Open Call – Drift Work

29 July 2026

Drift Work invites submissions from artists exploring coastal environments through material, memory, and transformation. We welcome works that consider marine and coastal life, ecological change, erosion, salvage, and the objects, traces, and stories returned by the tide. The exhibition explores the shoreline as a space of exchange, where natural forces, human histories, and more-than-human worlds meet.

Drift Work brings together emerging artists whose practices explore the shifting ecologies of coastal environments through material, memory, and transformation.

Taking the shoreline as a place where natural processes and human histories converge, the exhibition invites responses to marine and coastal life, erosion, tidal movement, salvage, wreckage, and the objects the sea returns. From thriving ecosystems and changing habitats to rusted structures, washed debris ashore, and traces of industry, Drift Work considers the coast as a living archive, shaped by weather, time, and continual exchange. This open call seeks work that reflects on the interconnected relationships between land, sea, people, and the more-than-human world, offering new perspectives on resilience, coexistence, and ecological change. We are interested in practices that examine the coast as a place of transition, where ecological systems, material histories, and human intervention continually reshape one another. Whether through observation, research, storytelling, material experimentation, or speculative approaches, we welcome submissions that respond to the complexities of coastal environments and the forces that define them.

Applications are invited from emerging artists, current students, and recent graduates working across all disciplines.

More information and how to apply can be found here.