Axis Alley seeks through creative engagement to utilize the backyards of
vacant properties and vacant lots as a canvas for creative works that
transform, activate and revitalize the overlooked, under-attended areas of
Baltimore’s back alleys. In neighborhoods where the vacancy rate of
properties runs high, the alley seems to become the indicator of urban
difficulties… trash, rats, homeless people, prostitution and drugs. These
somewhat forbidding alley’s (dark and unlit at night), while speaking of
endemic problems in the city, possess a certain toxic beauty and provide a
fascinating possibility of urban intervention and creative gesture.
Axis Alley calls for proposals for site -specific temporary works to be
installed in the backyards of vacant properties that are alley-side behind
N.Calvert street in the blocks between 24th st and North avenue and possibly
extending in both North and South directions to re-activate the alley
connecting Station North to the BMA through creative works.
Works in all media and disciplines are encouraged to submit, but all works
should be highly site-specific. Works that utilize solar light as an
illumination device for a night presence are highly encouraged. Consider all
possibilities for activating the back facades, boarded window and doors, full
back yards, vacant lots and possibly the surface of the alley itself.
Projects that involve non-vacant properties such as collaborating with
property owners along the ‘route’, are also welcome. . This event will be
different in duration as many buildings are soon slated for either demolition
or development. Themes around ‘forms of remembrance, forgetting and imagining
the future’ are encouraged. Ephemeral and temporal works are encouraged such
as projections, performances and so forth.
(for more info including site images and addresses go to:
http://www.axisalley.wordpress.com)
DEADLINE: Friday, March 30, 2010
sarah doherty
professor, interdisciplinary sculpture
maryland institute college of art
1300 mt royal ave
baltimore, md 21217
410.225.2492
