Open call: "Declarations of Incongruence"
“Declarations of Incongruence,” July 3-31, 2026
Submission deadline: May 24, 2026
No submission fee.
Fourteenfifteen invites art submissions for our July 2026 exhibition
Declarations of Incongruence by guest curator
Aaron Wilder. At a time of commemorations of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, this exhibition draws attention to the document’s covert normalization of exclusion and exploitation. Despite 250 years of claimed progress, expanded inclusion, and justice for all, the Declaration’s true legacy continues in the erosion and erasure of cultures, identities, rights, and statuses not only at the federal level, but also perpetuated by state, county, and municipal governments. This exhibition seeks artistic declarations of challenging, highlighting, refusing, of resilience despite, and of thriving and joy despite the perpetuation of incongruence between America’s founding mythology and contemporary, future, and historic realities.
Dec·la·ra·tion: An explicit expression of feeling or commitment, implying boldness and clarity. It doesn’t just describe reality, it attempts to create one by shaping perception, asserting a claimed truth with conviction and authority, and seeking to initiate action.
In·con·gru·ence: The state of being unsuitable, inconsistent, or not fitting together properly, often describing a lack of harmony between ideas, feelings, or actions. It indicates a contradiction, such as a mismatch between words and behavior, or a conflict between an ideal self and actual experience.
July 4, 2026 marks the 250th anniversary of the signing of the Declaration of Independence, a document asserting freedom for all from tyranny. In actuality, this demanded freedom was for only a narrow segment of people, namely white, property-owning men. In the list of grievances against the British monarch is coded language covertly revealing exclusions:
“He has dissolved Representative Houses repeatedly, for opposing with manly firmness his invasions on the rights of the people.”
Translation: "Moral and political legitimacy is claimed to be rooted in a particular form of masculinity. Those without “manly” traits do not have the authority or power to assert their rights. Strengths such as emotional intelligence are implicitly claimed to be unnecessary in leading, making decisions, and enforcing the rule of law."
“He has combined with others to subject us to a jurisdiction foreign to our constitution, and unacknowledged by our laws; giving his Assent to their Acts of pretended Legislation: For cutting off our Trade with all parts of the world; For imposing Taxes on us without our Consent.”
Translation: "The grievances about trade, taxation, and justice reveal an implicit defense of the economic and political power of landowning elites. Poor and landless populations, who lack wealth and influence, are excluded from the rights asserted in the Declaration and are left vulnerable to exploitation and injustice."
“He has excited domestic insurrections amongst us, and has endeavoured to bring on the inhabitants of our frontiers, the merciless Indian Savages, whose known rule of warfare, is an undistinguished destruction of all ages, sexes and conditions.”
Translation: "Enslaved Africans and Indigenous people have no right to challenge their oppression and represent rebellious threats to be neutralized. These populations lack political or social legitimacy and they will be subjected to injustice with no access to justice."
Despite hypocritical claims of progress toward true equality, fairness, and justice over the past 250 years, our present reflects a different reality. The independence and powers of the legislature and judiciary have largely been ceded to the executive who denies the lived experiences and rights of those with identities he deems improper; enters into foreign wars without announcement or justification; forfeits the fragile ecological commons to corporate exploitation; gaslights the public by declaring the undoing of political ideology while denying his own active political ideology; militarizes the streets of cities where people demonstrate opposition to his policies and actions; persecutes human beings without cause or due process; and silences dissent, particularly the voices of those who advocate for communities he oppresses. As written in the
2025 executive order 14253: “These are just a few examples.”
Interested artists are invited to share their practices engaging with histories of colonization, labor, land, state violence, and survival. Please share your own positions, questions, and methods of dialogue, reflecting art as a form of critical knowledge and world-building. While the theme of this exhibition is unapologetically critical of the Declaration of Independence and its harmful legacies, it is equally invested in celebrating artistic practices that declare independence from those inherited frameworks altogether. Declarations of Incongruence seeks not only to name exclusion and hypocrisy, but to foreground acts of refusal, survival, imagination, and care as well as gestures toward alternative futures that are already being practiced.
Submitting artists must be 18 years of age or older. Additionally, artists must reside within 250 miles of Albuquerque. Rather than an arbitrary geographic limitation, proximity is necessary because artists are responsible for getting their accepted artwork to and from the gallery and the gallery and curator are unable to support shipment. All forms of artwork are eligible for this open call.
Funds to support the exhibition have been pursued, but so far have not been secured. In an ideal world, artists would be paid for their participation in the exhibition. However, at this time, that is infeasible. The curator and gallery make the exhibition possible as a labor of love and are paying out of pocket to produce it. To reduce barriers to inclusion, there is no fee to submit art to this open call. Selected artists will be asked to gallery sit on weekends during the exhibition, but this is not a requirement. Artists are encouraged to have their selected works for sale, but this is also not a requirement. Prospective buyers will be directed to the artist for purchases as the curator and gallery cannot facilitate transactions and, as a result, will take no commission.
Artists may submit up to 5 artworks. Each artwork submission can have up to 3 images.
Files can be jpg, pdf, or png in format.
High resolution images are requested, yet individual files must be 10mb or less.
Please name files as ArtistName_Title_Year_Medium. In the event a title or medium is too long for the filename, use an abbreviation and provide full information in the text fields.
Time-based media should be submitted as a link to a streaming platform such as Bandcamp, Soundcloud, Vimeo, YouTube, etc. These shouldn’t be file storage sites like Dropbox, GoogleDrive, or OneDrive, etc. as they present significant logistical challenges.
Please provide information for each submitted artwork: title, year, medium, dimensions (height x width x depth in inches). For time-based work, dimensions would be duration (minutes: seconds).
For works in progress, information on the work should include its anticipated title, medium, and dimensions. Use one file of the submission to explain the envisioned work in progress in pdf format. The other images should be illustrative of the work in progress.
Submissions must be accompanied by a written statement addressing the connection between the submitted art and the theme of the exhibition. It’s not required to use these terms, but artists are encouraged to consider what their work declares and/or the incongruences it addresses. These statements can be up to 500 words for all submitted artworks, not each individual artwork.
By submitting work to this open call, you are agreeing that your work is available for the exhibition and if selected images of it can be used to publicize the exhibition.
The submission deadline is 5/24/26 by 11:59pm Mountain time. Early submissions are encouraged.
Reach out to curator Aaron Wilder with any questions:
aaronwilderart@gmail.comStatement about how the work you are submitting relates to the exhibition theme (500 words max)
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Dimensions (H x W x D in inches or Minutes:Seconds for time-based media)
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Dimensions (H x W x D in inches or Minutes:Seconds for time-based media)
Dimensions (H x W x D in inches or Minutes:Seconds for time-based media)
Dimensions (H x W x D in inches or Minutes:Seconds for time-based media)
Dimensions (H x W x D in inches or Minutes:Seconds for time-based media)
How did you hear about this open call?
Thanks for your submission! You'll receive a response by 5/30/26
