet the technical and artistic standards required for digital presentation within The Wrong Biennale framework.

    Exhibition Details

    Duration: The Doughnut (W)Hole pavilion will be accessible from November 1, 2025 until March 31, 2026.

    Format: Selected works will be presented digitally as part of The Doughnut (W)Hole’s and The Wrong Biennale's online platforms and may be featured in associated in-person events.
    Associated Programming: Your work may be included in related events, discussions, publications, or educational materials connected to The Doughnut (W)Hole pavilion.

    Warranties and Representations
    By submitting, you warrant that:

    You are the original creator of the submitted work or have obtained all necessary rights
    Your work does not infringe upon the intellectual property rights of any third party
    You have the legal right to grant the permissions outlined in these terms
    All information provided in your submission is accurate and truthful.

    Limitation of Liability
    The Doughnut (W)Hole, The Wrong Biennale, and associated curators shall not be liable for any loss, damage, or expense arising from your participation in this open call or exhibition.

    Governing Law

    These terms and conditions shall be governed by and construed in accordance with the laws of England and Wales.

    Contact
    For questions regarding these terms and conditions, please contact: thedoughnutwhole@gmail.com
    By submitting your work to The Doughnut (W)Hole open call, you confirm that you have read, understood, and agree to be bound by these terms and conditions.

    Last updated: 2 June 2025
    The Doughnut (W)Hole - The Wrong Biennale 7th Edition