01 May 2013

Call for Submissions: Interventions in the Public Realm of London

Call for Submissions: Interventions in the Public Realm of London

Submission deadline: Thursday 16th May 2013 at 12.00 pm (UK time)

'Art should attend us everywhere that life flows and acts.' – Naum Gabo, 1920

This brief is to be understood as a riddle. The curatorial group platform79 invites international creative practitioners to develop site-specific interventions in the public realm of London. The temporary interventions proposed should neither require permission from the authorities, nor risk committing a criminal offence. We seek creative responses that suggest ways to push the norms regulating art in public space.

In this project, we understand the term 'public realm' as physical public spaces, as well as mutual areas of experience, knowledge and communication. Your proposal should explore what 'public' constitutes and how it can be used. It must be experienced at least partly in London, whether in a specific location or in a more elusive way. We are looking for interventions conducted through any medium, and embrace the potential of immaterial art forms. The production of street art, such as graffiti, is however not the aim of this project, as we strive to suggest new ways to use public space for art.

We encourage you to consider not only the obvious places in the city centre but also the outskirts of the city. We hope to receive proposals suggesting various sites such as parks and gardens, waterways, buildings and construction sites, wastelands, sewage systems, air space, underground sites, streets and squares, traffic and transport, media and communications channels. You may suggest a generic type of place or a specific site, depending on your idea and your knowledge of London.


Aims

What platform79 aims to create is an extensive discussion about the modalities of art in the public. the london project will incite a debate, which explores and critiques the 'public realm' from the best possible position – the 'public realm' Where can it be found, who it is for, and how can it be used? platform79–the london project hopes to encourage a breach with limiting notions of public art as elevated monuments and sculptures. Instead, platform79 aims to suggest a progressive and creative attitude, which allows public art to exist beyond the constraints of material-based mediums and social inclusion agendas.

Through innovative and daring artistic interventions, successful applicants will suggest new ways for contemporary art to exist more spontaneously outside London's cultural institutions. By circumventing the restrictions and heavy bureaucracy that official public commissions entail, convincing submissions will expand the scope of how art can be produced for and experienced by the public. With the london project, platform79 is exploring ways to reclaim public space for art, reinvigorating a grassroots culture of unofficial public art for London.

platform79 believes in the potential of unrealised ideas as an impactful and inspiring asset to a wider audience. Interesting proposals that cannot be realised, or may not be intended for practical fulfilment, will therefore be considered for inclusion in an online collection as well as an exhibition in London.


What is platform79?

platform79 operates as an initiative for artistic and curatorial experimentation, aiming to create unique opportunities for emerging and established creative practitioners to work in contexts outside the established art market. The group was developed by five curators based in London and New York in 2012 on the occasion of their first endeavour, platform79–the berlin project.

platform79–the berlin project was a weeklong exhibition in a historical women's prison in Berlin in 2012, welcoming around 700 visitors to the opening night. During the berlin project, nine site-specific works were presented, which the artists developed for the architecturally and historically significant building. the berlin project acted as an extended cultural platform with a strong focus on the working process. Through the self-published book platform79–the publication, a programme of talks, tours and events and a web presence, the holistic practices of curating and art making that platform79 embodies, were communicated to the audience.

For more information about artists, the publication, press coverage, and the site of the former women's prison, visit www.platform79.com


Submission requirements:

Please e-mail a PDF to info@platform79.com consisting of the following:

• The first page of your PDF application should provide the following information only: name, surname, phone number, postal address, email address, a statement confirming that platform79 have the right to use the images and information that you are submitting, signature, date. If platform79 publishes parts of your submission, you will be notified in advance and fully credited.
• An explanation of the project proposed in max. 400 words including a working title
• Your CV
• A statement of up to 200 words outlining where this project sits within your practice
• A preliminary budget for your proposed intervention*


Please accompany your PDF file with the following:

• Max. 3 jpg images of max. 150 dpi to illustrate your proposal. Please title these in the following format: surname_workingtitle_number.jpg
• If you need to illustrate your proposal through sound or moving image, please contact us at info@platform79.com in order for us to inform you of where to upload them.


Submission deadline: Thursday 16th May 2013 at 12.00 pm (UK time)

Successful applicants will be notified by Sunday 26th May via email. We will then ask to discuss your proposal with you in person or through Skype.

The curated programme of interventions as well as the exhibition and the archive of unrealised ideas will be completed before 2015.

If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact us: info@platform79.co


*platform79 will cover production costs for the selected interventions, as well as the exhibition and online archive. We are however not able to pay artist fees.