Open Call — Small Hours, a group exhibition at Collective Z, New York

Collective Z, a contemporary art gallery on the Lower East Side, invites submissions for Small Hours, a group exhibition of small works on view December 11, 2026 – January 9, 2027. It is the gallery's only open call until late spring 2027. Every artist shows four works in one size, hung in grids: 4 × 4, 8 × 8 or 12 × 12 inches square, or 8 × 10, 9 × 12 or 11 × 14 inches portrait; gallery profile (1¼–2 in deep), unframed. The format is fixed so that everything else can vary — the hand, the surface, the subject, the pace. We are looking for work that rewards standing close: quiet, dense, slow, made for this scale rather than reduced to it. Any medium that arrives as a finished object at the size; abstraction and figuration alike; artists at any stage of their career. Submit four works that belong together. A finished set is welcome — show us the exact works. We also welcome a proposal to make new works; show us existing work that carries the direction and say, in a sentence or two, what the four would be. Up to four back-up works in the same size may be offered and are accepted at the gallery's discretion. Prices are set by the gallery in bands aligned with each artist's current market, so emerging and established artists show side by side; sales are split 50/50. There is no hanging fee and no participation fee. Selected work is presented to the gallery's collectors and advisors ahead of the opening, on Artsy during and after the exhibition, and every applicant is also considered for Camp Z, Collective Z's fair program — the official Fellowship Gallery of Affordable Art Fair NYC, with Chicago Art Fair and Aqua Art Miami this season — at no extra fee.