Life Forms - 2026 (Juried Annual Exhibition, Publication, Sales)

Life Forms 2026: The Art of Being Alive

Gallerium’s juried annual exhibition, publication, and sales invite artists to explore what it means to be alive.

From the quiet pulse inside a single cell to the chorus of human community, from forests, gardens, and oceans to the animal realm and our bodies, from myth and memory to robots, code, and emergent digital beings, this call embraces the full spectrum of living stories.

Share works that blossom, move, shelter, heal, or hope. Paint, sculpt, weave, photograph, assemble, or code your vision across themes like botanical life, the animal realm, the human story, abstract life forms, myth and inner worlds, synthetic beings, connections and care, and the fragile resilience of life.

Selected works will be presented in a curated online exhibition, publication, on Artsy, and supported by global promotions and sales opportunities.

Add your voice to a global creative archive that honors life, tender, fierce, ordinary, wondrous.

Let your work breathe here.

Life Forms 2026: The Art of Being Alive

What makes something feel alive? A pulse we can’t see, a pattern that keeps unfolding, a fragile rhythm that connects us all.

Gallerium proudly presents Life Forms 2026, the annual international juried exhibition, publication, and sales opportunity dedicated to exploring the vast idea of life: the botanical world of plants and trees, the animal realm, the human journey, imagined digital and robotic beings, mythic and cultural life, and the inner landscapes of dream and memory.

Life Forms 2026 invites artists everywhere to journey across the living spectrum, from the first spark inside a single cell to the complex chorus of human community, from forests and gardens to mycelial networks, insects, animals, and people, from robots and emergent digital life to ancient myths and subconscious dreamscapes.

If your work reveals the beauty of growth, honors the fragility of existence, explores identity, celebrates connection, or imagines how life adapts and transforms, this is your stage. Bring us what blossoms, moves, listens, remembers, shelters, heals, and hopes. Life Forms 2026 is about everything that lives—and everything we recognize as alive.

Why Life Forms?

This call is not only about showing art. It is about seeing life with care. Life Forms 2026 gathers artworks that help viewers notice the living world, feel kinship across differences, and understand how our choices ripple through shared ecosystems of people, animals, plants, places, and technologies. By submitting, you add your voice to a global creative archive—one that remembers, questions, and imagines better ways for life to thrive.

Theme and Topics to Explore 

We welcome a wide range of creative expressions, use these as prompts, combine them, or bring your own interpretation:

Botanical Life: Trees, gardens, bloom and decay, seed and sprout, rings of time, the poetry of leaves and roots.

The Animal Realm: Creatures great and small: portraits, movement and flight, migration paths, shelter, nurture, play.

The Human Story: Portraits and figures, gestures and rituals, identity and memory, belonging and home, care and resilience.

Abstract Life Forms: Pulse, tide, breath, drift, swarm, echo—nonfigurative expressions of growth, pattern, and emergence.

Myth, Story, and Inner Worlds: Folk beings, guardian creatures, cultural symbols; dreams, reveries, surreal terrains, subconscious maps.

Synthetic and Digital Beings: Robots, cyborgs, algorithmic organisms, hybrid forms that blur organic and artificial boundaries.

Fragility and Resilience: Endangerment, extinction, repair, rebirth; climate change, interconnectivity, and the chains of cause and effect that bind habitats, communities, and futures.

Connections and Relationships: Symbiosis and care, family and friendship, food and reciprocity, invisible threads that hold life together.

Art, Science, and Technology:

• Hybrid Forms: natural materials meeting circuits, sensors, or code; installations that respond to data.
• Intelligence and Consciousness: biological and artificial ways of sensing, learning, remembering.
• Art–Science Connection: visualizing scientific ideas and histories—from observation journals to evolution, adaptation, and discovery—translated through an artist’s eye.

Ideas for Creative Approaches

• Scale shifts: microscopic-to-cosmic, intimate details to panoramic worlds.
• Material translation: living motifs reimagined in paper, fiber, wood, glass, clay, metal, or found objects.
• Process as life: repetition, growth, erosion, layering, mending, and repair as visible methods.
• Assemblage and collage: building ecosystems from fragments, archives, or everyday traces.
• Mapping and systems: networks, routes, cycles, and feedback loops made visual.
• Series thinking: diptychs, triptychs, and suites that follow change over time.
• Metaphor-forward portraiture: life rendered through symbols, patterns, textures, and marks.

An Exclusive Triple Art Opportunity

Selected artworks will receive global exposure and career-boosting opportunities, including:

Exhibition by Gallerium – Your art will be showcased in an exclusive international online exhibition, reaching art lovers, collectors, and curators worldwide.

Publication – All jury-selected artworks will be published in the official catalog. A selection of featured works will have a chance to get published in The Book of Arts, extending your art’s legacy.

Sales and Global Promotion – Your work will be featured on ARTSY, the largest global art collector platform, giving your art greater visibility and opportunities for sales.

Who Can Apply?

Open to all artists worldwide – Any age, background, or career stage
All 2D and 3D mediums accepted – Painting, drawing, digital, mixed media, sculpture, installation, fiber art, photography, and more.
All styles welcome – Abstract, conceptual, figurative, contemporary, modern, surrealism, minimalism, and beyond.

Free Submission – Only selected artists will be required to pay a small fixed selection fee to participate.

Life surrounds us, teaches us, and asks for our care. Life Forms 2026 is an invitation to show how you see life—rooted and radiant, fragile and fierce, ordinary and wondrous. Let your work breathe here.

Explore Gallerium’s past exhibitions that have engaged over 4 million art lovers worldwide: https://www.gallerium.art/exhibitions 

AWARDS

■ International Exhibition
Selected artworks will be part of an exclusive two-month global online exhibition, running from April 11 to June 11, 2026. 

■ Publication Feature
A subset of the selected artworks may be chosen to be highlighted in The Book of Arts Publication. The book will be available in both digital and premium print editions, featuring vivid, colorful A4 pages. It will reach a wide audience, including art experts, galleries, curators, businesses, and collectors, through prominent publication networks.

■ Artwork Promotion and Sales
All exhibited works will be available for viewing through the online showcase, with the option to sell. Artists are welcome to participate, whether or not their works are listed for sale or sold.

■ Artsy.net Global Marketplace Shop
Selected works will be showcased and featured on ARTSY, one of the leading platforms for art collectors worldwide, broadening exposure and enhancing sales opportunities for artists.

■ Curated Reviews
Selected artists will have the opportunity to receive professionally curated reviews, designed to enhance their artistic profile and broaden their impact.

■ Focused Interviews
A group of selected artists will be invited to participate in personalized interviews that strengthen their exhibition presence and deepen their connection with the global audience.

■ Audience Feedback
A select number of participating artists will be chosen to receive this award, which features curated and insightful feedback about their artworks, gathered through audience surveys and direct engagement with a trusted network of art enthusiasts. These reflections reveal how the artwork resonates with viewers, offering meaningful perspectives that enhance visibility, connection, and artistic growth.

■ Exhibition Collection Catalogue
All exhibited artists will be featured in the catalogue. Artists can request printed copies via print-on-demand services from a partner platform, and the catalogue will be promoted internationally online, reaching art lovers, galleries, curators, and collectors.

■ Honorable Mention Artist Award
Up to 10 outstanding artists will receive a personalized, distinguished artist award digital certificate, recognizing their exceptional skill, originality, and artistic contribution. This honor will also be featured across our social media channels, spotlighting these remarkable talents.

■ Permanent Online Presence
Exhibition links, along with artist profiles, will stay active permanently, enhancing online visibility and boosting search engine presence. After the exhibition concludes, the Buy button will be deactivated, but artist pages will continue to promote the artist's work and achievements.

■ Exhibition Poster
Each artist will receive a downloadable exhibition poster in various styles, providing a meaningful keepsake from the event.

■ Artwork Visibility Badges
Artists will be provided with a downloadable promotional badge for each selected artwork, encouraging them to share their participation on social media, boosting their visibility and audience engagement.

■ Visitor Comments
All exhibition visitors can submit their comments and ratings of the exhibition and each artwork online. These opinions and ratings can provide valuable insights about the audience's feelings and understanding of the artworks. Artists will be notified about the received comments by email.

■ Promotion Campaign
A comprehensive promotional campaign will be launched to enhance exposure for all selected artists and drive artwork sales during the exhibition. This will include press releases, catalogue distribution, social media promotions, and more.

■ Performance Insights and Reports
Artists will receive detailed reports with insights on exhibition visits, artwork engagement, popularity, and sales performance. These analytics will be sent periodically, helping artists understand their impact and audience reach.

■ Professional Artist Profile 
Each artist will be granted a complimentary profile page on the Biafarin platform, offering a professional space to showcase their portfolio, biography, and accomplishments.

■ Certificate for Exhibited Artists
All selected artists will receive a Digital Certificate of participation, acknowledging their contribution to the exhibition.

FEES

Submission: FREE

Only jury-selected artists will pay a selection fee of USD 40

An early bird selection fee with a 15% discount (USD 34) will be offered.

Up to 6 artworks can be submitted.

A maximum of two artworks will be selected per artist.

Jury Process

We use two phases for jurying. The first phase of jurying is the Yes/No selection, and the 2nd part is the scoring model. For scoring, each jury member scores artworks from 1 to 10. Artworks with the highest scores in the "Yes" group will be selected.

Why Selection Fee?

Submission to this art opportunity is free of charge, and we only ask the selected artists to pay a small fixed fee to proceed. 

This decision was made in good faith because we wanted artists to only pay when selected. We have a thorough jury process as our art opportunities are popular and have a low acceptance rate.

Money-back Guarantee

A money-back guarantee is available for all selection fee payments until the exhibition's official opening day.

About Gallerium

Gallerium art exhibitions are intended to create equal showcasing opportunities for brilliant visual artists worldwide.

Art improves people's lives, and showcasing art is a true and effective way of playing a part in building a better world. In this way, Gallerium utilizes the Biafarin exhibition platform to boost the benefits of the exhibitions. It is always free to submit your art in Gallerium competitions, while only selected artists need to pay a small selection fee.

Each one of Gallerium's shows focuses on a unique subject.

International artists are encouraged to express their artistic interpretation of the subject for an opportunity to be selected for exhibition.

Gallerium exhibitions have been seen by more than 3.5 million visitors worldwide.

About The Book of Arts

The Book of Arts is a series of contemporary art books published by Discover the Artist Media Holding and Art Publications Network. The mission is to publish prominent art from artists of various cultures and nationalities via several editions each year. Each edition focuses on a specific subject to make a visual story of modern and contemporary art in the art world.

The publications are available to hundreds of thousands of art experts, collectors, galleries, museums, curators, and enthusiasts in digital and print format and reach readers in over 150 countries.

The online version of the book will be published and circulated globally, while the high-quality hardcopy version can be ordered online and directly via a print-on-demand platform.

ARTIST DATA

Artist Headshot Photo
Artist Full Name
City and Country of Residence
Phone
Email
Social Media Links (optional)
Website (optional)

Biography 

Artist Statement (optional)

ARTWORK DATA

Title

Category

Technique

Surface

Creation Year

Size (WidthXHeightXDepth) in cm or inches

Artwork/Series Description (Optional)

Price in USD

ARTIST ELIGIBILITY

This opportunity is open to all visual artists worldwide.

ARTWORK ELIGIBILITY

Art Categories

The submission is open to all visual artists creating original artworks in 2 and 3-dimensional media.

Visual Arts Categories: Painting, drawing, landscapes, printmaking, illustration, photography, digital arts, sculpture, metalsmithing, installation, crafts, jewelry, glass art, ceramic art, paper art, book art, land art, fiber art, textile art, wood art, collage, abstract, graphic arts, design, and mixed media are accepted.

Style
All styles are accepted.

Any abstract or representational interpretations of the subject are welcome.

Size
There is no size limit for submitted artwork.

Duration
There is no limit to the artwork creation year.
Artworks created within the last 5 years are preferred.

Originality and Rights
Artworks must be entirely the work of the entrant, executed without the supervision of an instructor.

Entries must not be copies or derivatives based in any way on other copyrighted or published paintings, photographs, or other artistic work. Any infraction of this rule will result in serious consequences.
Artists should have all the rights to present and publish their artworks internationally.

Artwork Photo

Only the artwork should show in the photo (no frames or extraneous backgrounds).

Invited artists might be asked for high-resolution artwork photos if needed.

Availability

Artists can submit artworks that are not for sale.

Number of Artworks

Artists can submit up to 6 pieces of original artwork in relation to the subject.

The artworks are subject to selection, and a maximum of two artworks might be selected from the chosen artists.

Other

Artworks that, in the reasonable view of the organizer, include porn, violence, and/or racial, and religious hatred, inappropriate and/or offensive content, are not admissible.