SHAG PRESENTS:
Acts of Devotion
An exhibition curated by Badenov from Société Anonyme
“Real generosity toward the
future lies in giving all to the present.”
~ Albert Camus ~
Devotion is a quiet thing.
It’s not usually declared — it’s returned to, again and again, until it begins to shape us. It lives in small, deliberate acts: in attention, in care, in the things we hold onto without fully understanding why. There is tenderness in it, but also resolve — a quiet, ongoing commitment.
This exhibition brings those private patterns into the open through image and writing. It explores the parts of devotion that often go unspoken: repetition, fixation, care, compulsion. The work does not seek to explain itself or perform for the viewer. Instead, it offers something more honest — expressions of what artists continue returning to, and the meaning that accumulates through that return.
What remains is not a clear conclusion, but a lingering question: what do you return to, and why?
Submission Guidelines
We are inviting artists to contribute work to a group exhibition exploring intimacy, devotion, and the private logic of desire.
Each selected submission will exist in TWO forms:
1: The Work
A visual piece in any medium, including:
Painting
Drawing
Photography
Collage
Mixed media
Sculpture
Textile work
Video or moving image
2: The Text
A written companion piece (100–400 words)
This is not an artist statement.
We are not looking for explanation or analysis. We are interested in interiority — the emotional, psychological, or personal reality surrounding the work. The text should feel connected to the piece, while still standing on its own.
The goal is not to describe the work, but to reveal something adjacent to it — the feeling, fixation, tension, memory, or experience that gave rise to it.
The writing may take the form of:
A confession
A memory
A fantasy
Instructions
A letter
A journal entry
A fragment of a scene
A list or ritual
An internal monologue
Writing should feel personal, specific, and lived-in. Avoid academic language, over-explaining, or generalized abstraction. If the text could apply to any artwork, it is likely not specific enough.
Both the visual and written components will be considered equally as part of the submission process.
The Exhibit
Within the exhibition, text and image will exist separately.
Viewers will encounter the written works independently through a small printed booklet and will move through the space constructing their own connections between language and image. No direct pairing or explanation will be provided.
Meaning will not be given. It will be assembled through recognition, memory, association, and personal experience.
The goal is not for viewers to fully “understand” the work, but to spend time inside of it — to feel the tension between what is shown, what is written, and what remains unresolved.
Submission Includes
1–5 images of proposed work
(Final number of works included will be determined through the curatorial process)Title of work
("Untitled" is acceptable, though not preferred)Medium + dimensions
(Please include maximum dimensions for installation planning)Written companion piece (100–400 words)
Short artist bio
Instagram handle and/or website
Financials
Work sold through the show are subject to a 50/50 split between the artist and SHAG.
Download Guidelines
✅ Submission Checklist
HOW TO SEND
Visual Artwork:Send via Dropbox, WeTransfer, Google Drive or similar. DO NOT send visual artwork as attachments.
Written Work: A Google Docs link is preferred, but we will accept a Word or PDF attachment.
IMPORTANT DATES
Open Call Launch
May 1, 2026
Final Work Due
September 18-20, 2026
Installation
September 21, 2026
Exhibition Opening @ SHAG
September 25, 2026
About SHAG
For more than 15 years, SHAG has existed as more than a sex shop. Through education, community events, and support of artists and makers, SHAG has created space for conversations and forms of expression that are often overlooked, misunderstood, or pushed aside.
The shop has long embraced sexuality not simply as commerce or spectacle, but as something personal, creative, emotional, and deeply human — making it a natural home for work that explores intimacy, desire, identity, and connection through art.