The Street Gallery is no longer accepting new project proposals. If you have already submitted a proposal and have any questions, please contact aaron@mediacyoutdoor.com.
Project Overview and Request for Qualifications
I. Description of Project
Background
Gatescapes is the newest venture of Mediacy Inc., the Soho-based advertising company creating innovative and unique print, out-of-home, and outdoor media programs. Gatescapes are large-format streetscapes: brightly colored, billboard-sized vinyl placed on roll-down security gates in New York. (View mockups at www.mediacyoutdoor.com.) Mediacy aims to book over 1,000 gates.
Built into this advertising program, Mediacy is offering the sites to artists, in four-week timeframes between ad displays, for the installation of temporary public artworks. The pilot program, The Street Gallery: Gatescapes Public Art, will launch in New York City in 2010.
Project Overview
Use these New York City storefront “windows” singly, or in combination – triptychs, corner wrap-arounds, or even in a series along a whole block – in locations such as 14th Street at 7th Avenue, Saint Marks between 2nd and 3rd, or the corner of 8th Avenue and 51st Street, and over 150 more to choose from. New sites are added each week; you may also request that a site be added to the inventory.
Themes especially appreciated include:
- Responses to site
- Responses to streetscape, neighborhood
- Responses to public (audience, space, etc.)
- Responses to nighttime viewing conditions.
Working as a team, artists and The Street Gallery will create an ongoing program of temporary street-level public artwork that enlivens the streetscape, engages viewers’ imaginations, and contributes to the public’s positive sense of place.
Installation
The Street Gallery will include two types of installations: 1) work installed (e.g. painted) directly on pre-installed vinyl canvas; 2) work printed digitally on a vinyl canvas, which then will be installed by Mediacy. Installation time is included in the four-week timeframe; artists installing directly on pre-installed canvas will be responsible for proper and full installation of approved work during hours provided, and completed within 1-3 days maximum. Note that artwork installation is intended to be temporary, and if a direct installation, will be painted over or covered with a new vinyl panel upon conclusion of installation timeframe.
Publicity
Mediacy will photograph artwork and post documentation on a website dedicated to the Gatescapes public art project, at www.thestreetgallery.org. The website will list information about the artists and links to personal websites. Mediacy will also create content accessible by mobile devices providing on-site public access to artist info and interpretive material about the installations. Information about the Gatescapes Street Gallery project will be featured at the top of Flavorpill newsletters. New installations will be announced via eblasts, Facebook, and Twitter. Stickers may be placed in windows of establishments hosting Gatescapes to announce participation in project to daytime visitors.
Ownership and Copyright
Artwork installed in The Street Gallery will be considered property of the artist. Artists will retain copyright to images of The Street Gallery artwork. Images of The Street Gallery artwork will be used by Mediacy for publicity and archival purposes, as outlined in artist contract.
Note that artwork installation in The Street Gallery is intended to be temporary, and will be painted over or covered with a new vinyl panel upon conclusion of installation timeframe.
Maintenance
Mediacy will not maintain artworks. Mediacy reserves the right to remove artwork before the end of the installation timeframe if work does not conform with mockup content submitted to and approved by review panel.
Fees
Mediacy is contributing Gatescapes space, and will support publicity for The Street Gallery project.
If artists are interested in pursuing commercial work, Mediacy will make The Street Gallery artists available to national clients who may consider their work for campaigns. Mediacy will not seek a commission but, should artists receive major contracts with these clients, will ask these artists to donate an original work of art to The Street Gallery, to be included in a charity auction.
Artists are responsible for all labor costs as well as supplies costs for The Street Gallery installations. Artists may paint an original work directly on the Gatescape or Mediacy will print a vinyl output of artwork to install on the gate, and work to find a sponsor to offset those printing and production costs. The Street Gallery will make available to artists supplies from a paint library, as one develops.
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II. Project Specifications
Panels
The average size of panels is 8’w x 7’h.
Sites
Pilot program sites are located in Manhattan and outer boroughs. Mediacy will provide selected artists with information about available sites, including specific locations, establishment information, and hours of operation/hours of artwork visibility. Participating artists will work with Mediacy to select appropriate site or sites for their installations. Sites are available to artists on a first-come, first-served basis.
Materials
Work installed directly on gate may be in any media that conforms to functional requirements of the retractable gate. Further specs for specific sites will be provided to selected artists. For digital work printed directly on vinyl, Medicy will provide selected artists with spec sheets. Digital work may be an image of work originally created in another medium.
Label information
Mediacy will post artist’s name, title of work, media type, short artist’s statement about the artwork, and sponsorship information, if any, on the Gatescapes public art project website. Artists must include on the panel a label provided by Mediacy, identifying the installation as a part of the Gatescapes: The Street Gallery project, with any approved sponsorship information, if applicable.
III. Precedents and Other Information to Consider
See “Public Art Projects We Like to Think About” links at www.thestreetgallery.org, e.g.:
- Wooster Collective documentation of street art
- Graffiti Research Lab
- Unurth.com
- Keith Haring
- A. G. Sulzberger: New York Times, City Room: “Turn a Roll-Down Gate Into a Thing of Beauty”: http://cityroom.blogs.nytimes.com/2009/12/01/gates/?emc=eta1
IV. Submission Deadline, Components, and Contact Information
Qualifications submissions will be accepted on an ongoing, rolling basis. Reviews will begin February 16, 2010.
Please include the following information in your submission:
- Your name
- Resume or CV
- Short bio, if available
- 3-5 work samples and/or link to website or online portfolio
- 200-word maximum description of project
- Medium/media in which you will work
- Number of panels requested
- Specify digital print on vinyl or installation by artist
- Your email, phone number, and mailing address.
Project proposals will be evaluated by a panel on the basis of feasibility for site(s), responsiveness to site(s), and relevance to public audience.
Note that the first installations scheduled will be installations by artists, rather than digital prints on vinyl.
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