Open Call: My Body is Dust – Asylum Chapel
A Site-Responsive Nomadic Exhibition by SPIRA9
06/02/2026 – 10/02/2026 | Asylum Chapel, Peckham, London
SUBMIT YOUR WORK HERE:
https://forms.gle/k6SPE9ymcQQdX8rDA
SPIRA9 invites artists, architects, designers, performers, and interdisciplinary practitioners to submit proposals for My Body is Dust – Asylum Chapel, a site-responsive exhibition set within the atmospheric, historically charged Asylum Chapel in Peckham.
With its crumbling walls, shifting light, and echoes of past lives, the chapel becomes a living organism—an environment where artworks engage decay, regeneration, memory, and material transformation. We are seeking works that breathe, erode, grow, or evolve over time, and practices that explore the porous thresholds between body, space, and matter.
Themes & Areas of Interest:
We welcome proposals across all mediums, especially those engaging:
Material & Organic Processes: fungi, soil, oxidation, scent, fermentation, entropy
Digital / Virtual / AI Practices: generative systems, VR, data decay, digital fossils
Body–Space–Time: ritual, presence, fragility, disappearance
Energy & Transformation: light, resonance, temperature, vapor, kinetic systems
Memory & Remains: ruins, archives, relics, speculative archaeology
Ecological & Philosophical Approaches: symbiosis, renewal, circularity, material ethics
Exhibition Details
Location: Asylum Chapel, Peckham, London
Dates: 06–10 February 2026
Supported by: The Arch Company, Southwark Council, Arts Council England, The Architectural Heritage Fund, Heritage Lottery Fund
Deadlines
First-round deadline: 7 January 2026, 23:59 (BST)
Final deadline: 21 January 2026, 23:59 (BST)
Early submissions encouraged. Limited space; rolling review. Only selected artists will be contacted.
Why Apply?
Selected artists receive:
Presentation in a landmark Grade II listed venue
Inclusion in SPIRA9’s nomadic exhibition series Othering
Official invitation letters
Curator’s Choice, Critics’ Choice & Audience Choice awards
Press outreach & media visibility
Curatorial and technical support
Access to collector networks & a curated sales catalogue
Permanent feature on the SPIRA9 website and ongoing opportunities