Viewing Program 20/21 

The Drawing Center's, Viewing Program 20/21 is a new initiative that builds upon the organization’s forty-year history of offering opportunities and support to contemporary artists for whom drawing is a central component of their practice. 

Viewing Program 20/21 will offer sixty participating artists mentorship in the form of virtual studio visits by The Drawing Center’s Artist in Residence, Lisa Sigal, and portfolio reviews by The Drawing Center’s curatorial team. From this pool of artists, six artists will be selected by Drawing Center curators to make online presentations centered around a single drawing. Artists will be compensated for their presentations.

An open call for applications to Viewing Program 20/21 will run from October 19 through November 30, 2020.

Viewing Program 20/21 continues The Drawing Center’s longstanding support of contemporary drawing practices and practitioners. In 1977 the organization initiated its original Viewing Program, in which artists from around the globe submitted their portfolios to The Drawing Center’s artist in residence, and were considered for inclusion in Selections, an exhibition series that featured drawings by emerging talents. In 2013, The Drawing Center initiated Open Sessions, a residency program that provided artists the opportunity to participate in an ongoing dialogue with their peers through public events and exhibitions. Many artists who participated in these programs have since made significant contributions to the field of contemporary art, including Zoe Beloff, Berlinde de Bruyckere, Liz Collins, Danielle Dean, Marcel Dzama, Katharina Grosse, Steffani Jemison, Guadalupe Maravilla, Harold Mendez, Julie Mehretu, Ronny Quevedo, Johanna Unzueta, Rodrigo Valenzueal, and Erwin Wurm.

Eligibility 

• Drawing should be central to the applicant’s body of work 
• Applications are open to artists worldwide
• Applications from individuals who have participated in prior programs or exhibitions at The Drawing Center will not be considered
• Applications from individuals presently enrolled in an academic program will not be considered

Timeline 

• An open call for applications begins on October 19, 2020
• Deadline for applications is November 30, 2020
• Selected artists will be notified on December 22, 2020

Additional Details

• Selected artists will participate in virtual studio visits, via Zoom, with The Drawing Center’s Artist in Residence, Lisa Sigal
• Selected artists will participate in a series of online presentations in which each artist will have the opportunity to present a single work selected by The Drawing Center’s curators
• Selected artists will be compensated for their presentations

Application Instructions

• Artist CV 
• Image list, include Title, medium, measurement, and date. 
• 12-14 images of drawings or 5 minutes of video, or 2.5 minutes of video and 6 still images
• Response to the question: How does drawing relate to your artistic practice? (200 word maximum)

About Artist in Residence Lisa Sigal 

Lisa Sigal is an artist based in Brooklyn. Her work has been exhibited nationally and internationally at institutions including the Whitney Museum of American Art, the New Museum, MoMA PS1, SculptureCenter, the Aldrich Contemporary Art Museum, the Albright-Knox Art Gallery, the Brooklyn Museum, Prospect.3 International Biennial in New Orleans, the deCordova Museum, the Essl Museum, LAXART, Samson Projects, the Mattress Factory, and the Anyang Public Art Project. As part of the New York City Department of Cultural Affairs Percent for Art program, Sigal’s art is permanently displayed by the MTA. Sigal is a 2015 Anonymous Was A Woman grantee; a 2012 Art Matters Foundation grantee; a Creative Capital grantee; a 2011 Guggenheim Fellow; a 2002 NYFA grantee; and a 1998 recipient of the Joan Mitchell Foundation Grant and the Elizabeth Foundation Grant. She received a BFA from the Tyler School of Art at Temple University in 1985 and an MFA from the Yale School of Art in 1989. Sigal is a co-founder of Open Sessions at The Drawing Center and is co-director of the Yale Norfolk School of Art’s summer residency program. 

About The Drawing Center

Founded in 1977 by curator Martha Beck (1938–2014), The Drawing Center is a museum in Manhattan’s SoHo district that explores the medium of drawing as primary, dynamic, and relevant to contemporary culture, the future of art, and creative thought. Its activities are both multidisciplinary and broadly historical, and include exhibitions, public programs, publications, and a unique artist-run exhibition program aimed at the contemporary artists’ community.