What do we forget­ ­– or wish we could forget? What do we leave behind every day, every year or even throughout our entire lives? And what do we collectively leave behind? Which memories do we preserve, and which fade into oblivion?

Memory is a process based on repetition, remembering, and forgetting. It is also a collective process. In this open call, we want to focus on oblivion.

It is important to consider the other active aspect of memory: forgetting. What does oblivion enable us to do? At the same time, it also excludes something. It is important to consider what has been removed from, for example, collective memory or left out, and why. What things stay hidden? What does this reveal about the histories and narratives that have been told? Is it necessary for us to leave something behind and forget things?

Film is a record of time. In the darkroom, the artist makes choices about how to bring latent images to the surface. How to bring out what has been witnessed and how to frame things. The artist is a mediator and narrator. In other words, they make the final decisions about what is important in terms of seeing, remembering and forgetting.

Working in the darkroom is a creative space and process, where material that has already been captured is reexamined and placed in a visual context. Similarly, archival material that the artist may not have witnessed themselves is interpreted in a new way.

Through this open call, we want to pause for a moment and examine the process of selecting what is forgotten and what is remembered, as well as explore the perspectives that forgetting, and oblivion bring to both individuals and the broader historical context.

In this sense, the open call aims to explore the nature of oblivion from its margins, from memory, time and collective imagery. This opens up the possibility of exploring the relationship between the film and image, the visible and the invisible, different strategies for revealing and concealing layers of reality ­and reinterpreting archives – what to bring to light and what to hide in an exhibition space.

The curator of the open call in 2026 is Lina Selander, who is one of Sweden's most innovative artists within the field of moving images. In her works she examines the relationships between memory and perception, photography and film, language and image. Selander’s oeuvre recurrently explores a fascination for the phenomena and technologies that make images possible, thereby enabling history to be documented.

Fringe Gallery is an exhibition space run by Filmverkstaden, whose exhibitions are selected through an annual open call. The exhibitions focus on contemporary art with the keywords analogue, experimental, expanded, alternative, cinema, moving image, installation, photography. 

Fringe Gallery is situated in a separate exhibition space next to Filmverkstadens workshop spaces, measuring about 70 square metres. The gallery is run by Filmverkstaden, an artist-run knowledge and resource centre and lab for analogue film and photography, located in the cultural house Funkkis in Vaasa.

The gallery’s exhibitions are selected through a call for applications, which is held once a year. Exhibitions are selected by members of the board of Filmverkstaden and one specially invited guest member of the jury. Invited as curator for the exhibitions in 2026 is Lina Selander.

The exhibition period is 4 weeks plus days for hanging and dismantling. Hanging of the exhibition will take place from Tuesday to Thursday, with the opening on the Saturday of the hanging week at 6 pm. Dismantling will happen on Monday after the last week of opening. 

No rent is charged for the exhibition space at Fringe Gallery. 

The artist is responsible for the content and production costs of the exhibition. The artist is primarily responsible for hanging and dismantling the exhibition. The artist will be assisted by a staff member for one day. We offer technical support and advice. The artist will have a number of tools and AV equipment, both digital and analogue, at their disposal. The space can be used as a white box or a (completely darkened) black box.

The artist will take care of the transport of the works and all the necessary insurances. The gallery will be responsible for daily cleaning, opening and supervision of the exhibition space. 

The artist will prepare written material for the exhibition (e.g. details of the exhibited works and CV). A press release will be produced in collaboration with the gallery. The gallery will send out an electronic exhibition invitation and announcement through its own communication channels and through social media. The gallery will produce an in-depth video with the artist on their works and working methods, to be published online.

In the event of a sale, the gallery will direct contacts directly to the artist or the artist’s representative and will not charge a commission on sales. The artist is asked to accompany the exhibition with an exclusive limited edition of small scale works, art products or artist books that will be on sale in the gallery too.

For the year 2026, the following exhibition slots are available at Fringe Gallery:

• 10.1-1.2

• 7.2-8.3

• 14.3-12.4

• 18.4-17.5

• 23.5-21.6

• 1.8-30.8

• 5.9-4.10

• 10.10-8.11

• 14.11-31.12

Application

• Exhibition proposal (max. 1 A4)

• Visual material (3-5 images)

• CV + portfolio or link to online portfolio

• Contact information and preferred time slot

• Bundle all documents into one pdf (max. 10 MB), with your firstname_lastname as title.

• Send in your application on October 31st 2025 or before to mail@filmverkstaden.fi

Each application will be acknowledged as received.
We look forward to receiving your applications!

More information:

Britt Al-Busultan
Director, Filmverkstaden
+358 45 2120255
mail@filmverkstaden.fi

Generously supported by: 

Nya Klassiker, Svensk-Österbottniska Samfundet, Suomen Kulttuurirahasto, Bröderna Gröndahls Stiftelse, Schaumans Stiftelse, Svensk-Österbottniska Samfundet, Aktiastiftelse i Vasa, Pohjanmaan Liitto