Circular City Week 2019: The Open Call ↬ 29 January-15 February 2019
Circular City Week New York × The Vanderbilt Republic are pleased to announce an open call for immersive proposals centered on the theme of FLOW. Individual artists/entrepreneurs, collective groups, social/NGO enterprises and corporate change-makers working in the visual arts, dance, music/sound, performance art/theater, fashion/culture, poetry/the written word, landscape architecture, product/service design & international relations are encouraged to apply. In conceptual structure, proposals must include touchstones to circular economics; in execution, any viable form of human expression will be considered. Acceptable proposal formats include (and are not limited to): product launches, durational installation/performance landscapes, facilitated social explorations, oneiric voyages to a new humanism, as well as crucial, as-yet-unseen combinations of all of the above.
Selected concepts will activate a raw, exposed-brick 8,000ft2 project space in midtown Manhattan (The Bellewether) for the entirety of the first Circular City Week (4-10 March 2019), with comprehensive creative/technical/production consultancy by The Vanderbilt Republic. Visionary + innovative designers, producers, architects, curators & artists — APPLY NOW. Project space tech scout hours will happen from 10a-5p on 4, 6, 11 & 13 February 2019 by appointment only. To schedule a walkthrough please contact George Del Barrio, creative director × executive producer. The submission period will close at midnight 15 February. The selected design solution team(s) will be notified on 22 February; installation begins 25 February for public opening 4 March. Full program info & open call details follow below. Circular economy is a global paradigm shift with the potential to transform industry and redesign urban living. The transformative potential of circularity is not specific to a single sector but can be linked to everything from digitization and the sharing economy, to the food industry and the built environment.
Circular City Week (“CCW”) wants to give everyone a platform for knowledge and resource sharing, no matter whether you approach circularity from a design perspective, an environmental awareness standpoint, as a means to rethinking consumerism, or as an opportunity to generate new value and revenue. The aim of the week is to inspire industry professionals across sectors, showcase international pioneers and engage students to be the future of circularity. The Vanderbilt Republic (“VR”, est. 2008) is a boutique consultancy formed to advance creative production in all modes. Born in Brooklyn, VR knows archetype expansion and radical humanity to be forces for generative social reform. Through our work with pioneering artists, institutions, producers and brands, the agency offers bespoke solutions in immersive creative production, design & direction with innovative projection methodologies and best-in-class photo/film production. In celebration of this timely & inagural Circular City Week, CCW × VR are presenting this open call to embody the opportunity that lies before those invested in circular design. Different schools of thought arrive there by different means, but all agree with the core principle descibed by Janine Benyus’ Biomimicry philosophy — the idea is that a sustainable world already exists. If the end goal is a human society remade into a generative enterprise this requires, at minimum, a total transformation of our value structures. On a daily basis, global socio-economic concerns function to emphasize the breakpoints that already confront many of the social designs we have inherited. A truly creative mind can only recognize that right now is the most exhilarating time to be an innovator. This is an open call to those who know that a better world is ours for the making, and that in many cases the tools to do the job already exist. Selcted designs will have unlimited opportunity to comprehensively transform/adapt The Bellewether project spaces with collaborative VR production & design. And any all existing objects, props, equipment and lighting may be used to activate the environment. Approximately 15 focussable spotlights, 50 chairs and numerous props are available in-house. Production funding and crew/supply requirements are the sole responsibility of the design team(s). In the case of product showcases/commercial showroom/ticketed performance proposals, technical/production design fees may apply. Project space tech scout hours will happen from 10a-5p on 4, 6, 11 & 13 February 2019 by appointment only. To schedule a walkthrough please contact George Del Barrio, creative director × executive producer. The submission period will close at midnight 15 February. The selected design solution team(s) will be notified on 22 February; installation begins 25 February for public opening 4 March. Visionary + innovative designers, producers, architects, curators & artists — APPLY NOW.