City Precinct presentsVol. 01 / Open Call / Melbourne 2026
OFF/THE
GRID
Every artist submits inside the square. The square is the grid. The art is everything the grid was built to flatten — laneways, graffiti, queer bars, midnight kitchens, everything the CBD never quite caught.
Brief
Hoddle drew a grid in 1837.
You've been living off it ever since.
Show us what slipped through.
1837———————2026
Submissions Open ✱No Gray Areas ✱Square Rules Apply ✱Hoddle Who? ✱Paint Outside The Lines (Inside The Square) ✱Submissions Open ✱No Gray Areas ✱Square Rules Apply ✱Hoddle Who? ✱Paint Outside The Lines (Inside The Square) ✱Submissions Open ✱No Gray Areas ✱Square Rules Apply ✱Hoddle Who? ✱Paint Outside The Lines (Inside The Square) ✱
§ 01 — The Square Rule
ONE RULE.
BREAK
EVERYTHING
ELSE.
Submit work cropped to a perfect 1:1 square. That's the only constraint. Medium, message, mess — all yours. We want photo, paint, stencil, scan, screenshot, scrap. Bring the city council nothing they asked for.
01
Format
All artworks must be no larger than 30(h) x 30(w) x 10(d)cm (including frame).
02
Cost
$50 per entry. Three works max.
03
Medium
Photo, paint, stencil, scan, screenshot, scrap — all welcome.
Salon Hang / West End Art Space
Open Call
Ready?
Send us something the grid hates.
§ 02 — Key Dates
Mark
The
Calendar.
Submissions Open
14 JUN 2026
Right now / today / get on it
Submissions Close
31 JUL 2026
Hard cut. Midnight AEST.
Exhibition Opens
14 AUG 2026
West End Art Space, West Melbourne
Exhibition Closes
28 SEP 2026
Wall comes down. Grid wins. (It doesn't.)
§ 03 — The City, Reimagined
1838 →
Now.
Hoddle drew a square. Melbourne grew sideways, upwards, underneath. The grid is still here — but the city long ago went off it. That's the brief.
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