Interventions in the Public Realm of London: Call for Submissions
Date uploaded: May 8, 2013
Call for Submissions: Interventions in the Public Realm of London
platform79 - the london project
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
If you have any questions please contact: [email protected]
