K Street Virtual Gallery Design Competition

NoMa (North of Massachusetts Avenue) is a thriving mixed-use neighborhood located just north of Union Station in Washington, D.C. The K Street underpass is the longest in NoMa, more than 400 feet long, comprising 6 lanes of traffic including the K Street bikeway and 2 narrow sidewalks approximately 8 feet wide. The NoMa Parks Foundation seeks to select artists to create art that will be projected in the K Street underpass using 12 high-tech laser projectors and periodically rotated.

The K Street Virtual Gallery will display digital installations on the reticulated stone walls in the darkest areas of the underpass. Artworks should not be too distracting to pedestrians, bicyclists, and drivers. Being moderate in the rate of change in the image and the intensity of color will be important. Works must be free of political rhetoric, nudity, profane language, violent imagery, and any other potentially offensive imagery. For the opening exhibit, local community members have suggested focusing on: addressing urban mobility themes, informing about the history of the NoMa area, and bicycles. All installations are subject to approval by the District Department of Transportation's Art in Rights of Way (AROW) program.

The NoMa Parks Foundation seeks artists, artist teams, and designers to create digital installations. A selection committee will review entries and select up to two artists to advance their designs and provide completed digital works for exhibition. Selected artists will receive an honorarium of $5,000.00. Works must be original works produced by the selected artist(s). Submissions must include a letter of interest (3000 characters max), optional artist statement (200 words max), narrative statement and/or concept sketches, resume (max two pages per team member), minimum 3 and up to 6 digital files of previous work, two professional references, and optional publications or news articles about past projects. Call opening: 11/8/2022. Finalist announcement: 12/12/2022.