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deflate

failures, flops & silver linings

University of Arkansas   /   Deadline: 11/21/25

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We fall flat as easily as we land. In between, something emerges. Deflate turns toward the paradoxes of collapse and renewal as a creative practice. We invite you to submit photographs and/or time-based work that explores the fragility of effort and expectation.

Silver linings hold a power of their own. What does it mean to fall short, and what reward might we find there? How does failure take form as a radical path forward? What beauty or strangeness arrives when things do not go as planned? How can art dismantle the logic of success?

Deflate seeks lens-based work that lingers in the gap between expectation and reality — energy that is there and then isn't, all too quickly. The anatomy of falling flat, the light of a silver lining, the cyclical process of making and unmaking.

Location

Studio + Design CenterUniversity of Arkansas

Fees

$0

Eligibility

No entry fee.
FAILURES ONLY !!! (No requirements related to age or experience.)

Requirements

Submit photographs and/or time-based work.

Considerations

Printing will be done in house at no cost to artists.
Exhibition planned for January 2026.

Evaluation Criteria

*Exhibition is organized, curated, and produced by the MFA Photography cohort at the University of Arkansas School of Art.

W: https://docs.google.com/forms/d/e/1FAIpQLSeYDC_FHEFHAOmQ3Jh0uvQ8YZZpeP2dPHeB4cMziGIxDrMjcg/viewform
E: deflateexhibition@gmail.com