Now in its second year, ‘Unconsumed II’ aims to showcase East Anglia’s creatives as an inclusive, artist-run event.

With generous funding from Norfolk Contemporary Art Society (NCAS) and Norfolk County Council, we are delighted to announce the return of our cross-generational, multi-disciplinary exhibition ‘Unconsumed II’ to The Shoe Factory Social Club in Norwich. 

Curated by Eleanor Rodwell and Georgia Green, this latest exhibition will celebrate 100 artists with a strong connection to East Anglia. 

Key Details 

• There is no submission fee or theme for ‘Unconsumed II’. 

• We are taking submissions in any medium. Up to three artworks will be accepted per artist for the exhibition. We welcome everyone, including amateurs, students, semi-professionals and/or graduates, professional or established artists.

• Artists who have exhibited with us previously are welcome and encouraged to submit new work for this second exhibition. 

• This open-call is for artists who live/practice in East Anglia, or with a strong connection to the area (eg. raised here, have lived here for an extended period of time in the past). For this brief East Anglia includes Cambridgeshire as well as Suffolk and Norfolk.

• The exhibition will take place in Norwich at The Shoe Factory Social Club. We have two floors, and it is a big building! We’re eager for large pieces in order to use this space well. Examples of the artworks installed in the space during our previous exhibition can be found here.

• There is a £20 participation fee for each successful exhibitor. This fee will go directly into supporting the promotional aspects of our event, as well as the hire of a professional videographer and photographer to document the exhibition.  All of our participating artists will have access to this documentation during and after the show. Professional documentation from our previous ‘Unconsumed’ exhibition can be found here.

• We will be using our two grants and the money raised by participation fees to fund paid, artist-run workshops open to the public for free during the exhibition. There will be an opportunity to apply to run one of these workshops during the application process.  

• We will take a 10% cut of any sales made during the exhibition. This will cover our transaction fees, and go towards supporting future ‘Unconsumed’ exhibitions.

• There will be a shop space where artists are free to sell work, we will be sending a call-out for shop submissions once we have selected our final exhibitors.

• The exhibition will be free to visit!

• We welcome and appreciate any offer to help us install and invigilate the show.

• The open-call selection panel consists of the co-curators Georgia Green and Eleanor Rodwell, alongside three independent judges working as professionals within East Anglia’s art scene.

Key Dates

• Deadline for submissions: Tuesday 7th May 2024 (up to 11:59pm)

• Selection results announced: Sunday 12th May

• • Delivery & collection dates: 
  • In-person delivery of selected work/s: Monday 3rd or Tuesday 4th June (10:30am-8pm).
  • In-person collection of unsold work/s: Saturday 15th June (8-9pm), Sunday 16th June (11am-4pm) or Monday 17th June (11am-6pm).

In-person delivery/collection address: The Shoe Factory Social Club, St. Mary’s Works - St. Mary’s Plain, Norwich, NR3 3AF

Postal Deliveries & Returns: If you are selected for the exhibition but you are unable to deliver and/or collect your work in-person we will accept and return work via tracked delivery to our personal address. This will be something you will need to arrange with us in advance of the show. There will be a £10 admin fee to cover our time transporting the work to Norwich ourselves. As our address is in rural Norfolk and our car is very small, we advise in-person delivery for larger works. We will charge the same amount (£10) should you wish to have your work shipped back to you.

• Opening Night: Friday 7th June 6-9pm With plenty of refreshments from our sponsors and live performances, free entry and all are welcome! 
• Exhibition Opening Times: Saturday 8th - Saturday 15th June Open daily from Sunday 9th to Thursday 13th June 12-6pm, & Saturday 15th June 12-6pm. Late opening hours are Saturday 8th June 3-7pm & Friday 14th June 4-8pm. The pop-up shop will also be available and selling work during these opening hours. 

You can follow us on instagram (@unconsumed.theshoefactory) and visit our website (msha.ke/unconsumed_theshoefactory.com) for regular updates.