Artwork Sought for the Siebel Design Center at the University of Illinois

Artwork Sought for the Siebel Design Center at the University of Illinois

Website: https://designcenter.illinois.edu/

 217-244-5095

 Champaign, IL, Unknown

The Art in Architecture (AIA) Program of the University of Illinois Facilities & Services is pleased to announce a Call For Artwork (CFA). Professional artists are invited to submit images of available work to be considered for the permanent original public art at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign (UIUC). Artists’ work may also be considered for custom or commissioned work.

Budget: $173,500 (total; multiple artists/artworks to be selected; max. sale/commission $100,000 from any one artist)
Eligibility: Artists legally authorized to work in the United States
Deadline: 10/16/2019 4:00 PM Central Time

A PDF copy of the complete Call For Artwork document including site illustrations is available via email. Send a request for this document to jrlev@illinois.edu with a return email address.

Project Description
This call seeks artwork for the new Siebel Design Center located at 1208 South Fourth Street on the Urbana-Champaign campus in Champaign, Illinois. The project will construct an iconic new 60,000 GSF design center facility. The project is currently under construction with completion scheduled for late spring of 2020.

The Siebel Design Center shall be the point of convergence where our campus community discusses, questions, thinks, gets inspired, dreams, conceptualizes, invents, creates, and innovates. The Center convenes people, immerses them in meaningful challenges for which they design solutions, and connects them to a network of campus, community and global resources. Embedded in this broader network, the design center is a beacon of our institutional commitment to education and discovery with societal purpose and relevance, as we engage with the world to act, to lead, and to change.

Students will explore ideas and master skills through action designing, making, and doing. Illinois will become famous as an incubator of outstanding young talent with a new and unusual collection of skills, fostered by a culture of multidisciplinary education and student-led problem discovery and problem solving. Students from all fields will collaborate as they participate in the design process: discovering, understanding, and redefining problems through empathy and immersion as they create and refine solutions of all kinds. Doing so requires an atmosphere that marries problem definition, collaborative ideation and problem solving with a philosophy of continuous prototyping. Those are the lessons embedded in the very best design initiatives underway at many universities.

At Illinois, our vision is to tightly connect designing and doing and to do so with a degree of multi-disciplinary and emphasis on immersive understanding of problems that surpasses the current standard in higher education. This immersion will build on our tradition of deeply understanding global challenges and join it with world-class expertise in augmented and virtual reality. Illinois will extend design thinking and doing-design learning beyond any previous efforts. The effort also seeks to facilitate design that includes non-physical objects, processes, solutions and programs. In all of its work, the Design Center will be connected tightly to campus and community, granting users access to world-class expertise and facilities. The Design Center will provide opportunities for students befitting a preeminent public University with a Land Grant mission and global impact.

Artwork Goals
The committee has created objectives for specific exterior areas on the site to complement and celebrate the building’s use.

The mission at the Siebel Center for Design is to foster multidisciplinary collaborations across campus, using design thinking as an approach to promote human-centered design and mandated quick iterations. The committee has determined objectives for each of three specific areas of the building site to complement both the building and its use as a center for creative collaboration, design ideation, and multidisciplinary innovation to support its mission.

Choice of media for each project is broad but should include only materials and/or methods suitable for exterior environments. The committee will consider traditional two- and three-dimensional artwork, but submissions of 4D, new media, site-specific, or earthwork proposals are also encouraged.

The artist may submit ground mounted artwork in certain areas.

Artwork Location Description
The artworks will be located out of doors, in public areas to the east, west, and south of the building.

  1. Location A: Optional Site A is located at Northwest corner of the building and site. Artwork located at this location will be highly visible to visitors entering and exiting the west entry. Artwork at this site must be coordinated with the raingardens and trees in that area. Placement adjacent to the building should be avoided due to the large window and façade mounted building signage immediately north of the west entrance.
  2. Location B: Optional Site B includes areas along and either side of the pedestrian walkway at the south side of the building. This landscaped area contains a dense birch tree grove to assist in shading the south façade of the building and raingardens to address storm water infiltration, providing a functional landscape. Environmental Art in this area would need to be scaled and carefully coordinated with the trees and raingardens.
  3. Location C: Optional Site C includes an area at the northeast corner of the building which is divided by a diagonal walkway leading to the east terrace and entry. Artwork proposed for the easternmost portion of this area should be kept north of the underground storm water structure. Placement should also maintain a central view of the military axis and allow for future access to the underground facility. The east terrace and lawn area has the potential to function as an informal event space/stage overlooking the Military Axis. Site C North of walkway – Artwork should be coordinated with the trees and landscaping in this area.
  4. Location D: This area was initially conceived and designated for artwork; it contains provisions for power, if needed, for either the art or illumination of the artwork.

Timeline

  • Deadline for submittals is October 16, 2019, at 4 pm CT.
  • Committee review and selection will take place prior to Dec. 16, 2019.

Selection Process
Artist and/or artist teams may submit their work for consideration and selection by the Selection Committee as defined below. The artist’s work that is selected will be announced through the email to all submitters. Letters/emails will be sent to the selected artist with details of the purchase process.  The selection committee may select a shortlist of artists to be interviewed prior to making a final selection and requesting a proposal. Do not send a proposal unless you have been contacted by the Art-in-Architecture Coordinator. Following notification that an artist has been selected to provide or produce artwork, the artist will be required to register with the University Vendor Services through an online application. See Help document and directions at: https://www.uocpres.uillinois.edu/applications/vendors

Selection Criteria
The University of Illinois Art-in-Architecture Program reserves the right to alter any aspect of the selection process or overall project in any way for its own convenience at any time. This Call For Artwork / Request for Artwork does not constitute either an expressed or implied contract and these provisions are subject to change.

What to Submit

Artists and artist-led teams interested in the project should email one copy of each of the following criteria. Each item should be labeled with the artist’s name.

  1. Images (10-15) of the artwork along with size and media of the artwork. Send images as JPEG files only. Slides will not be accepted nor returned.
  2. Artist Resume (if a team- one from each team member) with current contact information
  3. Artist Statement of intent (one page maximum)
  4. Professional references including contact information

All submittals become the property of the University of Illinois Art in Architecture Program and will not be returned. The artist retains copyrights to their work.

How to Submit

Interested artists must send material by Wednesday, Oct. 16, 2019 at 4:00 P.M. Submissions received after this date will not be considered for this project but will be kept for possible review and consideration for other Art in Architecture projects.

  • Submission material may be delivered by email to fandsartinarch@mx.uillinois.edu
  • Hand delivered submissions should be addressed to: Art in Architecture Program, University of Illinois Facilities & Services/Capital Programs, 1501 South Oak Street, Champaign, Illinois, 61820

QUESTIONS? Contact James R. Lev at: jrlev@illinois.edu or 217-244-5095