Artist Holly Bass on the Performance Bridge during the performance Moneymaker on February 11, 2012

CALL FOR PROPOSALS: TAKE IT TO THE BRIDGE
SUBMISSION DEADLINE: MONDAY, MAY 21, 5PM
Download the full call

SUBMIT ONLINE HERE

The Corcoran Gallery of Art and Washington Project for the Arts seek artists to present temporary exhibitions, performances, installations, or interventions in the Performance Bridge inside the Corcoran’s glass entryway on 17th Street for Take it to the Bridge. The Take it to the Bridge series is open to artists working in all mediums, including performance, video, sound, installation and 2-D work. While there are no specific geographic limitations, preference will be given to local and regional artists (DC, MD, VA, WV, PA, DE).We are looking for proposals for new work that explores the concept of space and place and which utilizes the unique properties and location of the Performance Bridge. The work may be in response to the collection, history, or architecture of the museum itself, to the city of Washington, DC, or find resonances with the Richard Diebenkorn exhibition which will be on view during the Take it to the Bridge series.

Performances/presentations will be part of the Corcoran’s Free Summer Saturdays, which draw on average 1,700 viewers a day. Installation work may be in situ for one full week, though any live presentations will be one-day only. In addition, a schedule of artists talks and community programs will also be designed around the summer series.

The Corcoran will provide an artist fee of $500 to each participating artists. Efforts will also be made to provide additional funds for materials, travel and accommodations.

Any installation will take place on Monday or Tuesday preceding the Saturday presentation, during closed hours of the museum. Work will remain on view the full week and be de-installed on Monday.

Performances (without installation elements) will have one hour for set-up and one hour to strike. Any performance rehearsals will take place on Friday, the day before the presentation, during the museum’s open hours.  

Take it to the Bridge Jurors:
Holly Bass, Performance artist
Lisa Gold, Executive Director, Washington Project for the Arts
Sarah Newman, Curator of Contemporary Art, Corcoran Gallery of Art

About the Performance Bridge
Dimensions: 75 ½” x 84” x 84”
Weight Limit: 200 lbs
Position: 97 5/8” from the floor
See page three of the call .pdf for a diagram with dimensions

Submission Process
Artists should complete the online submission form on WPA’s website here

Required submission materials include:

• CV (no more than 2 pages)
• Description of the work and its relationship to space/place (no more than 300 words)
• Work sample. Materials should include at least one of the following:
  Up to 8 images
  o Links for up to 2 videos or audio files hosted on a video or audio-sharing website (Vimeo, YouTube, Soundcloud etc.) Media samples should not exceed 2 minutes in length. Please indicate which time segment the jurors should review. Media should not be submitted as files that must be downloaded in order to be played
  o Sketch/outline of proposed work using provided Performance Bridge template
  Images should be submitted as .jpg files, 72dpi and no larger than 7” on the longest side. Please indicate if images are of previous work or images/sketches of the proposed work.
  CV and statement should be submitted as .doc or .pdf files.

Timeline
Monday, May 21, 5pm: Deadline to submit proposals (electronic)
Monday, June 4 – Wednesday, June 6: Notifications to artists
Saturdays, July 7–September 1: Series takes place

Background
The Performance Bridge was first presented at the Corcoran Gallery as the stage for Holly Bass’s performance Moneymaker, a seven-hour endurance work that took place on February 11, 2012.  Created by Bass and architectural designer Kashuo Bennett, the Performance Bridge transformed the museum’s glass entryway into an exhibition space for the first time. Not only could the public see the performance from across the street near the White House Ellipse, but visitors literally had to walk under the artist to enter the museum. Looking up, viewers saw the performance through the transparent Plexiglas floor. Depending on the lighting at any given time of day and the viewer’s vantage point, they may have witnessed a full-color spectacle or a shadowed silhouette in motion.

The Performance Bridge is a site-specific, modular construction of wood and Plexiglas, with no joinery. The minimalist design--three-fourths of one inch resting on 2-inch hollow steel rods--creates a nearly invisible structure. The word “Bridge” in its title references the fact that it bridges interior and exterior space. It bridges intentional museumgoers and casual passersby. The Bridge asks us to look up, to look out, to see in entirely new ways. As a performance space it embodies explicit conceptual themes such as exposure, transparency, entrapment, anthropological display, and the diorama.  It is capable of supporting sculpture or installation, live performers, as well as more ethereal works that use sound and light as material.