Japan Calling. Arty Southern Africans take note.

shift-cover.jpgRepresentah’s all know how obsessed we are with Japan… we tell you again, what ever you do, get there. Anyway, one of our favourite creative arts Japanese magazines, SHIFT, has asked us to share some of their current ‘Call to Entries’ for a bunch of Japanese-based competitions including digital film, art, t-shirt design and calender design. They really really want Southern Africans to represent, offering up prizes worth R200k (never mind the air tickets to get to go to Japan!) so make sure you get amongst and check out the deadlines. Read all about it below:

– UT GRAND PRIX 2009
– AMUSE ARTJAM 2008
– 12TH JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL
– DOTMOV FESTIVAL 2008
– SHIFT 2009 CALENDAR COMPETITIONUT GRAND PRIX 2009
UNIQLO’s annual T-shirt design competition since 2004, the 5th “UT Grand Prix” will call for entries from July 15th.
UNIQLO has actively developed its global expansion as a casual wear brand from Japan, opening flagship stores in New York, London, Paris, Hong Kong, Korea and China, and also shown the global promotion campaigns that world people can participate such as UNIQLOCK and UT LOOP!
Based on the concept of “T-shirt Design Olympics”, UT Grand Prix calls for T-shirt designs from young & upcoming creators from all over the world. Works will be chosen from more than 10,000 submissions in the first and second phases of judgment, & these will be shown on the web. In the final stage, 20 designs will be selected by presiding guest judges, & these designs will then be sold as UT (UNIQLO T-shirt) at UNIQLO stores. Cash & other prizes will be also presented to the winner(s). The Grand Prix (top) prize is 3 million JPY (or equivalent in local currency at current rates).
Submission Period: July 15th – September 21st, 2008. More info here.

AMUSE ARTJAM 2008
AMUSE ARTJAM, a new art competition by a Japanese agency for all-round entertainment “AMUSE”, will open calling for entries from August 1st.
This is a competition that has counted more than 5000 submissions and total 70000 visitors in the past 6 events, gathering attentions as a gateway for young artists to success. This year as a new project, they will open a new gallery for contemporary art called “ArtJamContemporary” in the art complex building “NADiff A/P/A/R/T” in Ebisu, Tokyo. The participants of ARTJAM will be mainly featured in the gallery and sent to the world.
Anyone can participate in this competition regardless of genders, nations, ages, educations, professionals or amateurs, and genres. However, the competition winners need to participate in the award ceremony, which will be held in The Museum Of Kyoto on October 5th, 2008.
Submission period: August 1st – 31st, 2008. More info here.
12TH JAPAN MEDIA ARTS FESTIVAL
CG-ARTS Society with Agency for Cultural Affairs and The National Art Center, Tokyo will start calling for entries for 12th Japan Media Arts Festival. They seek vibrantly creative works that are opening up a new era in each division of Art, Entertainment, Animation and Manga.
Submission Period: July 17th – September 26th, 2008. More info here.

DOTMOV FESTIVAL 2008
Online magazine SHIFT presents DOTMOV Festival 2008, a digital film festival aiming to discover talented creators and provide them with an opportunity to show their works. Works submitted from all over the world will be screened throughout the world venues from November 2008 (Date will be different depending on the venue). Last year’s total submission was 297 works from 34 countries. This year’s tour will be Sapporo, Sendai, Shizuoka, Tokyo, Osaka, Kyoto, Fukuoka and Sao Paulo.
Submission Period: September 20th, 2008. More info here.
SHIFT 2009 CALENDAR COMPETITION
Shift has been trying to offer artists many platforms to showcase their works online. The Shift calendar competition held from 2003 successively, pushes the boundaries between online and off line using a “calendar” as its medium. Entries are invited from all over the world and selected works will be distributed throughout the world in the format of a physical calendar.
This year, selected works will be exhibited and sold at PRINT’EM web site for a year with support by PRINT’EM, a graphic print center operated by Mitsubishi Paper MIlls Limited.
Submission Period: September 10th, 2008. More info here.

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