The Texas Tech University System seeks to commission a professional artist to create site-specific exterior sculpture(s) to be placed outside the new Experimental Sciences Building II, located at the Texas Tech University campus in Lubbock, TX. Construction of the new facility will be completed by January 2019.

Budget: $754,000

Eligibility:  All professional artists are eligible.

Deadline:  March 23, 2017, 3:00 p.m. Central Time

The Experimental Sciences Building II will be a multidisciplinary research facility designed to serve teams of faculty researchers and their students from such diverse disciplines as chemistry, physics, and engineering. The new building will allow scientists from different disciplines to work together to solve problems.

Safety is imperative; durable, low-maintenance materials are recommended to withstand West Texas’ intense weather conditions. The northeast area of the building is a designated green space and public art will serve to enhance the exterior of the building from multiple points of view. The green space should encourage gathering, communication, and occupation of exterior spaces by students, and public art at this location has an opportunity to contribute significantly to these goals. Ideal submissions should incorporate multiple elements in the space. This piece should be outdoors and available to the community. Water features are highly discouraged, but the selected artist will have an opportunity to collaborate with landscape architects for the project.

Among relevant concepts to consider are collaboration, inquiry, rigor, structure, curiosity, and science themes that are not too specific to one field. This will be a multi-disciplinary facility, so public art needs to have broad STEM (Science, Technology, Engineering, and Math) appeal. Any concepts that may be considered polemic or political should be avoided. Also, science stereotypes (such as lab coats, virus structures, etc.) should be avoided. Artists should attempt to create a design that speaks to the diversity of research that takes place in a facility such as the Experimental Sciences Building II.

Objects that are mass-produced or of standard manufacture are not eligible for consideration.

Timeline

• Post RFQ: February 8, 2017
• Written Inquiries must be received by: March 1, 2017
• Responses to Inquiries: March 3, 2017
• Submissions due by: 3:00 PM, CDT, March 23, 2017 (NO LATE SUBMISSIONS ARE ACCEPTED)
• Finalist(s) selected and notified: April 2017
• Finalist(s) design Presentations: May/June 2017
• Commission awarded: TBD
• Project Completion: January 2019

Selection Process

After evaluating the artists’ submissions, Texas Tech will narrow the pool of applicants to approximately two to five finalists to develop a design and model for presentation to the University Public Art Committee in Lubbock, Texas. Each finalist will be paid an honorarium not to exceed $3,000 for the development of their Design Proposal and to facilitate travel for the presentation. The model will not be returned to the artist if they are selected.

The Design Proposals will be subject to review and acceptance by Texas Tech University System’s University Public Art Committee, the President of Texas Tech University, and the Chancellor of the Texas Tech University System.

Application Requirements

1. Resume: 2 page(s) maximum
2. Work examples: 5 – 15
   Image dimensions: 1200 x 1200 pixels
   Video dimensions: 720 x 480 (width x height) pixels in formats (MOV,MP4,WMV)
3. Artist Statement: 500-word maximum
4. Letter of Interest: 500-word maximum
   Please describe your initial impressions of and projected approach to this public art project for the Experimental Sciences Building II. Specifically, please address your thoughts on location and medium and, if applicable, discuss any projects for which you used a similar approach (limit to 250-500 words).
5. References: 3

Selection Criteria
Texas Tech University System and its University Public Art Committee will review and consider the following:

1. The conceptual basis for the Artist’s body of work as defined in the written statement.
2. The quality – technical and aesthetic – of the artist’s past work as represented in the image submissions, as well as budgets that the artist has worked with.
3. The experience of the artist in successfully designing, fabricating, administering, and completing public art projects and/or custom architectural elements on time and in budget.
4. The artist’s training and education.
5. The quality and comprehensiveness of the submission package.

See full RFQ here.

Apply online here.

QUESTIONS?  Contact Emily Wilkinson, emily.wilkinson@ttu.edu