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Signal commissions up to ten emerging artists aged 16-25 to produce screen and sound works for a highly visible showcase in the city.
Successful artists receive a commissioning fee of $800 to develop, produce and install their work in collaboration with Signal. They also receive technical and creative support, as well as mentoring in development workshops with artists and industry professionals.
Signal Screen and Sound Commissions 2025
Expressions of interest will be announced in early 2025.
Screen Commissions eligibility and criteria
- You must be aged between 16 and 25 years.
- You can choose the theme of the video work, however priority will be given to works that do not rely on narrative.
- The projection surface for the screen work is the upper floor windows of the Signal building with back projection facilities. Projects must be created specifically for this site.
- Each artist will also produce a single channel version of their work for potential future presentation opportunities outside of SIGNAL.
- Final works must be no longer than 5 minutes.
- You must be available to attend all creative development workshops at Signal.
Sound Commissions eligibility and criteria
- You must be aged between 16 and 25 years.
- We encourage expressions of interest from sound artists, sound designers, musicians, composers, producers, audio engineers who enjoy working in the sonic landscape, have an interest in sequencing, and are motivated by the challenge of creating a site specific, public work.
- The playback system for sound works is a unique, custom built, multi-speaker system installed along Flinders Walk, between the Signal building and the entrance to Flinders Street Station. Projects must be created specifically for this system and this site.
- Each artist will also produce a stereo version of their work for potential future presentation opportunities outside of Signal.
- Final works must be no longer than 7 minutes.
- You may apply for both Sound and Screen Commissions, however you may only participate in one Signal commissions program in 2025.
Past projects
2024 Screen Commissions
Chelsea Chua
LOADING, PLEASE WAIT interrogates how people who identify as Culturally and Racially Marginalised carry the load of ‘otherness’ in their everyday lives. Fusing interpretative dance movement, film, animation and visual design, this video work will explore what it means as an individual and community to not only ‘load’, but ‘unload’, share the load, and ‘reload’.
Neve Curnow
Neve Curnow’s work the vampire out back creates haunting Gothic narratives rooted in rural settings. Her work features handcrafted miniature movie sets that merge real-life locations, such as a derelict church and a weatherboard farmhouse, with classic horror staging. Utilising low-budget horror techniques, these vignettes transport viewers to gothic rural landscapes, reimagining familiar environments through a fictional lens.
Rubyanna Edwards
What does colour mean for you? A great question with many great answers, experiences, thoughts and associated meanings. Colour may be a signal or a flag, a gender or an identity. Our thinking is not black and white. Drawing may be read as thinking. Therefore thinking may be in colour.
Emma Lyn Winkler
It’s All Soup In The End is a stop-motion animation that faces the futility of fixating on the inevitable by exploring death, absurdity and anxiety. Each frame is hand-painted, exaggerating the plasticity and extremes of cartoon visual language through the liquidity of the paint.
2023 Screen Commissions
In 2023 Signal’s Screen Commissions were awarded to Uma Christensen, Dandy Fredes, Obi Herron, Jessica Tanto, and Isaac Winzer.
Commissioned artists received technical and creative support in weekly development workshops with lead artist Freya Pitt, as well as one-on-one guidance from mentors Corinna Berndt, Mohamed Chamas, Rhian Hinkley, Katie Paine and Siying Zhou.
2023 Sound Commissions
In 2023 Signal’s Sound Commissions were awarded to rita bass, Tessa Chau, Uma Dingemans, La Fielding, and Sammy Perryman.
Commissioned artists received technical and creative support in weekly development workshops with lead artist Ryan Williams, as well as one-on-one guidance from mentors Nina Buchanan, Marco Cher-Gibard, Jonnine Nokes, Carolyn Schofield, Vijay Thillaimuthu.
