Seeking submissions for

Literature of the Land

A themed group show with works steeped in a land (of one’s choosing)

Exhibition Dates: August 2 - 30, 2026

Opening Reception: Sunday, August 2nd, 1 to 6PM

Brief

Open to 2D, 3D and 4D work of any mediums, with additional interest in drawing, diagrammatic and/or site-specific work.

NO fee, submissions are considered on a rolling basis.

Priority is given to timely submissions with COMPLETE work information as well as artists who will be physically present during the opening.

To submit

Please send the following materials to piao.sophia06@gmail.com.

• Photo and/or video documentation

• Dimensions

• Installation needs (if applicable)

Artist bio and statement are not required at the time of submission, but any opportunity to learn more about you and your work helps me decide :-)

Sophia Piao, Associate Curator

piao.sophia06@gmail.com

815.593.6071

Incubator Studio Gallery

56 Bogart St. Brooklyn

J. A. Holt, Gallerist

incubatorstudiogalleryrevised.com

On theme: What does it mean to produce ‘Literature of the Land’?

As evidenced by the publication of cultural magazine Geibun (藝文), there existed a group of Japanese expats living in occupied Manchuria who earnestly sought literary realism amid the rapidly shifting political and cultural landscapes. Claiming a new home, their wishes were to become Manchurian writers (満洲作家), producing a Manchurian literature (満洲文学), that which is distinct from mainland Japan.

However, even the most sincere writers’ muted realism still frames Japanese colonizers as victims. Takagi Kyōzō’s most critically successful short story has anti-family man protagonist Saruwatari Heisuke schmucking about the sour circumstances of urban Manchuria’s coarse low-living. Even the title, Fūjin (風塵) or Dust in the Wind, is weighty, suffocating, and bleakly severe. Oppressed under the wider land and its spirit, the (Japanese) individual is powerless in the face of larger political and cultural landscapes.

Utilizing these daily life and land metaphors, the “Manchurian writers” imported mainland Japanese imperialism and its ethnic harmony (hierarchy!) in the “new” nation. In 1932, Manchukuo repurposes the stripes of preceding Beiyang government’s five-colored flag. With the new Five Races Under One Union (五族共和 → 五族協和), white is now for the Japanese, west, purity and justice.

As written by Joshua Lee Solomon, literature attached to the land is a genre that is best described as “stinking of the earth”.

On site-specificity: What is a site? How specific?

If you can argue for The Site, send it over! Whether that specificity is down to the exact shape of the gallery space or more broadly to the urban industrial corridors of the New York metropolitan area. Work that responds directly to the land that which the gallery sits upon will still be prioritized.

On medium: Why drawing?

My preference for drawing work is only out of a desire to showcase pieces that may not otherwise get a chance at exhibition, under a false belief that drawing = sketching, and therefore “unfinished”.

Similarly, work that is analytical or diagrammatical in nature will be prioritized. Posters, design work, maps, etc. are encouraged. Collections/ephemera welcome to this purpose as well.

On theme: What subject-matter still “counts” as pertaining to the land?

Figurative work, still lifes, interior pieces, etc. are not entirely discouraged. A mapping of a people and/or migration is one method. Projection of the figure to a political or national body (otherwise division of natural land) is another. Gender and its relation to the land are also welcome.

Machiavelli’s The Prince repeatedly refers to the national body of Italy in the feminine: “Behold how she prays God to send some one to redeem her from this barbarous cruelty and insolence. Behold her ready and willing to follow any standard if only there be someone to raise it… This opportunity must not, therefore, be allowed to pass, for letting Italy at length see her liberator.”

Gallery Space

2 - 5 ft. wide x 8 ft. high spaces, suitable for large drawing or painting work

1 - 5 ft. wide x 5 ft. space over the gallery bench, suitable for photography, prints, or moving image

1 - 6 ft. wide x 8 ft. high space, with waist-high 6 ft. wide x 13 in. deep built-in shelf for small sculpture work

Timeline

Notification by July 29th, likely sooner

Work install on Saturday, August 1st, commencing at 1PM

Opening reception on Sunday, August 2nd, 1 to 6PM

Closing reception on Sunday, August 30th, 1 to 6PM, with de-install commencing at 6PM

Work MUST be ready to hang/display. Tape is NOT permitted. Push-pins and nails may be provided. Reach out if in need of clarification, assistance, or accommodation.