New commission
“Public Artwork”
Open call for Rotterdam based artists
W1555* announces an open call for a new public art commission to be placed on the red facade at the beginning of Wolphaertstraat: an interpretation that reflects on the multicultural diversity of our neighborhood.
W1555 invites Rotterdam based artists to produce a new public artwork for Wolphaertstraat!
Wolphaertstraat is a lively, diverse and historic street located in Oud Charlois, in the South of Rotterdam. As W1555, we are proud to launch our very first open call for a public artwork commission that will be part of a series of cultural contributions we will make to our neighborhood. We want to share the creative joy we have with the rest of Charlois and invite Rotterdam based artists to contribute to the urban texture and cultural identity of the street.
In Charlois, we believe in the urgent need for social encounters where the diverse community of people feel invited to interact, communicate and share their social and cultural interests. Our initiative’s cultural proposals for public space hope to create a common sense of belonging, shared between all the neighborhood residents.
In the past decade, the public artwork ‘Tetris Wall’ (Giuseppe Licari), that consisted of hundreds of flags, was hung on the facade of one of our apartments. We had to say goodbye to this landmark that conceptually addressed the unity of the notion of diversity because of the renovations that are taking place. With this open call we would like to re-create a fresh urban memory via commissioning a new artwork that will be placed on the same wall. Thanks to the generous support of City Lab 010 funding of the Rotterdam municipality, we are able to offer a fee and production budget to the artist awarded the commission.
*Bewonersvereniging W1555 is a new housing association in Old Charlois, currently with 53 members. The majority of people are working in the cultural field, such as producers, event organizers, studio artists, educators, builders, architects, photographers, cooks, craftswoman/man and other creative professions living together since more than 10 years. As the culture group of the housing association we want to guard our neighborhood from gentrification, by supporting underrepresented groups and communities in this neighborhood that are vital and important to keep Charlois inclusive and diverse.
We are seeking commissions that address the theme of 'co-existence':
● Explore heritage whilst being visually contemporary in line with our aspiration to create vibrant public space.
● Demonstrate the artist/collectives’ experience in delivering large scale commissions and producing high quality outcomes with cultural and artistic credibility
The artist will use the thematic reference of ‘co-existence’ to inform the public artwork, which will highlight the entrance of our street as a long-term destination for up to 10 years.
The proposal of public artwork responses to the brief must include:
● CV + portfolio with recent works
● Proof of being a Rotterdam resident
● Digital presentation of the proposal that will be shared online for a communal voting system **
● Project description of max. 1 A4
● Visual Support material (sketches, drawings, 3d visuals ...vs)
**The preferred format is pdf, 5 pages max, 10 mb limit, but we encourage all other formats including video, voice notes, jpgs and powerpoint. Please bear in mind that this will be shared with all the neighbours on the street, so your file needs to be accessible on many different screens and operating systems.
Selection Procedure:
The Culture working group of W1555 will start with a pre-selection process.
The final best 10 proposals will be nominated later to be voted on by the residents of the neighborhood via an on-street election process.
* We expect the proposals to inform about the qualities and behaviours of the chosen materials in years and weather conditions of the Netherlands. Following the selection, we expect the proposals to be adaptable to different installation solutions and the artist to be open to collaborating with our installation team.
*Artists at different stages of their career from various fields are encouraged to apply. Rotterdam based collectives are also welcome to apply but the artist fee will remain the same amount.
Artist Fee:
Production Budget: 5000 Euro
Artsist Fee: 7,600 Euro
Application open between: 15.11.2021 - 20.12.2021 (23:59)
Project Timescale:
● The results will be announced in March
● The production will start from the announcement of the project
● Installation: May
● Opening event: June
Contact & Links: https://www.w1555.org/
Address for submitting documents: w1555.mog@gmail.com
Matix regulations:
● Dimensions of the facade: Approx. 80 m2
● For flat hanging 3D installations: max 5000kg. / For installations that might catch wind should be less heavy
● The red metal sheet attached to the facade has to stay but the installation will be managed with anchor points drilled on to the brick wall.