Future Focus 2021

About

QUAD and FORMAT have a long-standing history of supporting early-career artists through mentoring sessions, training opportunities, work experience, internships, portfolio reviews and exhibitions - with the FUTURE FOCUS programme, that was initiated in 2001, being a focus of support. The recent FUTURE FOCUS Open Call was aimed at graduates from UK based BA Degree courses who graduated in 2020 and 2021 – during the Covid-19 pandemic – but were unable to exhibit their final work or were limited in opportunities to show their work. Submissions to the Open Call featured a range of artistic disciplines including: photography, painting, illustration, graphic design, animation, performance, installation, sculpture, and moving image.  

Our aim was to offer emerging creatives an opportunity to exhibit their work in our main Gallery space, along with a range of exhibition bursaries, awards, portfolio reviews and mentoring support. In addition, those shortlisted but not selected for exhibition would have their work shown on QUAD’s Resource Area Big Screen, that is situated at the entrance to our main gallery.

70 artists were longlisted from the Open Call, with 25 artists selected for the final shortlist. Seven of the shortlisted artists: Armaghan Fatemi, Ash//Ella, Benjamin Hall, Sarah-Jane Field, Takudzwa Chandiwana, You Hah Kim and Yuhong Wang will have their work exhibited in QUAD’s main gallery from 29 January to 27 February 2020. The selected artists will also be eligible for a series of special awards, including the QUAD Award, FORMAT Award and the John E Wright print Award, as well as the Audience Award that will be presented during the exhibition period.

In addition to the seven exhibiting artists, the remaining 18 artists from the shortlist of 25 who will have their work featured in a looping slideshow on QUAD’s Resource Area Big Screen are: Alana Lindsay, Alexander Komenda, Anna Sturgeon, Annabelle Richmond-Wright, Ben Dawson, Callum O'Keefe, Daragh Drake, Eden Sandy, Eleanor Sykes, Jasmine Pope, Khadija Cecile Niang, Megan Watson, Miriam Levi, Radek Wyjadlowski, Risa Ueno, Rosie Dale, Sophie Holden and Tina Salvidge. 

QUAD/FORMAT would like to thank everyone who submitted to the FUTURE FOCUS Open Call and congratulate everyone who made it to the Longlist and Shortlist stages. Our jury had an incredibly hard decision to make considering the high quality of emerging talent who applied. The jury comprised a range of artists, writers and curators, including: Abbas Zahedi; Gabrielle de la Puente and Zarina Muhammad of The White Pube; Lucy Sollitt; Maitreyi Maheshwari; Jamila Prowse and Saziso Phiri, and QUAD/FORMAT curatorial team: Louise Fedotov-Clements; Niamh Treacy; Jodi Kwok and Peter Bonnell.

The FUTURE FOCUS exhibition is co-curated by Nimah Treacy (FORMAT Festival Coordinator); Jodi Kwok (QUAD Assistant Curator) and Peter Bonnell (QUAD Senior Curator) and will take place at QUAD from 29 January 2022 - 27 February 2022. A launch event will take place on 28 January, details to be announced soon. 
 
The FUTURE FOCUS Open Call was organised by QUAD in partnership with FORMAT and Picter.  QUAD and FORMAT are generously supported by Arts Council England, Derby City Council and University of Derby.