Mind in Matter: Constructions of the Built Environment

CALL FOR SUBMISSIONS

Beneath our feet and above our heads, sidewalks, lawns, plazas, blocks, gardens, buildings, streets, and curbs surround and bound the spaces in which we move and live. Much more than a lifeless negative space, these elements of the built environment provide us with symbols through which we construct our understanding of the world, deriving stories about our past, present and future.

At the same time, architects, planners, and designers, acting under the influence of political, social, and economic forces, tear down, alter, construct, and preserve these physical forms in an attempt to shape the environment along socio-political and aesthetic lines. The tension between these “intended” uses and the meanings assigned to the resulting physical environment by different individuals and groups is played out in nearly every social arena, from the political to the interpersonal.

As an art space located just north of downtown Champaign, Illinois, OPENSOURCE Art is itself not free from troubling questions about its situation in the physical environment and the polarizing interpretations of that circumstance. OPENSOURCE can be viewed, on one hand, as a progressive-minded, community-based art space bringing new life to an aging and abandoned neighborhood. Another view is that OPENSOURCE is an opportunistic appropriation of a vibrant historical neighborhood by a privileged group of artists complicit in a process of displacement and imperialism. Cognizant of these polemic interpretations of our own existence, we feel that OPENSOURCE serves as a sensible starting point for an investigation into the creation of structure and meaning in the built environment.

Mind in Matter seeks works that explore the ways in which we perceive, interpret, and react to these tensions in the constructed forms and spaces that surround us.

Contributions might choose to address the following:
• Site-specific installations that engage with the realities of OPENSOURCE’s situation in the spatial and temporal urban fabric;
• Other site-specific installations (in OPENSOURCE or elsewhere) that respond to the built environment;
• Differing interpretations of and reaction to elements of the built environment at varying scales;
• Political ramifications of the interpretation of forms and space;
• Creation of social cues in the urban design process;
• The arbitrary and artificial divide between “scientific analysis” and “artistic reaction.”

Schedule:
October 7th - Submission deadline
October 14th - Notification of acceptances
Nov. 3rd - Artwork due at OPENSOURCE
Nov. 10th - Opening reception, 7-10 pm

Submission guidelines:
Please submit a detailed proposal that includes documentation, installation time and contact information. Documentation may be in the form of, but not limited to, drawings, sketches, slides, video, cd and dvd. Supporting materials (cv, portfolio, statement, etc.) are not necessary, but would be helpful.

Proposals may be sent via postal service, email or delivered in person.

OPENSOURCE Art
12 E. Washington
Champaign, Illinois 61820

[email protected]
opensource.boxwith.com

NOTE: If you would like your proposal returned, please include a self-addressed package with sufficient return postage in the form of stamps. Accepted works must include return packaging and proper postage. Materials that cannot be returned will become donations to OPENSOURCE. OPENSOURCE is not responsible for lost or damaged material.

Curation process:
This show will be juried by five people, including at least one OPENSOURCE co-director. Inclusion or exclusion of each piece will be decided by a majority vote. Any work submitted by members of the committee will be voted on by the full OPENSOURCE membership at the Oct. 14 member meeting.

Specific works are likely to be solicited, and some flexibility may be exercised for these entries with regard to scheduling.