The Museum of Contemporary Art Denver’s Teen Program: Failure Lab invites teens currently enrolled in high school to submit 2D artwork for a juried exhibition at MCA Denver. This year’s exhibition is titled Still Loading... We encourage Denver-area teens to submit original artwork that responds to or expresses this subject.

Our lives are a series of cycles and rituals that anchor us and propel us forward. These patterns and habits can also trip us up, hold us still, or keep us looking backward. As teenagers in 2018, we are hyper-aware that we and the world around us are changing rapidly, every day. We find ourselves regularly taking stock of where we’ve been, where we are, and where we’re going next. Application deadlines, tryouts and playoffs, midterms, and changing seasons push us forward, while nostalgic images from social media, television, and advertising pull us back. We are caught feeling as though we are running in place or standing still as the world rushes past us. We are looking for artwork that reflects on these ideas and more: the inevitability of time’s passage; the evolution of identity; the importance—and burden—of memories. Technology and social media reflect and refract these concepts, making it difficult to ignore them.

Send us work that addresses or explores Still Loading... as you understand it. You can only submit one piece, so send us your best. Submissions are accepted digitally (please attach a clear image to your submission form).

Artwork will be juried by Failure Lab, and artists selected for inclusion will be notified by Thursday, November 1. Accepted artwork must be dropped off at MCA Denver between November 1 and November 14.

Selected artwork will be displayed in the museum as part of a FREE exhibition opening event on Friday, November 30, 2018 from 6-9PM. Artwork will stay on display at the museum from November 30, 2018–January 6, 2019.

DETAILS

Submit 2-D (photography, painting, drawing, prints, etc.) artwork to be displayed in a teen art show at MCA Denver. You can only submit one artwork of your choice.

Artwork entry requirements:

All entries must be original work. All entries must strictly adhere to size requirements, or they will not be accepted. If your work isn't a conventional size, have a mat cut to fit the work and extend its total dimensions to standard ones. Exterior measurements of artwork (can be matted or unmatted) must exactly match the following standards:

• 4”x6”
• 12”x16”
• 9”x9”
• 5”x7”
• 16”x20”
• 12”x12”
• 8”x10”
• 20”x24”
• 20”x20”
• 11”x14”
• 24”x36”

Artwork exceeding these sizes cannot be accepted due to space restrictions. 

WIN!

Three people will win the Curator's Choice Awards. Resulting in:

• 1st Place $300 
• 2nd Place $200 
• 3rd Place $100

WHEN

Submissions accepted online beginning Thursday, October 4, 2018 through Tuesday, October 30, 2018.

WHERE

Accepted artwork must be dropped off at the Museum of Contemporary Art Denver, located at 1485 Delgany St., Denver, CO 80202 (corner of 15th & Delgany streets in LoDo), between November 1 and November 14, 2018.

QUESTIONS

Call 720.236.1833 or email mollyn@mcadenver.org