AMP: Artists' Meeting Place and Resource Collective

from Franklin Furnace

Would you kindly share the attached RFQ for a public art project at UMBC, which shall be installed inside our planned Interdisciplinary Life Sciences Building. We are partnering once again with MSAC on the process for selecting an artist.

The call may be found at CAFE:

https://www.callforentry.org/festivals_unique_info.php?ID=1838

To follow, a few details from the solicitation. Full information at CAFE.

Thanks,

Tim

Artwork Themes:

Overarching themes in the artwork should encompass the strengths of UMBC, a historically-diverse, highly-selective, public research university. UMBC combines the traditions of the liberal arts academy, the creative intensity of the research university, and the social responsibility of the public university. We are known for integrating research, teaching and learning, and civic engagement so that each advances the others for the benefit of society. These concerns touch all of the members of our campus.

At UMBC the life sciences generate questions and discover new knowledge as we investigate our world and address challenges to society. The convergent science and engineering disciplines sharing the building are recognized for an emphasis on extensive laboratory and field research in life sciences, scientific approach, and engaged faculty working side-by-side with students.

Positioned in the heart of the campus, the artwork location in the interior of the ILSB will mark a commons where people may gather, sit and reflect, and continue their learning in an informal setting. Our campus imagines an artwork that reflects our spirit of ever-evolving scientific curiosity, collaboration, inquiry and enterprises to solve societal problems. The artwork should reflect the spirit of open engagement, excellence and intellectual rigor that faculty investigators and students bring to bear on our world and our needs as people. The artwork must be durable, reflect our moment in time while welcoming future discoveries, and reflect the science investigated within the ILSB through materials and forms.

UMBC is a campus committed to the stewardship of our environment, and the artwork should demonstrate a commitment to responsible fabrication and resourcing, and passive or low-energy use. The artwork should be effectively integrated into the environment, and consider both available natural and artificial light sources, and viewing from multiple vantage points and elevations. The selected artwork will invite people to rest and converse, and distinguish this commons destination as a special place within the building and on the broader campus.

Project Site:

The proposed public artwork will be sited inside on the first floor of ILSB’s main hallway student commons area (see Addendum Plans). The commons space has tables and lounge seating study areas with classrooms and labs lining both sides of the large space. The permanent public artwork will be integrated on three contiguous but separate vertical walls each measuring 23’ long x 24’-8” high and will be viewable from the first and second floors. The public artwork may be applied to the wall, or applied on substrate and attached, or project out from the wall, no wider than a depth of 12”. Spanning from floor to mezzanine, the public artwork must be durable to withstand a highly trafficked hallway where the public may come in contact with the artwork. The above information defines the “Work Site.”

Electricity can be provided for integrated lighting components; however, no digital media technology may comprise the artwork. The artwork will receive diffuse natural light from skylights above and glass doors and windows at either end of the hallway. Given the exposure to the public and natural light sources, color safe materials should be used. The building construction budget will cover supplemental lighting for the artwork in consultation with the artist.

Eligibility:

All professional artists or artist teams in the United States may apply. If artists are applying as a team, the team should be declared on the Application Form, specifying a team leader to receive notifications. Three references, including names and contact information, are required. Additionally, the artist must meet at least two of the following criteria to be considered for this commission:

• The artist has completed public art commissions

• The artist has received awards, grants or fellowships

• The artist has had work exhibited in museums or galleries

Artists serving on the Maryland Public Art Commission are ineligible to apply. Artists currently enrolled in any university or college degree program are not eligible to apply. Staff, faculty, or employees of the commissioning agency UMBC are also not eligible.