Critical Mass

From Critical Mass 2011: Fritz Liedtke, Fox; Geoffrey H. Short, Untitled Explosion #9LF; John Cyr, Lillian Bassman’s Developer Trays; Susan Worsham, Wild Plums; Jesse Rieser, Rix’s Reflecting Pond

Critical Mass 2012 registration opens in July!

Click here to see monographs of past Critical Mass book award recipients.

Click here to see the list of jurors for Critical Mass 2011.

Click here for Critical Mass Success Stories.

What Is Critical Mass?

The aim of Critical Mass, and all Photolucida programming, is to provide participants with career-building opportunities and to promote the best emerging and mid-career artists working today.

Critical Mass is a program about exposure and community. The idea is simple—photographers (from anywhere) submit a 10 image portfolio for $75 ($90 for international submissions). This work is then pre-screened by a committee of approximately 20 great jurors. From those votes, the 200 top Finalists are determined. These 200 Finalists then pay an additional submission fee ($200) and their work goes on to a jury of approximately 200 of the world’s best curators, editors, and other professionals who have agreed to view and vote on the Finalists’ work. Using these votes, at least one photographer is chosen to receive a book award and once the monograph is published, everyone who enters and juries will receive a copy of the book(s).

What to expect?

As an entrant to Critical Mass, you shouldn’t necessarily expect feedback from the jurors unless they want to contact you about doing something with your work. Jurors are given the opportunity and encouraged to provide written feedback, but we can only guarantee that:

• Everyone who enters will receive a copy of the Book Award Winner’s monograph(s).
• Everyone who enters will receive a CD containing all of the submitted work.
• Everyone who enters will have their work seen, and voted on, by the Pre-Screening committee.
• Those who continue on in the top 200 Finalists will have their work seen, and voted on, by over 200 jurors.

Book Awards!

Photolucida will publish a monograph for at least one photographer from among the top-scoring finalists. The book award is reserved for artists without a previously published monograph. Photographers with self-published books are still eligible for the book award. If you already have a monograph, you still have over 200 great reasons to participate in Critical Mass!

CM 2010 Winner - Jeff Rich (in production)
CM 2009 Winners - Alejandro Cartagena, Birthe Piontek
CM 2008 Winners - Andy Freeberg, Céline Clanet, Priya Kambli
CM 2007 Winners - Joni Sternbach, Peter van Agtmael
CM 2006 Winners - Camille Seaman, Donald Weber, Amy Stein
CM 2005 Winners - Hiroshi Watanabe, Louie Palu, Sage Sohier
Click here to see!

Other Awards!

Again this year, in addition to the book award, Photolucida is pleased to partner with Blue Sky in offering a solo show to one of the Critical Mass Finalists. Founded in 1975 as the Oregon Center for the Photographic Arts, Blue Sky is one of the leading venues exhibiting contemporary photography in the United States.

Darius Himes, Assistant Director at Fraenkel Gallery, will curate an exhibition from the Critical Mass Top 50. In spring of 2012, the exhibition will travel to the following locations:
PhotoCenter NW, in Seattle, WA
Newspace Center for Photography, in Portland, OR
RayKo Photo Center, in San Francisco, CA

International Scholarships

Each year, Photolucida awards five scholarships to photographers who live and work outside the US. In previous years, scholarships have been given to photographers from Poland, Italy, Mexico, and The Netherlands. This year, we are please to offer this opportunity to five select photographers from the country of Georgia.

Procedure

Critical Mass has a two-part submission process.

1. First you pay a $75 registration fee to upload your images and text. ($90 for international entrants due to increased international shipping rates). We will then format your work and distribute the pages to the pre-screeners for scoring.
   
   The 2011 Pre-Screening committee comprises the following people:
   • Susan Baraz, Lucie Awards
   • Leslie K. Brown, Independent Curator
   • Stacey McCarrol Cutshaw, Exposure
   • Crista Dix, wall space Gallery
   • Bevin Bering Dubrowski, Houston Center for Photography
   • Jon Feinstein, Humble Arts Foundation
   • Melanie Flood, Independent Curator
   • Roy Flukinger, Harry Ransom Center
   • Lauren Henkin, Photolucida Board
   • Laura Valenti Jelen, Newspace Center for Photography
   • Dennis Kiel, The Light Factory
   • Stu Levy, Portland Art Museum Photo Council/Photoludica Board
   • Walter (Wally) Mason, Haggerty Museum of Art at Marquette University
   • Kate Menconeri, Independent Curator
   • Lesley Meyer, The Annenberg Space for Photography
   • Blue Mitchell, Diffusion Magazine
   • Laura Moya, Photolucida Director
   • Claire Annette Mussard, Curator/Consultant
   • Shawn Records, Photolucida Board
   • Tina Schelhorn, Galerie Lichtblick
   • P. Elaine Sharpe, Independent Curator
   • George Slade, re:photographica
   • Christina Spielvogel, Blue Sky Exhibition Committee
   • Susan Spiritus, Susan Spiritus Gallery
   • Paula Tognarelli, Griffin Museum for Photography
2. If you are one of the top 200 photographers chosen by the pre-screeners, then you will pay an additional $200 fee and your work will be sent out to the full panel of over 200 jurors.

200 Jurors!

Like last year, this is a truly international group of jurors representing a wide variety of photographic interests. We have made a great effort to represent the range of professional affiliation (gallery owners, curators, publishers, editors, etc.). In addition to seeing the work during the online process, jurors will also be sent a CD of the Finalists’ work, which serves as a good reference tool in a multitude of ways.

Note: Critical Mass jurors are not allowed to submit their own work to Critical Mass.

Online Submissions

Enter Critical Mass via our registration page.

Download and print this pdf with clear instructions on how to enter.

Frequently Asked Questions

Please check our newly posted answers to the most frequently asked questions. If you still don’t find an answer to your questions, please email us at registration@photolucida.org.

Fine Print

Photolucida reserves the right to reproduce all work submitted for Critical Mass in the materials distributed to Critical Mass jurors and participating photographers. One may not pull work from Critical Mass once it has been submitted. Photolucida reserves the right to reproduce submitted work in announcements, catalogs, web sites and publications that report on or promote our programming. Any necessary permissions required to use images of people and/or property are the responsibility of the photographer. Submission of an entry to this program signifies acceptance of all conditions stated.

Partner Acknowledgements

Photolucida is also pleased to be able to partner with Blue Sky Gallery, Photo Center NW, Newspace Center for Photography, and RayKo Photo Center on our Critical Mass 2011 Awards.