Young Space, no.109
The shape of content.
“Boredom is what happens when the truth about something can’t be told.” —David Salle
It’s been colder than average here in the Upper Midwest, with unwaveringly frigid temperatures that slid in after a winter storm last week and have yet to let up. It’s snowy and icy—I’ve got my metal cleats on daily when I take my dog out for her three walks per day (rain or shine!)—and I’ve been thinking a lot lately about how much these walks facilitate noticing.
At the gallery I worked at in Edinburgh, we stocked Rob Walker’s The Art of Noticing. Sometimes I’d page through it casually. And I was inspired recently by a Substack issue by Kasturi K titled “on noticing,” and it reminded me how important our micro-observations are throughout the day. Sometimes, the more nuanced or small they are, the more memorable they turn out to be.
Recently, I’ve been really taken by the juvenile bald eagle that often flies overhead that looks like it’s streaked with white paint. And the plethora of deer, rabbit, and cat tracks that rhythmically-randomly criss-cross people’s yards, sometimes in patterns that remind me of Sonja Hinrichsen’s snow drawings that went viral a few years back.
The boundary between the unknown or new and the familiar is always ripe for creativity. “Who knows when a trenchant line becomes a human face?” Ben Shahn wrote in The Shape of Content.
With abstraction, our brains automatically try to find motifs or shapes that we can comprehend. With everyday observations, I like to try to do the opposite—to purposely abstract things I notice and in effect try to un-recognize them and make them as ambiguous as possible—or at least try to. One of my favorite sensations is “jamais vu,” which is essentially the opposite of déjà vu, in which something really familiar feels uncanny or unfamiliar.
This happens to me sometimes when I’m driving through my hometown along a route I’ve taken thousands of times, only to somehow have the sensation that it feels like it’s been rearranged or isn’t the same place. Or when I arrive back home after a couple of months away, everything feels weirdly out of proportion; for some reason, the spaces always feel strangely stretched. These are the moments I grasp onto, at least as a way of trying to re-see things I otherwise view so often I risk becoming blind to them.
I was also thinking about the relationship between the known and unknown—the revealed and concealed—as I wrote about the paintings of Gideon Kiefer the other day. I particularly like a painting titled Stealth (pictured above) with a UFO-like shape that loosely resembles a paper cutout applied to an otherwise pastoral landscape.
Notwithstanding the arcane notations around the edges, the wedge in relief is so simple and yet so mysterious. It’s objectively a thin, triangular application of modeling paste on wood, but it also may be an omen, an arrival, or perhaps a mirage. Noticing moments that have a similar effect in daily life—a leaf that looks like a mouse; a sound that reminds me of something I can’t quite pinpoint—trickles down in unique ways creatively later on.
In addition to The Shape of Content, below are just a few reads I’ve dug out of my library lately, somewhat on topic…
How to See by David Salle (where the quote at the top is derived from),
Ways of Seeing by John Berger (obviously a classic), and
Keeping an Eye Open: Essays on Art by Julian Barnes
See you next week!
—Kate
What you’ll find below:
Exhibitions to see in Brooklyn, Chicago, London, Los Angeles, New York City, Paris, Ridgefield, Seoul, and Sheboygan
Eleven opportunities for artists with deadlines coming up soon
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Just $6/month — or $5/month annually — gives you access all opportunities 24/7. To those who are already supporting the digest, my heartfelt thanks—it means a lot.
Exhibitions
CHICAGO | GRAY
Theaster Gates: Oh, You’ve Got to Come Back to the City
“Gates brings together a new series of tar paintings, sculpture, and installation to tell an allegory of the city in decay and the potential contained within its ruins.”
Runs through December 20
RIDGEFIELD, CT | THE ALDRICH CONTEMPORARY ART MUSEUM
Nickola Pottinger: fos born
Pottinger’s sculptural ‘duppies’—Jamaican patois for ghosts—call on her Jamaican ancestry and the West Indian community in her home of Crown Heights, Brooklyn.
Runs through January 11
LONDON | CADOGAN GALLERY
Enrich.R: RES
Enrich.R’s minimalist compositions explore the relationship between color field and gesture.
Runs through February 12
More Exhibitions Worth a Peek
Cheung Tsz Hin: A Sunbeam Lent to Us Too Briefly at Baert Gallery, Los Angeles, through December 13
Jeffrey Gibson: This Is Dedicated to the One I Love at Hauser & Wirth, Paris, through December 20
Chang Ya Chin: Finding Ewha at Perrotin, New York City, through December 20
Calendar at sangheeut, Seoul, through December 30
Keiko Narahashi: mirror and messenger at Carvalho, Brooklyn, through January 3
Camilla Taylor: Unkindness at Track 16, Los Angeles, through January 10
Ashwini Bhat: Reverberating Self at the John Michael Kohler Art Center, Sheboygan, through January 11
Artist Opportunities
Young Space emphasizes fully-funded opportunities with low or no entry fees and programs that focus on creative and professional development for visual artists and curators. Deadlines are coming up soon to apply for these grants, fellowships, residencies, and more.
Paid subscribers, check out the whole list anytime at yngspc.com/opportunities and enter the password you received in your signup email. Can’t find it? Just shoot me a note. Thank your for your support!
G & A Mamidakis Art Prize
Deadline: December 29
The Art Prize supports contemporary artists by offering them the opportunity to create a new, site-specific artwork which will remain on permanent display in Agios Nikolaos, Crete, will become part of the Foundation’s art collection, and will join an important cultural heritage as well. The Art Prize 2026 invites artists from around the world to submit proposals for a large-scale sculptural installation designed for permanent display in an outdoor setting, serving as a distinctive landmark within the space. The Art Prize 2026 is open to visual artists working in the fields of sculpture, installation, sound installation, mixed media, works using natural materials, land art, environmental art, ecological art, and practices that interweave art and nature to create innovative experiences in open-air environments.
Submission fee: none
Doan Foundation Roots & Resilience Grants
Deadline: January 2
The Doan Foundation’s Roots & Resilience Artist Grant Program is an initiative dedicated to supporting artists, photographers, and creatives whose work explores themes of cultural heritage, community strength, and resilience. This grant will provide six artists or arts and culture organizations from Southern California with $1,000 each to bring impactful projects to life—projects that address social issues, mental health, uplift underrepresented voices, and inspire healing and connection within communities.
Submission fee: none
Artists and Mothers Grant
Deadline: January 2
Artists & Mothers is committed to supporting artists who identify as mothers at an inflection point in their careers. Eligible to New York City-based artists with children under the age of three, awardees will receive a grant for $25,000 to be used for childcare expenses with the provider of their choice. Applicants should demonstrate a commitment to their practice and must have an exhibition history. We invite artists within the field of contemporary art to apply, which can include painting, sculpture, installation, new media, performance art, and socially-engaged forms.
Submission fee: none
Yaddo Residencies
Deadline: January 5
Yaddo offers residencies to professional creative artists from all nations and backgrounds working in one or more of the following disciplines: choreography, film, literature, musical composition, painting, performance, photography, printmaking, sculpture, and video. Artists apply individually. Residencies last from two weeks to two months and include room, board, and a studio.
Submission fee: $35
Norwegian Crafts x Cerámica Suro
Deadline: January 5
Norwegian Crafts offers a two-month artist-in-residence program at Cerámica Suro – a renowned ceramics factory in Guadalajara, Mexico. The residency provides artists with the opportunity to develop projects, explore new techniques, and increase their professional network. The residency includes: 50,000 NOK in financial support for travel and stay; a personal workspace in the main workshop; access to four kilns by agreement; access to clay, equipment, and glazes for production by agreement; and networking opportunities with other international and local artists.
Submission fee: none
Glen Arbor Arts Center 2026 Artist-in-Residence
Deadline: January 6
The Glen Arbor Arts Center offers several opportunities for artist residencies each year. The purpose of the residency program is to provide visiting artists with a respite from daily responsibilities to enable them to concentrate on their work. Housing and studio access is provided free of charge. Artists, musicians, and writers working in a range of mediums may apply for residencies that last two weeks.
Submission fee: $35
Powerhouse Arts Artist Subsidy Program for NYC Artists
Deadline: January 8
The Artist Subsidy Program is designed to subsidize fabrication services for New York City–based artists facing financial barriers in realizing their projects. Artists receive subsidized labor costs for fabrication services, including materials, up to $10,000 in one of the of six shops (including a variety of print shops, ceramics and sculpture, paper and textiles, and public art).
Submission fee: none
Rebecca Scott Rome Residency for Artists based in North West England 2026-27
Deadline: January 9
This is an exciting opportunity for a studio-based artist living and working in North West England to spend three months at the British School at Rome (early January to late March 2027). The residency includes a monthly stipend of £1,500 for three months, a travel grant of £500, full support by BSR staff, and more.
Submission fee: none
Rome Residency in Drawing, Painting & Sculpture
Deadline: January 9
The British School at Rome, in partnership with the Bridget Riley Art Foundation, invites applications from exceptional early- to mid-career artists working in painting, drawing, or sculpture for a six-month residency from September 2026 to March 2027.
Submission fee: none
Arrowmont School of Arts and Crafts Residencies
Deadline: January 11
The Arrowmont Artists-in-Residence Program provides early career, self-directed artists time, space, and support to experiment and develop a new body of work in a creative supportive community environment of visiting workshop artists/instructors, national and regional conferences/symposia and hundreds of students. Each year, five artists working in different media are selected to participate in the 11-month program, which begins at the end of June and continues through the end of May of the following year. Artists are given a monthly stipend, shared housing with private bedrooms, meals (during workshop sessions), and a private well-lit studio with climate control, a basic worktable, shelving, and sink.
Submission fee: $25
Gasworks London Residency for Palestinian Artists
Deadline: January 12
This residency open call is for emerging and mid-career Palestinian artists based anywhere in the world. The eleven-week, fully funded residency will take place at Gasworks in London from July 7 to September 21, 2026.
Submission fee: none
See all opportunities
Paid subscribers can access a full list of all current opportunities anytime—updated at least a couple of times each week.
Whether you’re a free or paid subscriber, you can also browse through listings in earlier digests in the archive.
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