WHO OWNS THE LAND

Who owns the land?’ is an exhibition online featuring the art of Eva Holts (Ukraine), Tamara Safarova (Ukraine), Mohammed Murshed (Yemen), Mohammed Salim Khan (Rohingya), Ben Tuge (Zimbabwe), and others. The show will remain ongoing in the next years and be constantly updated with additional artworks by different artists. The artists will be joining the project only upon invitation (curatorial aim), although it will be possible to independently apply via open calls or emailing info@thepinna.com (cc gcamp001@gold.ac.uk). Independent submissions might be rejected. The artists’ origins and whereabouts must be consistent with the project – please see the categories below. The project aims to investigate the relationship between contemporary art and the concept of ‘motherland’, by addressing 4 major themes: 

– When your land is a conflict area – state of invasion 
– When your land is colonised – state of colonialisation 
– When you don’t have land– state of statelessness 
When you are forced to leave your land – state of diaspora 

Thus, the show aims to also become in time an online archive which explores how artists engage socially and politically with their lands and the concept of sovereignty. The exhibition/ archive will be open to all and easy to consult (democracy). It is expected that in time will be possible to investigate commonalities and differences in the artists’ practices (research/ academic aim). Each artist will choose one piece of art that best represents the exhibition theme (democracy, autonomy) to upload on The Pinna’s platform. It won’t be possible to submit more than one piece although all mediums are allowed. Each piece will come with an explanation and will be contextualised by the artists (agency). Foreign curators will be involved. 

The exhibition will be launched on www.thepinna.com on January 2023 (date of opening TBC) as part of Gloria Campedelli’s final assignment for Art and Politics 1: Theory, History, Events (2022/2023), Convenor Dr Bernadette Buckley – MA in Art and Politics at Goldsmiths University, Politics Department. 

For further information and applications, please refer to the exhibition guidelines or email info@thepinna.com 

EXHIBITION GUIDELINES

How to submit your application 

Please share at least one Hi-Res (or good res) picture of the artwork 

 

within the 16th of December 2022 (deadline) 

Please email the picture via WeTransfer, Dropbox, or Drive (or whatever service will maintain the resolution of the image) to 

info@thepinna.com 

CC: gcamp001@gold.ac.uk 


In case of interest of involving a curator, please inform them to email info@thepinna.com. Any email received after the 16th of December won’t be accepted. 



1. The artist will have to fit at least one of the four states of the exhibition 

2. The artist will have to include only one artwork, all mediums are allowed 

3. The artist will be allowed to involve one or more curators from their own country 

4. The artist will be allowed to involve other fellow artists in the project 

5. The artist will be credited on the platform and in the research for the artwork submitted 

6. The artist will have the possibility to submit a text that explains why she/he chose that piece 

7. The artist will have the possibility to choose an artwork and have it for sale, or choose an artwork not for sale 

8. The artist will be allowed to create an artwork specifically for the show 

9. The artwork will remain featured in the show for the next years and is meant to be permanently part of the archive 

10. The artist will consent to the image’s reproduction of the artwork for research purposes 

 

1. The artist will have to fit at least one of the four themes of the exhibition 

The artists involved come from conflict areas, statelessness backgrounds, former colonies, or occupied territories, or were coerced into leaving their country for political reasons. The artists will pick one of four themes (conflict, colonialism, statelessness, diaspora) for their artwork to be contextualised. Open calls will be launched to involve artists. However, The Pinna reserves the right not to accept all the artists applying for the show, while all of them will have the possibility to be part of the archive. 

 

2 The artist will have to include only one artwork, all mediums are allowed 

To allow liberal expression and not jeopardise the objectivity of the exhibition’s research, the artists will personally choose the artwork to be featured in the exhibition and kept in the archive. The artwork will have to describe the relationship with their land. In the case of old pieces, the artwork doesn’t have to be meant specifically for that, but it will be the artist’s exclusive right to pick the piece that best represents the theme of the show according to their feelings and experience. The artist will have to 

submit at least one Hi-Res (or good resolution) picture and the credits of the image within the project deadline (see information below). 

 

3 The artist will be allowed to involve one or more curators from their own country 

The artist can and is encouraged to involve curators that come from their own country. The curator will be credited for their participation and will provide a text to contextualize the artwork within the project deadline (see information below). The text must be submitted in English and in the curator’s native language. 

 

4 The artist will be allowed to involve other fellow artists in the project 

The artist can and is encouraged to involve other fellow artists that come from their own country or fit the exhibition’s prerequisites. All artists involved from a third party will be able to join the archive (research aim), while their application to feature in the exhibition might be rejected (curatorial aim) 

 

5 The artist will be credited on the platform and in the research for the artwork submitted 

The artists will be credited on The Pinna website and all the future research for their image and their work. The artworks will be promoted accordingly. The artists will authorise The Pinna to reproduce the image of their artworks for sale, research, and curatorial purposes. 

 

6 The artist will have the possibility to submit a text that explains why she/he chose that piece 

The artist can and is strongly encouraged to write a text which explains the choice of the artwork. The text must be submitted in English and in the artist’s native language. In the case of texts which are less than 300 words, The Pinna will provide the translation should the artist struggle with English. 

 

7 The artist will have the possibility to choose an artwork and have it for sale, or choose an artwork not for sale 

The artist will choose whether to feature in the show an artwork for sale or not for sale. In case of a sale, the artist is required to inform The Pinna about the name and details of the art institution/ charity in their country they want the money to be wire transferred, for more information about The Pinna’s social business model please click HERE

In case of artworks for sale, the artist will agree with keeping the artwork featured in the exhibition and in the archive for sale in the next years. Also, the artist must keep it available remotely. The artist can and is strongly encouraged to promote also independently the artwork for sale, bearing in mind that the primary purpose of the project is visibility and research more than retail. The artist can withdraw their artwork from the exhibition’s availability anytime, upon discussing this with The Pinna’s director. In that case, the artwork will still be featured in the show and in the archive in the next few years but will appear either as available on other platforms or as part of private collections. The collectors will be credited for the reproduction of the image. 

8 The artist will be allowed to create an artwork specifically for the show 

Although not necessary, the artist is allowed to create an artwork specifically for the show. The artist is authorised to submit an artwork available, already sold or already part of museums’ collections 

All the parties involved will be contacted and informed about the project and the piece featured upon their approval. All the parties involved will be credited both in the exhibition and the archive. 

 

9 The artwork will remain featured in the show for the next years and is meant to be permanently part of the archive 

The artist must be aware that the artwork is meant to be featured on a long-term basis. Please don’t submit artworks that are not allowed to be featured either in the show or in the archive. In case of interest, please consider shipping the artwork to London (UK) to be kept in The Pinna’s storage until the end of 2023. Shipping fees must be absorbed by the artists. In the case of photographs and paintings, it’s strongly encouraged to ship in a tube. The artist must inform The Pinna’s director in case of changes in the artwork’s state (not available anymore, sold, loan, etc) to edit the credits. 


10 The artist will consent to the image’s reproduction of the artwork for research purposes 

Please bear in mind that among the primary purposes of the project there’s the research aim in the art and politics field. Therefore, is necessary for the artwork be reproduced and featured as much as possible, as well as shared with other scholars. The artwork’s image must be authorised for the reproduction. The artist can decide to be kept anonymous from the public.