Call for Submissions: Public Art Competition for Verge Park, Etobicoke

Figure 1 – Context plan

RioCan Living
Verge Park – Public Art Competition
Call to Artists

Submission Deadline: August 16, 2024, 3:00 p.m. EDT

RioCan Living (www.riocanliving.com), through their public art consultant, is holding a Two-Stage Competition to select an artist to develop a permanent public artwork as part of their Verge Condominium project.

Verge condominiums is comprised of a 10-storey, 203-suite mid-rise condominium. a 17-storey, 341 suite high-rise condominium and 30,000 sq. ft. of ground level retail. The project will bring over 540 new residents to this dynamic Etobicoke neighborhood.

The project site is surrounded by two connected 9-storey, residential condominiums to the north, 3-storey residential townhouses to the east, the Queensway Cineplex Theatre to the south, and low-rise commercial buildings to the west.

The site features a centrally located park where the artwork will be prominently situated at the park’s northwest entrance (please see attached figures). The selected artwork will recognize the highly public nature of the park site and will be constructed of durable materials. Artists are encouraged to conduct their own research to familiarize themselves with the site.

Figure 2 – Site plan showing art site highlighted in orange

The budget for the artwork, including artist fees, engineering, footing, fabrication, shipping, installation and all items required to successfully complete the project is $620,000 (plus HST). Installation of the artwork is targeted for summer of 2026. Artists will enter into a design/build contract.

Competition submissions will be reviewed by an independent selection committee, convened for this project, who will create a list of prequalified proponents. From this prequalified list, the project developer will select up to three (3) artists to prepare site-specific design proposals for the designated art site. Shortlisted artists will be paid a $5,000 honourarium (plus HST, if applicable) to create an artwork proposal which they will present to the competition jury. The competition jury will be comprised of the selection committee plus two representatives of the project developer.

Shortlisted artists will be issued a detailed RFP, with complete information about the project, including a draft artist contract. In person artists’ presentations will take place in the Fall of 2024, at the RioCan Head office in Toronto. Specific time and date to be determined. Artists’ travel costs, for those required to travel more than 200 kilometers, will be reimbursed.

The commissioned artist will provide mentorship to a student at the Etobicoke School for the Arts, including at least two visits to the commissioned artist’s studio. The commissioned artist will participate in the selection of the mentee student. The mentorship programme will be coordinated by the public art consultant.

Questions regarding the competition should be sent by email to:
vergepublicart@riocan.com

Interested Canadian artists are invited to submit the following materials for consideration by the competition jury and the property owner. Indigenous artists and artists from equity seeking communities are encouraged to submit.

1. Resumé and artist statement describing general approach to the site
2. 10 images (maximum) of recent, relevant work (artist teams are to submit a maximum of 10 images total)
3. An annotated image list including the title, date, materials, dimensions and commission amount of each work

Do not submit design proposals as they will not be reviewed.

Digital images must be:

• pdf or jpg, no larger than 1 MB per image
• images to be named with the number corresponding to the image list

Please do not submit:

• materials that require software, plug-ins, extensions or other executables that need to be downloaded or installed

Emailed submissions should be addressed to: vergepublicart@riocan.com

Emailed submissions must be received by August 16, 2024 at 3:00 p.m. EDT.