open call: london craft week 2026 | whisperer

We are excited to announce an open call for artists, architects, designers, performers, and interdisciplinary makers to participate in WHISPERer, our upcoming exhibition at London Craft Week 

Time: 15–17 May 2026
Address: 1 Acorn Parade, London, United Kingdom
Submission Form: https://forms.gle/VfVCpYWBJkucZFiv9

About London Craft Week:

London Craft Week is an international festival celebrating exceptional craftsmanship across disciplines. The programme brings together artists, designers, and master artisans through exhibitions, installations, talks, and curated experiences that foreground process, experimentation, and cultural exchange.

We invite submissions from artists, creative practitioners, craftspeople, and designers working across all media. Whether your practice is rooted in handcraft, material research, conceptual exploration, or interdisciplinary design, we are seeking work that demonstrates integrity of process, clarity of vision, and a compelling relationship to making.

London Craft Week offers a dynamic international audience, critical visibility, and the opportunity to situate your work within a global conversation about craft’s evolving role in contemporary culture.

ABOUT WHISPERer:

Craft is a quiet conversation, speaking without words through touch, gesture, and material. WHISPERer explores this invisible dialogue, revealing the subtle rhythms, patterns, and structures embedded in making. Inspired by the Fibonacci sequence, the Golden Ratio, and systems of natural growth, the exhibition considers craft as a living, recursive process: gestures emerge from the last, repetition builds structure, and materials carry memory, labour, and time.

WHISPERer is not about illustrating spirals or numbers, but making visible the quiet logic, devotion, and intelligence beneath every creation. The exhibition invites works that transform materials into contemplative experiences, investigate repetition and structure, and embrace interdisciplinary approaches across analogue, digital, and hybrid media.

Through WHISPERer, we celebrate the poetic intelligence inherent in craft, offering artists a platform to engage an international audience while presenting their work with full curatorial care and recognition.

WHAT WE ARE LOOKING FOR:

We welcome submissions across disciplines, including but not limited to:

• Textiles, weaving, and fibre

• Ceramics and sculptural forms

• Metalwork and jewellery

• Paper, wood, and stone

• Installation and spatial practices

• Digital craft, generative, and algorithmic systems

• Hybrid and cross-disciplinary approaches

• Sound, light, and immersive new media art

• Works that explore memory, emotion, or narrative embedded in materials

• Experimental materials, prototyping, and research-driven practices

We encourage interdisciplinary, experimental, and boundary-pushing proposals that reinterpret craft, art, and making in innovative ways. Craft is understood expansively, as disciplined engagement between hand, tool, system, and idea

SELECTED ARTISTS WILL RECEIVE:

Artists selected for WHISPERer will gain a comprehensive package of exhibition, professional, and career support, including:

• Official London Craft Week Listing
  Artists will be officially listed as part of London Craft Week 2026, gaining exposure to an international audience of collectors, curators, and design professionals.

• Curated Exhibition Placement
  Your work will be carefully positioned within the exhibition by SPIRA9 curators to ensure optimal spatial and conceptual presentation.

• Professional Photography & Video Documentation
  All works will be photographed and video-documented for portfolios, press, and permanent archival purposes.

• Dedicated Artist Feature, Promotion & Press Outreach
  Each artist will receive: A dedicated feature post on SPIRA9 social channels,  Inclusion on the official exhibition website with a permanent profile page. Inclusion in the official press release circulated to design and cultural media networks, alongside festival communications.

• Private View Event & Networking Opportunities
  Invitation to an exclusive preview event, offering direct engagement with collectors, curators, and industry professionals.

• 0% Commission on Sales
  Artists retain 100% of any sales during the exhibition.

• Official Invitations and Letters of Recommendation

• Artist Awards
  Selected works may be acknowledged through SPIRA9 awards: Curator's Choice, Critics' Choice, and Audience Choice Awards to recognize outstanding works.

• Curatorial and Technical Exhibition Support

• Artwork Sales, Collector Network Access & Market Guidance

• Permanent Online Presence & Media Promotion

Participation Fee:

To ensure the highest level of curation and support for the selected projects, a participation fee (including VAT) is required for each artist.

Category:

• 2D Art – £255 (paintings, drawings, prints, or wall-mounted works)

• 3D, Screen-Based & Installation – £325 (sculptural works, installations, digital, video, interactive, screen-based projects)

Besides the benefits listed, the fee also includes:

• Fine art printing and presentation preparation (if needed)

• Framing, mounting, and structural display solutions

• Custom plinths and exhibition furniture (if needed)

• Professional spatial planning and installation by the curatorial team

• Technical infrastructure for digital and moving-image works (screens, projectors, lighting systems, cabling, mounting hardware)

• On-site technical supervision during installation

• Professionally produced wall texts and artwork labels

• Inclusion in the official exhibition archive and documentation

Deadline: 21 April 2026, 23:59 GMT

Please note: Artist will receive a response within 10 working days of submitting your application. All submissions will be carefully reviewed by our curatorial team, and only selected works will be included in the exhibition. Participation is by selection, not by payment. We encourage early submissions, as space is limited and proposals are reviewed on a rolling basis. 

For further inquiries or additional details, please contact us at: info@spira9.art