Heat has become such a recurrent and increasing environmental phenomenon. We all know it would happen. Climate science has been actively developing since the mid 19th Century and predicting the heating effects of atmospheric change. Global Warming caused by increasing emissions of carbon dioxide has been a subject of study and news for decades, at least since the 1970s, probably earlier.

Cover image: Jessica Rayner, ‘Conversion’, still from HD Video 2017. This work was shown in Fire and Ice at GroundWork in 2017

Open Call for artists

Below is a copy of our very first open call for contributions to our Spring 2027 exhibition.

Entries need to be submitted via Curatorspace here:

Heat

GroundWork Gallery invites visual artists to submit work for a Spring 2027 exhibition exploring the theme of heat.

Heat is a physical force, a climate signal, and an industrial necessity. It brings to mind urgency, pressure and transformation.

In 2026, the reality of impacts of increased heat as a result of climate change have become unignorable around the world. For example, the Met Office reported that England experienced its hottest June on record, including a provisional June high of 37.7°C at Lingwood, Norfolk and a significant marine heatwave, with surface water temperatures around 2°C above average and locally 4-5°C warmer than normal.

Heat is also embedded in the systems that shape our lives and environments: it is essential to industries such as steel, ceramics, cement, glass, chemicals, food and drink, paper, petroleum refining and manufacturing, where it is used to melt, fire, forge, dry, distil, pasteurise, cure, process and transform materials.

Heat: the exhibition

The 2027 GroundWork Gallery exhibition will display work that makes heat visible, tangible and resonant. Artists can help us understand heat not simply as a temperature, but as a condition that connects climate, energy, labour, vulnerability, resilience and change.

We welcome proposals from artists working across media including painting, sculpture, photography, print, film, installation, ceramics, live art, movement, dance, and textiles. Existing works and new proposals will both be considered.

Possible themes and questions include:

• Climate and adaptation: How do heatwaves, drought, fire and warming seas reshape environments, nature, and communities? What new forms of shelter, resilience, cooling, or repair might heat demand?
• Inequality and exposure: Who and where is most affected by rising temperatures, and who is protected?
• More-than-human: How do plant and animal life experience heat?
• Energy and industry: Where and how is heat used and generated at scale in our lives? In which ways do we harness or depend on heat?
• Materials, transformation, and metaphor: How does heat melt, forge, burn, harden, preserve or destroy? What does heat signify, and how do colours, textures, and sounds invoke heat?
• Bodies and minds: How does heat impact us physically and mentally?

Submit here

Opportunity details | Open Call: GroundWork Gallery Spring 2027 | CuratorSpace

Exhibition dates

The exhibition will run from 12 March to 5 June 2027 at GroundWork Gallery, King’s Lynn.

GroundWork is open between 11am – 4pm Wednesday to Saturday.

Deadline for the open call:

Sunday 29 November 2026. Selected artists will be notified by Friday 18 December 2026.

Eligibility and criteria:

The open call is open to all but note that the gallery may not be able to cover costs for works that would need to be transported from outside the UK.

We prioritise artists who best respond to the theme of heat. 

We will select up to 12 artists for the exhibition. 

The maximum size of work that the gallery can accommodate is 2 meters.

How to submit: