Put your streaming services on hold, and find a new FOKUS with video art that steers clear of the mainstream!

Once again this year, FOKUS moves beyond the usual framework of the exhibition format, out into the cityscape and into your phone or tablet.
FOKUS art festival invites everyone to submit videos : both established artists and new talents are encouraged to participate. The edition of this year will take place 28 February - 31 March 2019.

FOKUS 2019 delivers video art beyond the traditional art context, into public spaces and on your personal screen (mobile, computer, tablet). The 10 best videos submitted to the open call will be available through our online platform to an international audience during the festival period. Furthermore the video works will be screened at selected venues. All submitted videos are considered by a professional jury.

Jury

The Jury of FOKUS 2018 was composed by the writer and film director Annika Berg, the film director and journalist Søren Høy, the visual artist ad film maker Lærke Lauta, the exhibition co-ordinator at Nikolaj Kunsthal Helene Nyborg Bay and the Head of Nikolaj Kunsthal Andreas Brøgger.

Again this year you can experience FOKUS at 10 selected venues in Copenhagen Cultural District, which includes Thorvaldsens Museum, Theatre Museum, The Royal Danish Arsenal Museum.

Finally, Nikolaj Kunsthal would like to extend our sincere gratitude to the Danish Arts Foundation and the 10 venues where the videos may also be seen. See you soon and enjoy your FOKUS 2019!

Awards & Prizes

Shortlisted videos will compete for the FOKUS First Prize of €1000, The Jury Special Mention and The Audience Award of €500 each.

Rules & Terms

How to Submit
Submitted works can be up to 12 minutes long and must be produced in 2017 – 2018. The participation fee is 20 Euro for each submitted video.

1. COMPLETE the online entry form and read terms for participation on our website! Please be aware that you need to fill out one entry form for each video you submit.

2. PAY the 20 Euro participation fee. You will be guided to a payment page when you complete the entry form. The fee is used to fund the prizes for the winner and the Runners-up Prizes as well as the production of this open call.

3. CHECK that your video meets the requirements stated below.

You may also submit your video by snail mail on DVD or USB stick to this address:

Nikolaj Kunsthal
Att: FOKUS video art festival
Nikolaj Plads 10
1067 Copenhagen K
Denmark

Please mark the envelope "FOKUS OPEN CALL" and clearly indicate your name and address (which must correspond to the name on the completed online entry form).

PLEASE NOTE: You will be notified by email in mid-January 2019 if your video has been selected for the shortlist. If so, you are required to submit a trailer (max. 60 seconds) and hi-res still images from your video shortly hereafter (deadline and specs to be announced).

Requirements
1. Each participant can submit a maximum of two videos. Videos must be submitted in separate video files or two separate DVD’s or USB-sticks.

2. Videos must not exceed duration of 12 minutes.

3. Only videos produced in 2017 or 2018 may be submitted and videos previously submitted to FOKUS video art festival will not be accepted.

4. We only accept single screen works that can be presented in “landscape mode”.

5. We do not accept preview versions – only finished videos ready for presentation at the festival may be submitted. It is not possible to submit new versions of a video after the deadline.

6. We accept videos only in the following formats: DVD, Blu-ray, MPEG, AVI, MP4 or MOV (We prefer QuickTime .mov and .mp4 files with H.264 or Apple ProRes 422 as videocodec and ACC as audiocodec).

7. Upload limit is 2Gb. Videos sent by snail mail can be larger.

8. If the spoken language in the video is not Danish or English, the video must have subtitles in Danish or English.

Terms
1. FOKUS 2019 video art festival is granted permission to show all videos submitted in this open call in full length at Nikolaj Kunsthal’s digital platforms and at selected venues, until the end of the festival.

2. As a participant in FOKUS 2019 Open Call you grant Nikolaj Kunsthal rights, indefinitely, to use submitted still photos and the trailer you submit without paying out a fee. The stills and trailer may be used on FOKUS’ and Nikolaj Kunsthal’s digital platforms and as a part of its overall marketing, information and documentation purposes.

3. As a participant in FOKUS 2019 Open Call you grant Nikolaj Kunsthal rights, indefinitely, to produce still photos from the video(s) you have submitted to the festival without paying out a fee. The still photos may be used on FOKUS’ and Nikolaj Kunsthal’s digital platforms and as a part of its overall marketing, information and documentation purposes.

4. Nikolaj Kunsthal and FOKUS 2019 video art festival reserve the right to keep a copy of trailers, stills and full length videos in its archive and to make stills and trailers accessible to the audience later on. The accessibility will be under the same conditions as FOKUS 2019 video art festival and contain copyright information and the materials’ association to FOKUS 2019 video art festival.

5. As a participant in FOKUS 2019 Open Call you are responsible for clearing any necessary copyrights or other rights ahead of submitting your video. In the event of your video containing material to which a third party has the copyright, you are responsible for obtaining permission to use the material from the party in question.

6. FOKUS 2019 video art festival and Nikolaj Kunsthal cannot be held responsible for the contents of works submitted to the FOKUS 2019 Open Call.

7. FOKUS 2019 video art festival disclaims any responsibility for material that is lost in the mail or which in other ways may disappear prior to receipt here. FOKUS 2019 video art festival reserves the right to refuse material arriving after the deadline.

8. FOKUS 2019 video art festival reserves the right to disqualify material that does not conform the terms listed here.

9. FOKUS 2019 video art festival cannot pay FOKUS 2019 Open Call participants for their submissions.