Open Call: Born to be alive. Group Exhibition WOWTE 2026

Born to be alive.

A brief

A4 Sounds invites artists to propose work for our upcoming exhibition Born to be alive. as part of our We Only Want the Earth programme.

Over the course of 6 weeks, the exhibition will be formed, built, born from the works submitted, beginning with six building blocks from our research.

We invite submissions of completed works that respond to our brief which is a visual representation of some threads from our ongoing research. The exhibition is a continuation of our previous group show The Cosmos, The Earth, and Us. Born to be alive. acts as a mechanism for an ongoing iterative conversation between A4 Sounds, artists, and audiences about the goals and strategies of social change: what kind of society do we want and how should we get there?

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The Context

The context for We Only Want the Earth is ongoing, unpredictable social change. The perceived legitimacy of international institutions and international law is collapsing. Climate change is accelerating, and the border regimes of the countries that have benefitted the most from its causes are increasingly violent, preventing escape for those suffering the worst of its effects. Ireland participates as a junior partner in and beneficiary of Western imperialism, at the cost of much of its sovereignty; popular legislation aligned with international law cannot be enacted due to a fear of the US response, while Irish neutrality is ever closer to being dismantled despite broad public opposition. Domestically, the crises of inequality, cost of living, and homelessness continue to worsen. 

We are living through Gramsci’s interregnum: the old world is dying and the new world struggles to be born. New opportunities for radical social change present themselves, but they are accompanied by reactionary violence that seeks to return to an imagined idyllic past. In this context, deliberative and discursive arts practices are urgently needed.

Full information can be found on our website. WOWTE is funded by the Arts Council of Ireland.