Open call: DISTRACTION

Artwork by Xanthe Dobbie

This open call is closed.

See the DISTRACTION exhibition in gallery July 2025 - May 2026.

Science Gallery Melbourne is inviting proposals for projects to be included in our 2025 show DISTRACTION.

DISTRACTION will plug into the streaming torrent of content and the places our brains go when we want to focus on anything but the thing. You know… that thing you’re supposed to be doing right now? Your distraction of choice could be scrolling through videos, daydreaming or escaping into a digital universe. When we are bouncing around the whirring, flashing pinball machine of existence - is our wayward attention a way of coping with the chaos?  


With a hundred tabs open and endless avenues to explore, we are inviting submissions exploring the playful ways we distract ourselves from the more serious parts of life. We have access to more than we can ever absorb, how do we harness the cacophony of content and find meaning within it? 

With the aim of keeping it light and avoiding the doomspiral, some potential key perspectives / starting points / sub themes include (but are not limited to): 

  • Escapism 

  • Play 

  • Technology, video games, digital augmented realities 

  • Perceptions of time 

  • Information overload, memes  

  • Boredom, stimulation, daydreaming 

  • Work vs leisure, who gets to decide what is productive? 

  • Focus, attention 

  • Mindfulness, emotional regulation  

Some considerations:

This open call invites you to propose installations and research projects that can operate in a shared-space group exhibition context in a non-traditional gallery environment, where the light and sound conditions aren’t constant. Projects selected via our open call are generally funded for up to $8000 AUD (Australian dollars), which includes all fees, materials, freight, and other project costs. Please note that this is a maximum amount, not a target amount. Unfortunately, at this stage, we are usually not able to include travel costs in this budget. These projects will be open to the public for approximately four months attended by upwards of 30,000+ people, with a focus on 15–30-year olds. We value projects that are simple in their invitation, opening the door for complex debate and ongoing enquiry. We love projects that are iterative, interactive, contribute to genuine research and that are interdisciplinary. We love humour, provocation, speculation, and irreverent ideas that entertain people first and then educate them. The project you propose can be a new idea, in-development or evolved for another presentation, or existing works that are ready to go. 

Open call closes Wednesday, 20th March 2024 at:

Atlanta time: 08:59 EDT (UTC-4)
London time: 12:59 GMT (UTC 0)
Bengaluru time: 18:29 IST (UTC+5:30)
Melbourne time: 23:59 AEDT (UTC +11)

FAQs

  • Opening early 2025

  • The Submittable platform we use it coded to Eastern Standard Time as the company is based in the United States. We are based in Melbourne (Australian Eastern Standard Time) and working across international time zones. The times listed above are all the one moment in time across the globe. Please check what time it is in your location when it turns *** on ****** in US Eastern Standard Time to work out when the application form will close for you (or better yet just submit earlier).

  • Approximately 3 months from the closing date of the application, depending on how many we receive.

  • Yes, our space and exhibitions are designed with accessibility in mind and we encourage submissions to consider access needs of our audiences. Our gallery is wheelchair accessible and the building contains an audio hearing loop for audio descriptions of the exhibition. Science Gallery exhibitions do however always include bold audio-visual works that encourage audience participation - often containing moving parts, light and sound. The development of a show is a wild ride but we try to find a balance.

  • You can write in the question fields of the form, upload a video, provide a link, submit in Auslan or audio- whatever is the most accessible form for you! You can submit in a non-English writing, but please note that we only have the capacity to put the words through Google translate.

  • Yes! We will just ask someone to be the primary applicant on the form for ease of communication and administration.

  • Yes.

  • In this application, we are just looking to understand your projects financial viability within this budget scope- so give us a simple breakdown. We are looking to see that you know the idea you’ve pitched is realistic. If your project is selected, we will negotiate costs in consideration to what you supply and what we can supply. Projects with co-funding are considered.

  • Watch this video to get a sense. The space is approximately 1000 square meters with wide-open areas, moveable walls, large glass windows, natural light and high ceilings. There will be sound bleed and a bustling atmosphere.

  • The applications are reviewed by staff and a curatorial panel of young people. The first round helps us decide what applications we don’t think will work for the exhibition and what applications we want to review again, more in-depth. First impressions matter. Then the selected applications are reviewed with the curatorial panel and hotly debated. Then we make a shortlist and invite applicants for interviews to find out more. Then we undertake the fickle job of curating and make a final selection.

  • Yes, we strongly encourage applications from everyone, encompassing the full diversity of lived experience both local and global. Further info on the University of Melbourne's Diversity and Inclusion Strategy can be found here.

  • Young people are at the heart of what we do. 70% of audiences are under 30 years old and our exhibitions are created with young people in mind. It’s important that you think about how this audience will connect with your work.

  • We will consider anything, but keep in mind the exhibition duration and how robust your work needs to be for the size of our audiences. We accept risky work and ideas that might involve unusual materials, living organisms or materials that need ongoing maintenance. But of course, people’s safety is our number one concern. Haze, strobes, and extremely loud and constant noise (over 65db) is probably not going to work in this exhibition context.

  • Yes, we will consider these for public programs and one-off events. It’s worth letting us know about your project. Generally, though, we won’t spend the same amount of time and resources on a one-day activity as a four-month installation. So, think about the scale of what you are pitching in relation to budget.

  • Not for the first round sorry, we just get too many and don’t have the capacity. We can provide feedback for shortlisted applications we have interviewed.

  • Let’s gloss over that this isn’t technically a question to say: Fantastic! We want to know about your practice. Come join us as we embed research and knowledge within the fabric of all our programs. We want to connect you with the public, creative practitioners, academics, and industry both locally and globally.

If you have any questions or would like additional support in the application process, please ask a question below or reach out to us via email at info@Melbourne.sciencegallery.com 

Other network wide Frequently Asked Questions are answered here.

 

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