Registration for Critical Mass 2012 is now open.
Registration closes July 16, 12 noon Pacific Daylight Time.
What Is Critical Mass?
The aim of Critical Mass, and all Photolucida programming, is to provide participants with career-building opportunities and to promote the best emerging and mid-career artists working today.
Critical Mass is a program about exposure and community. The idea is simple—photographers (from anywhere) submit a 10 image portfolio for $75 ($90 for international submissions). This work is then pre-screened by a committee of approximately 20 great jurors. From those votes, the 200 top Finalists are determined. These 200 Finalists then pay an additional submission fee ($200) and their work goes on to a jury of approximately 200 of the world’s best photography professionals who have agreed to view and vote on the Finalists’ work. Using these votes, at least one photographer is chosen to receive a book award and once the monograph is published, everyone who enters and juries will receive a copy of the book.
What to expect?
As an entrant to Critical Mass, you shouldn’t necessarily expect feedback from the jurors unless they want to contact you about doing something with your work. Jurors are given the opportunity and encouraged to provide written feedback, but we can only guarantee that:
Everyone who enters will receive a copy of the Book Award Winner’s monograph.
Everyone who enters will receive a DVD containing all of the submitted work.
Everyone who enters will have their work seen, and voted on, by the Pre-Screening committee.
Those who continue on in the top 200 Finalists will have their work seen, and voted on, by over 200 jurors.
Book Award!
This year, Photolucida is excited to co-publish the book award winner’s monograph with exemplary publisher KEHRER VERLAG. The book award winner will be chosen from among the top-scoring Finalists. The book award is reserved for artists without a previously published monograph. Photographers with self-published books are still eligible for the book award. If you already have a monograph, you still have over 200 great reasons to participate in Critical Mass!
Other Awards!
In addition to the book award, Photolucida is pleased to partner with Blue Sky and The Center for Fine Art Photography in offering a solo show to two Critical Mass Finalists. Founded in 1975 as the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Blue Sky is one of the leading venues exhibiting contemporary photography in the United States. The Center for Fine Art Photography was founded in 2004 in Ft. Collins, Colorado, and it provides educational programming, exhibition space, and support services to the photographic community.
The illustrious W. M. Hunt will curate an exhibition from the Critical Mass Top 50. In summer of 2013, the exhibition will travel to the following locations:
Jennifer Schwartz Gallery, in Atlanta, Georgia
Southeast Museum of Photography, in Daytona Beach, Florida
And, additionally, Photolucida is awarding three “golden tickets†to our popular Portfolio Reviews event in April, 2013. Three names will be randomly chosen from the Finalist group for an opportunity to attend Photolucida’s Reviews gratis.
International Scholarships
Each year, Photolucida awards five scholarships to photographers who live and work outside the US. In previous years, scholarships have been given to photographers from Poland, Italy, Mexico, The Netherlands, and Georgia. This year, we are pleased to offer this opportunity to five select photographers from Guatemala.
Procedure
Critical Mass has a two-part submission process.
First you pay a $75 registration fee to upload your images and text. ($90 for international entrants due to increased international shipping rates). We will then format your work and distribute the pages to the pre-screeners for scoring.
The 2012 Pre-Screening committee comprises the following people:
Alexa Becker, Kehrer Verlag Publishers
Fabian Gonclaves Borrega, Art Museum of the Americas
Julia Dolan, Portland Art Museum
Roy Flukinger, Harry Ransom Center
Hamidah Glasgow, Center for Fine Art Photography
Cherie Hiser, Educator
Laura Valenti Jelen, Newspace Center for Photography
Rupert Jenkins, Colorado Photographic Art Center
Joni Kabana, Photolucida Board
Dennis Keil, The Light Factory
Stu Levy, Portland Art Museum Photo Council/Photoludica Board
Yan Li & Hou Wei, Beijing High Noon Culture & People’s Photography
Blue Mitchell, Diffusion Magazine
Laura Moya, Photolucida Director
Claire Annette Mussard, Curator/Consultant
Mary Anne Redding, Santa Fe University of Art & Design
George Slade, re:photographica
Christina Spielvogel, Blue Sky Exhibition Committee
Barbara Tannenbaum, Cleveland Museum of Art
Paula Tognarelli, Griffin Museum of Photography
Madeline Yale Preston, Independent Curator
If you are one of the top 200 photographers chosen by the pre-screeners, then you will pay an additional $200 fee and your work will be sent out to the full panel of over 200 jurors.