INSTITUTION(ING)S: GLOSSARY - OPEN CALL
About the Glossary
What does it mean to restitute and repair through the usage of languages, long excluded within institutional spaces, but are today sometimes over-represented? They are present in the museum, the gallery, the format of the exhibition, the performances, the conferences, among others.
Today, the creation of a glossary is an exercise to complement and continue to build from the work of writers, linguists, cultural workers in understanding how the politics of language is deeply inscribed in the ways we work, live with one another and define culture(s).
Languages, here, are described beyond words. They are not only verbal communication but also all the practices in which self and collective expression continues to visibilise, archive and evidence people, cultures and communities through the material, sonic, visual, cultural and bodily practices, inside and outside of the institution.
The glossary is a digital platform that will continue to reflect and think through the coexistence of contemporary cultures with the ones that are either lost, erased, endangered as they continue to be persecuted and ought to be revived — what are the languages we want to dismantle within our diverse vocabularies, or those we want to be loudly shared and acknowledged?
The platform will allow creating a generous dialogue with people through a singular medium to share things that have meanings to them. The glossary also aims to provide a resource as an open archive to extensively share knowledge that remains little known or unknown.
The glossary is an imaginary space that reflects a thinking process.
The glossary is co-edited by Cindy Sissokho and Luísa Santos and designed by Denise Santos.
1. About the Open Call
For us, languages don't just mean words but relate to social and cultural practices, conviviality, collective, plural and fluid identities, emancipation, liberation and resistance. Often, they are things that cannot be translated into words — they are experiences to be lived.
The open call invites languages to be submitted to create a compilation of words /practices/actions/experiences that populate our lives. Therefore, they are sometimes dissonant or cannot be inside institutional walls. The submissions can be of both existent and new terms/practices/actions/experiences. We are creating an online resource that will be in dialogue with the broader Institution(ing)s project.
We are looking for materials that contain a multiplicity of meanings that a language cannot always encompass. The online glossary aims to be a platform that will host a plurality of these languages.
The submission can include but is not limited to: an image (such as a photograph; an archival document); an object; a song; a video; a choreography; a dish; a symbol; a drawing.
Submissions can be in any language and/or format (see above), but please provide a description for each submission in text. For example, if the submission is an image depicting an action, such as a cultural rite, you should submit it in its original language, a word to describe it (if there are, or multiple words, an expression to describe it). No matter how precise or approximate it will be, it will provide the readers with context. However, note that the image will be shared as an image, and the word will only be a second interpretation.
The submissions don't include any fee.
2. Submission Process
We allow for 1 submission per person or collective to the open call.
The submission can take the form of a written document, an image, a sound, or a short video (maximum 5 minutes).
You should indicate the following information:
● Who is the author(s) of the submission
● A little bit about you or your collective (maximum 200 words)
● The medium * see below for more information
● A short explanation about what the submission is about. If it is written, in up to 300 words and if it is a video, under 5 minutes for the total submission video. This means that you can include the video description within the 5 minutes submission.
● The following contact details: your name(s), status/occupation, where you are based and an email address.
* About the medium
In your submission, please state:
— The type of submission
For example: is your submission an image, a video, an object, etc.?
If you are submitting an object, you can illustrate it with a photograph or a short video (maximum 5 minutes). In your submission, please clearly indicate that you are suggesting an object and not the documentation of the object as an image. Please ensure that the image of the submission is as accurate as possible.
— The file size for your submission
For example, for an image, is your file in .JPEG? or for a sound piece, is your file in .WAV?
Video and sound work submitted can be up to a maximum of up to 5 minutes.
Sending your submission before the deadline.
Once ready, you can send your submission to info@institutionings.eu and maria.duarte@institutionings.eu.
If you have any questions or need any support with your submission, please kindly get in touch with us via info@institutionings.eu and maria.duarte@institutionings.eu.
3. Key Dates And Selection Process (Code Of Conduct)
Launch of the Open Call: 1st September 2025
Deadline for submission: ongoing, until the end of the project (October 2028).
Glossary launch on the website: January 2026
The code of conduct of the online glossary will be updated regularly to allow us to be in constant reflection and to receive suggestions from the public.
All submissions will be uploaded in Institution(ing)s website and/or our social media. However, under no circumstance we will publish submissions that we consider an inappropriate behaviour such as a lack of respect or good fellowship, and abusive language towards other people.
We will not publish any submissions that imply one or various of the following:
● conduct, action or language that has physical, psychological or social consequences which are perceived as negative. This includes in any case sexual intimidation, discrimination, aggression, violence and bullying;
● any form of verbal or non-verbal, visual or non-visual language with the purpose or effect of compromising the dignity of a person or a group of people;
● any form of verbal or non-verbal, visual or non-visual language with a sexual connotation with the purpose or effect of compromising the dignity of a person or a group of people;
● any form of verbal or non-verbal, visual or non-visual language expressing insults or violent action against people because of their religion, belief, political affiliation, race, gender, gender identity, sexual orientation, nationality, marital status, age, or on any other ground related to personal characteristics;
● psychologically, visually or verbally harassing, threatening or attacking a person or a group of people
All this information is available on the Open Call pdf.
Institution(ing)s is a medium-scale collaboration project co-funded by the European Union. Views and opinions expressed are however those of the author(s) only and do not necessarily reflect those of the European Union or the European Education and Culture Executive Agency (EACEA). Neither the European Union nor EACEA can be held responsible for them.
