City of Seattle: Westlake Park Temporary Art Installation

The Seattle Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs, in collaboration with Seattle Parks and Recreation, seeks two artists or artist teams to create concept ideas for temporary, site-specific public art projects for Westlake Park, located at 401 Pine St. in Seattle. The selected artists will create temporary installations to activate the park during summer 2013. The call is open to artists who are Washington state residents living within 90 miles of Seattle. Students are not eligible to apply.

Westlake Park is a 0.1-acre public plaza in downtown Seattle between Pike and Pine streets, serving as an active hub due to its position in the retail and transportation corridor. The park hosts programming including music performances and dance lessons, and features the permanent artwork Westlake Star Axis/Seven Hills by Robert Maki (1988). A new Westlake Play Space for families with small children will open along the east edge of the park. The selected artists will work with Parks and the Office of Arts & Cultural Affairs to develop temporary installations that activate the space, engage pedestrians, and work with existing site programming and features. Artwork may be two- or three-dimensional and can include projection, light, sound, performance components, or interactive experiences. Projects will be on view for a minimum of three weeks to a maximum of three months.

The total budget is $10,000 per project, all-inclusive of travel expenses, taxes, proposal fees, and all project costs for design, fabrication, installation, and removal. Two artists or artist teams will be commissioned. Artists may apply as a team, but applications must clearly describe each collaborator's contribution. The application deadline is 11 p.m., Monday, March 25 (Pacific Daylight Time). Applications must include a letter of interest (not to exceed 2,000 characters), concept idea (not to exceed 2,000 characters), sixteen images of past artworks, work sample identification list, résumé, and three professional references. Optional video work samples totaling three minutes maximum may be submitted on CD-R/DVD-R by mail or hand-delivery by 5 p.m., Monday, March 25. Selection will be based on strength and artistic merit of past works, quality of concept proposal, visual and technical sophistication, creativity of approach, ability to complete projects on time and within budget, and references.