Galleria Kuvitus’ Open Call 2026

Open call for exhibition applications 15 June – 15 August 2025

Who can apply?

The call for exhibition applications is intended for all professional illustrators working in Finland, as well as Finnish illustrators working abroad. 

Applications are accepted from individual artists, pairs and groups. At least one member of the group must be a professional illustrator. 

If you have previously held a solo exhibition at Galleria Kuvitus, you can apply for a new exhibition slot two years after your previous one. 

Our goal is to promote diversity and inclusion, and we thus encourage people of all ages and backgrounds to apply for an exhibition slot. 

Who is considered a professional?

Applicants do not need to be members of the Finnish Illustration Association. Membership may, however, be used as a decision criterion where the panel has to choose between two applications of equal merit. 

The membership criteria for joining the association can be found here and are also valid for the exhibition applications. 

If you’re not yet a member, you can include a comprehensive resume and/or a portfolio in your application, which will help us establish whether you meet the professional criteria.

If you want to become a member of the Finnish Illustration Association, you’ll have time to submit your application during the exhibition application period. In that case, please indicate in the application form that you have applied for or plan to apply for a membership. The next deadline for membership applications is 31 August 2025.

What are we looking for?

Galleria Kuvitus, run by the Finnish Illustration Association, specialises in exhibiting illustrations. We therefore hope that the exhibition proposal includes at least one commissioned work, publication or series of publications. 

If the exhibition’s main pieces aren’t client-commissioned illustrations, they can be accompanied by complementary illustrations that showcase the illustrator’s broader abilities, for example. At its best, the exhibition can serve as a display of the illustrator’s skills and result in new client relationships. 

We hope to see a wide selection of applications related to various different areas of illustration. The works may also be from areas of illustration not traditionally seen in art galleries (e.g. textbook illustration, book cover illustration, game illustration as well as product, packaging or ad illustration). 

The exhibition can be a spatial composition, set up online or hung on a window, or it can be completed in the exhibition space during the exhibition. In around 50% of our past exhibitions, the pieces have been for sale. 

Window display?

If you don’t have an idea for the entire gallery space, but would like to have your illustration style prominently displayed, you can apply specifically for the December exhibition period: We are looking for an ensemble that will work in the gallery’s display window for the last exhibition of the year, which would be displayed in the illuminated window also during the Christmas and New Year holidays and would delight passers-by!

In this case, a QR code can be added to the window, for example, which leads to the artist’s website or other content found online. The exhibition placed in the window will be advertised and exhibition compensation will be paid in the same way as for other exhibitions, and it will be photographed by a professional photographer.

Illustration has always been popular in shop windows all over the world. Read more >

How to apply

Please submit your application as one PDF file. 

Please submit your application via e-mail no later than Friday 15 August 2025 at 23:59 to galleria@kuvittajat.fi

To facilitate processing, please title the e-mail “Open Call 2026 [Your Name]”.

The deadline for applications is midnight between Friday and Saturday, and applications will then be submitted to the panel. Applications that are submitted late or in a format other than PDF will not be processed.

The application must include:

1. A concise exhibition plan that includes the illustrator’s contact details, exhibition content and possible title or theme. If the idea behind the exhibition isn’t clearly connected to illustration, the plan should include an explanation of the connection.

2. 3–10 images: illustrations, animations or photographs of the pieces with artwork information (e.g. title/topic, year, purpose and possible commissioner). For video/animation works, please add links to the pieces via e.g. Instagram or Vimeo. The photos can be of the artist’s previous works as well if the pieces for the exhibition have not yet been created. The pictures should, however, demonstrate the style of the exhibition you would create.

3. Resume

4. Your preferred time period for the exhibition. The open call relates to exhibitions held between January 2026 and December 2026, excluding July. While it may not be possible to accommodate everyone’s wishes, we do try to take into account distinct obstacles such as residencies and travel plans.

5. Possible additional programme ideas (events, workshops, etc.) related to your exhibition. Creating an additional programme is not a requirement, however.

Pairs and groups

At least one person in a pair or a group must be a professional illustrator. The other members may represent different areas of art or science. 

For joint or group exhibitions, one contact person will handle the submission process and submit a joint application as a single PDF file. In this instance, one resume per application is sufficient (i.e. the illustrator’s resume).

Please also refer to the section “Responsibilities of the exhibitor” and decide how you’ll share the responsibilities!

Gallery space

Galleria Kuvitus is located next to the Finnish Illustration Association’s office in the Kallio district of Helsinki. The gallery is open at 12–17 on Thursdays and Fridays and at 12–16 on Saturdays and Sundays. The gallery space (approx. 15 m²) features three walls on which works can be hung and a window that opens to Hämeentie. The window and the platform in front of it can be used for the exhibition. The room height is approximately 3 metres. The space offers plenty of natural light. The walls are light-coloured and the floor is grey. You can discuss partial painting of the walls with the gallery curator. It’s possible to paint the walls if this is essential for the exhibition plan and the illustrator assists with the work. The gallery is equipped with fluorescent tubes and a few spotlights. Where necessary, exhibitions can extend to the downstairs conference room (if, for example, the exhibition includes an animation or some other element that requires a darkened room. The exhibitor will primarily be responsible for presentation technology).

Gallery layout, Ilja Karsikas 2018

Windows and door of the gallery, Jukka Pylväs 2019

Exhibition service fee

• Full members and pensioner members 0 €
• If you apply as a group, only one member needs to be a full member of the association in order to receive the benefit.
• Professional illustrators who are not members of the association and other types of members 800 €

Full members and pensioner members 0 €

If you apply as a group, only one member needs to be a full member of the association in order to receive the benefit.

Professional illustrators who are not members of the association and other types of members 800 €

The exhibition service fee comprises the rent and maintenance of the gallery space, provision of information, photography, primary supervision of the exhibition (the exhibitor will participate in the supervision for a total of 2 x 4 hours on two Sundays) as well as general presentation and customer service. 

If they so wish, all exhibitors will be provided advice and assistance with regard to planning the exhibition, decisions on the exhibited works, pricing, setting up the pieces, visual elements and organising the opening of the exhibition. 

The gallery will send out an e-invite and provide information on exhibitions on its website, through newsletters and on social media platforms (Instagram, Facebook, Bluesky, TikTok).

The gallery also works together with various local events, which means that exhibitions can be included as parts of larger events (such as Helsinki Design Week and Gallery Week Finland). In such situations, images and information pertaining to an exhibition may also be shared through the cooperating partners’ channels and in connection with their visual identity.

Exhibitor compensation

The Finnish Illustration Association pays a VAT-free copyright remuneration of 300 euros for each exhibition. The compensation is the same regardless of whether the exhibition in question is a solo or a group exhibition. 

Sales commission

Galleria Kuvitus will not charge a sales commission for any works sold.

Responsibilities of the exhibitor

The exhibitor will be responsible for the cost of materials, transport, printing and framing for their works. The exhibitor will be responsible for any insurance coverage for their works. If a work requires specific technical solutions or other equipment, the exhibitor must be prepared to obtain/borrow the required items or share the resulting costs with the association in a manner agreed on a case-by-case basis. 

The exhibitor is expected to:

• Provide photos and detailed information about the exhibition (e.g. name of the exhibition and illustrator/creator bios) for advance promotion purposes.
• Participate in setting up the exhibition together with gallery staff.
• Supervise their exhibition on two days: typically on two Sundays from 12 to 16 o’clock. If supervision on Sunday is not possible, shifts will be arranged for other days. The association will supervise the exhibition at other times.
• Dismantle their exhibition.

How exhibitions are chosen

The panel that chooses the exhibitions changes each year. The panel consists of one illustrator who has previously held an exhibition in the gallery as well as two external specialists in the fields of graphic design, design, art, education and/or advertising who have been invited to join the panel. The curator of the gallery acts as the secretary and fourth member of the panel. The curator will also act as a contact person for exhibitors after the selection process and is responsible for the more detailed content and presentation of the exhibitions together with the exhibitors.

Exhibitions are chosen on the basis of the artistic level and originality of the applications, feasibility of the ideas presented and the area of illustration that the application concerns: the same type or style of illustration will not be exhibited twice in a row or multiple times in one year. 

This year, all applicants will be notified of the decisions by the end of September.

Further information

The gallery’s curator will be happy to provide more information regarding the open call before summer holidays. Please send your questions via e-mail by 26 June. 

veera.jalava(at)kuvittajat.fi

Cover illustration and layout: Jenna Kuusimäki

Photography: Ilkka Vuorinen