Instruments of Memory (IoM) is excited to announce our first open call for archival and family photographs to be exhibited in an online exhibition called "Above and Under the Surface" in the fall 2021. Photo collectors, photo lovers, and the general public are invited to submit digital images of their photographic objects that memorialize or help trace the history of the image, a moment worth remembering, or a historical occasion for our Online Exhibition & Catalog juried by the Rijksmuseum Photo Conservator, Rosina Herrera and Art Historian, Claudia Pretelin. Selected participants will have their images included in the online exhibition, on social media, and in a catalog. Accepted participants will receive a catalog of the exhibition to be released in 2022. The catalog will be available for sale to support Instruments of Memory! We hope you’ll participate and share with your friends!

Categories

Notes of love and other messages (e.g. inscriptions, autographs, dedications, drawings, etc.)
Hidden stories and meanings (e.g. traces of tax stamps on the photograph, stickers, etc.)
Conservation nightmares (e.g. deterioration on the print or photographic object, tape, insects, stains...)
Others

Submission Requirements (*)

Your submission for consideration should include:

1. Applicant’s contact details.
2. One to three digital images of the front and back of your photographic object(s) or print(s). Digital files specs: JPG files 150 dpi — 5MB max; cleared for exhibition and public usage including social media channels.
3. Provide citation information including: authorship, title, approximate date, dimensions, and image provenance.
4. A short description (200 words max) about why you consider this image and its message meaningful to be included in this exhibition.

All submissions should be provided digitally no later than 11:59pm on Monday September 15, 2021 via this form.

*Right of Refusal

IoM reserves the right to reject any or all applications, to waive any informality in any proposal, and to select the applications that best meet the exhibition’s needs. Applications will be considered only in their entirety. Late or incomplete applications will not be considered.

Selection Criteria

Invited juror Photo Conservator Rosina Herrera, along with Instruments of Memory founder and content curator, Claudia Pretelin will make final selections, based on the merits of historical resonance and pertinence to the exhibition theme. The most important criteria to consider is a clear connection to some aspect of oral and visual history evidenced by the image that creates meaningful stories and preserves the voices, memories, and perspectives of people from different regions.

About the Jurors:

Rosina Herrera studied Paper Conservation and Art History before she was trained as a Photograph Conservator in Rochester, NY, at the Eastman Museum’s Advanced Residency Program in Photo Conservation. She worked at MoMA (NY) as an Andrew W. Mellon fellow and has collaborated with the Hispanic Society of New York. In 2014 she joined the Rijkmuseum in Amsterdam (The Netherlands).

Claudia Pretelin is an art historian and the founder and curator of Instruments of Memory. She graduated with a Ph.D. in art history from the National Autonomous University of Mexico (UNAM). Her academic work has specialized in the field of photo history and contemporary art. She has lectured in Mexico, Argentina, and the United States and her work has been published in magazines such as Time Out México, Alquimia, Revista de Arte y Diseño, La Palabra y El Hombre, and Terremoto. In 2016, she created Instruments of Memory a site that documents conversations with women in the arts published as interviews and oral history.