Please Name Your Goddamn Files: A Friendly Note from Exhausted Curators Everywhere

Every exhibition has them.

The artists who carefully read every instruction.

The artists who submit beautiful work.

The artists who name their files properly.

firstname-lastname-title-01
title-lastname-firstname-01

The artists who include dimensions, dates, media information, and a short biography.

And then there are the people who upload:

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Along with a 98 MB Photoshop export .tiff file that crashes half the submission portal.

If this article sounds oddly specific, it's because it is.

This is why The Art of Abandonment is behind schedule.

Why Are Galleries So Pedantic?

A common complaint we hear is that exhibition requirements feel unnecessarily strict.

Why does the file need a specific name?

Why does the image need to be under a certain size?

Why does the artist statement need a word limit?

Why can't we just "show our best work?"

The answer is simple:

Because somebody has to manage all of this information.

Those requirements are not there to annoy you.

They exist because the administrative side of exhibitions is already chaotic enough.

Every title.

Every dimension.

Every medium.

Every biography.

Every image.

Every email.

Every artist record.

Eventually all of that information has to be organized into a system that allows an exhibition to function.

The requirements may seem pedantic.

They're actually operational.

Errors Add Up Fast

One artist forgets dimensions.

Another forgets a title.

Another uploads the wrong file.

Another submits an image that's too large.

Another submits an image that's too small.

Another forgets their contact information.

None of these are catastrophic on their own.

The problem is volume.

A single mistake takes a minute or two to correct.

Fifty mistakes become an afternoon.

One hundred mistakes become an administrative problem.

Two hundred mistakes become a deadline problem.

Things can spiral into a flaming dumpster surprisingly quickly.

The Statistic Nobody Likes

A disappointing reality is that approximately half of all submissions fail at least one basic requirement.

Roughly fifty percent.

Let that sink in.

We're not talking about artistic merit.

We're not talking about conceptual strength.

We're not talking about aesthetics.

We're talking about basic submission requirements.

File naming.

File size.

Required information.

Formatting.

The absolute minimum standards required to enter the review process.

That's a surprisingly low bar, and yet it remains one of the most common reasons submissions require manual intervention.

No, We Can't Just Delete Everything With Errors

During delays, we occasionally receive comments suggesting that every submission containing an error should simply be deleted.

That sounds efficient in theory.

In reality, it's impossible.

People make mistakes.

Artists make mistakes.

Administrators make mistakes.

Curators make mistakes.

We all make mistakes.

A missing dimension isn't the end of the world.

An incorrectly named file isn't the end of the world.

The issue arises when hundreds of people each make a few small mistakes.

Eventually those small mistakes become large delays.

And suddenly the exhibition timeline starts slipping.

Not because of one person.

Because of everyone.

The First Thing A Gallerist Sees

Artists often assume that jurors immediately begin evaluating their work.

Not exactly.

Before a blind jury ever sees your photograph, somebody has to process your submission.

And the first thing they see isn't your manifesto.

It isn't your artist statement.

It isn't your CV.

It isn't the award you won in high school.

It's your file.

That's it.

A filename.

An image.

A collection of metadata.

The first hurdle is not artistic.

The first hurdle is administrative.

Did you follow the instructions?

Did you provide the information requested?

Can this file actually be organized into the system?

If the answer is yes, you've already improved your chances.

The Lowest Possible Bar

We are not asking for perfection.

We are not asking for a master's degree in database management.

We are not asking for a forty-page proposal.

We are asking you to:

• Name your files properly.

• Include the required information.

• Follow the submission guidelines.

• Upload a usable image.

• Read the instructions.

That's it.

The bar is astonishingly low.

And yet it eliminates an enormous amount of avoidable administrative work.

Unnamed institutions have rejected works of art over less.

A Brief Discussion About Image Sizes

This is where things get weird.

There appears to be no middle ground.

Artists tend to submit one of two things:

The Potato

A 300 KB JPEG.

72 DPI.

Compressed into oblivion.

Looks like it was downloaded from MySpace in 2006.

Every detail has been sacrificed to the gods of image compression.

The file is technically an image.

In the same way a gas station hot dog is technically food.

The Nuclear Option

A 98 MB PNG exported directly from Photoshop.

Every slider pushed to maximum.

Every sharpening tool activated.

Every HDR effect enabled.

Every possible setting selected.

The file is so large it threatens local infrastructure.

Nobody knows why.

The image usually depicts a flower.

Or a barn.

Or a photograph that would have looked perfectly fine at one-tenth the size.

Compression / Watermarks

This one deserves its own section.

Every year, artists submit images that are so aggressively compressed they become nearly impossible to evaluate.

The explanation is usually some variation of:

"I don't want my work stolen."

Understandable.

However, if your image is 300 KB and covered in compression artifacts, nobody can properly evaluate it.

We're not asking for a billboard-sized file.

Billboard sized files need to be imported into resized.

This costs time and sanity.

We're asking for something large enough to determine whether the work should be included in an exhibition.

Images with watermarks are destroyed.

If a juror spends more time looking at the watermark than the photograph, something has gone terribly wrong.

The Goal Is Not To Reject Artists

This is the part people misunderstand.

The goal of submission requirements is not to eliminate artists.

The goal is to reduce preventable administrative problems.

Every minute spent fixing filenames, chasing missing information, correcting records, resizing files, or identifying mystery uploads is a minute not spent looking at artwork.

We would much rather spend our time reviewing strong work.

Final Thoughts

Some galleries say:

"Show us your best work."

We agree.

But first, do us one favor.

Read the instructions.

Follow the guidelines.

Name your files.

Because before anyone evaluates your artistic vision, your conceptual framework, your biography, your statement, your awards, your publications, or your life's work...

Some exhausted administrator is staring at a spreadsheet wondering why there are seventeen files named:

170305_Kolkop_9933-HDR_DNAI_SHAI_lvl_ClrLum_HSH_Radiance_Tritone_TCP-Texture-38.jpg (Winner: The Art of Abandonment)

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And trust us.

You do not want to become that story.