Wilder LIC is a May 2018 multimedia group exhibition produced by Flux Factory taking place at the Windmill Community Garden.  This open call, with a February 11 deadline, invites proposals for artworks which address how multimedia art can promote local community building and urban agriculture.

Wilder LIC is curated by Lorissa Rinehart and Nat Roe. Alex Nathanson is the designer of a new solar power system at Windmill to enable electronic works, amplified sound, video works, and education.  Wilder LIC is a Flux Factory Group Exhibition; four times every year, Flux Factory commissions new artworks on distinct curatorial themes for month-long group exhibitions which are always free to the public.

Curatorial statement:
In his recent book Feral, George Monboit discusses his theory of ecological boredom that posits much of the existential ennui experienced by urban denizens is a result of our self-distancing from the wild in favor of more homogeneous landscapes. To advance this idea further, one might postulate that our evolutionary biology seeks and yearns for biodiversity, recognizing this as the keystone of a sustainable environment. Simultaneously, our contrary desire is to find safety in the controlled and understood leads us to create places where the other is wholly absent.

Thus we find ourselves increasingly migrating to megacities devoid of any contact with what one might call nature as even city parks are highly regulated spaces where an errant leaf is cause for a gas powered blower. Outside the city is hardly better as agribusiness monoculture creates unbroken seas of Roundup-ready cash crops. By banishing any hope of the aleatory, these barren spaces inhibit imagination and creativity.

This exhibition seeks to channel what is wild through familiar media and technologies in order to create an accessible platform for new ideas about ecological and cultural diversity. It suggests the wild can be understood as a complicated system necessary for the perpetuation of life as we know it, rather than chaos that should be simplified and abolished. Finally, this exhibition encourages artists, scientists, programmers, and designers to work together and borrow from each other to create new lenses through which we might see and experience our wilder nature.

How to apply:
Wilder LIC will commission 2d and 3d works both temporary and permanent; a series of afternoon potlucks and performances; electronic and multimedia works; educational workshops; gardening and ecological projects; and more.  Wilder LIC particularly invites works which take advantage of Windmill’s new solar-powered electric system.

Submissions are due by February 11.  Email your submission to wilderLIC@fluxfactory.org.  Send a project proposal (include images, video or other documentation as appropriate), along with information about your past work (CV, bio, website or portfolio are all acceptable).  Feel free to email us with questions or comments!

About the Windmill Community Garden:
Located across the street from Flux Factory, the Windmill Community Garden was founded in 2016 and is a permanent GreenThumb NYC Park.  The Garden is led by three neighborhood nonprofits including Flux Factory, The Growing Up Green Charter School, and the Dutch Kills Civic Association, in addition to local community members.  To keep up with Windmill, follow us on Facebook or request to join our Google Group by clicking this link.

About Flux Factory:
Founded in 1994, Flux Factory is a Long Island City nonprofit Artist-in-Residency providing affordable space and resources to a collective of emerging artists who produce prolific free public exhibitions in Flux’s gallery.  Flux creates open calls for new works four times a year with our Group Exhibition series, of which Wilder LIC is a part.  Flux also solicits applications for our Artist-in-Residency twice a year, with the next open call in March 2018.  The best way to learn about Flux Factory events is by subscribing to our mailing list.

Support for Wilder LIC is provided by Friends of Flux, the Andy Warhol Foundation for Visual Arts; the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs in partnership with the City Council; the New York State Council on the Arts with the support of Governor Andrew Cuomo, the New York State Legislature; and generous support is provided by the Partnership for Parks Capacity Fund Grant.  Do consider donating to make more free public programs like this possible!