University of Utah School of Dentistry

The University of Utah in partnership with the Utah Division of Facilities Construction and Management and the Utah Division of Arts & Museum Public Art Program is requesting artist or artist team qualifications for the creation of site-specific artwork(s) for the University of Utah Noorda School of Oral Health in Salt Lake City, Utah.

The Ray and Tye Noorda Oral Health Sciences Building is nearing completion and establishes a new School of Dentistry for the University. The facility contains operatories in public dental clinics, clinic support labs, lecture halls, conference/seminar rooms, faculty offices, research labs, and general building support spaces. It will have capacity for 60 students per year (240 total students). The building is located in the University of Utah Research Park and will allow for integration and collaboration with other health sciences programs. The facility is scheduled for completion in December 2014 with a public dedication and ribbon cutting in April 2015.

The art selection committee has identified several potential sites for public artworks and encourages selected artist(s) to visit the building and suggest additional sites. Interior sites for consideration include the reception/atrium, windowed stairwell, public corridors, and public entrances. Exterior sites might include the scaled café seating area at the northwest corner or east side of the building. The committee believes the art should be inspired by and derived from the essence of the programs and academic pursuits housed in the building, serving as inspiration and stimulus for clinical excellence, educational pursuit, research, and discovery.

$169,000 is available for all related expenses including artist fees, fabrication, insurance, shipping, travel, installation, documentation, and other costs. The committee may commission more than one artist. This project is open to resident American or US legal resident professional artists and artist teams. Utah artists are strongly encouraged to apply. Applicants must submit up to six images maximum of previous site-specific public work in JPEG format (1920 pixels maximum on longest side, 72 dpi, under 2MB file size), a letter of interest of no more than two typewritten pages, a professional resume, and image documentation. Movie files of no more than 3 minutes may be submitted if work cannot be documented with still images. Complete application packages must be received by January 16, 2015 by 5 p.m. (not a postmark deadline).