The Gladstone Hotel seeks "Expressions of Interest" for innovative, cutting-edge, contemporary design and installation-based projects for The Gladstone Hotel’s annual alternative design event, Come Up To My Room. The sixth installment of CUTMR will take place from February 5th to 8th, 2009 at the historic Gladstone Hotel in downtown  Toronto. Site-specific work will be mounted in the rooms and public spaces on the 2nd and main floors of The Gladstone.

Ideal candidates for juried consideration are artists/designers who focus their practice in the areas of experimental, inter-disciplinary, self-taught, hand-made/craft-based installation, as well as Environmental Art and Design (including graphic, new media, lens-based, i.e. photography, film & video, and more). We are looking for practitioners and emerging designers who approach their discipline with a radical personal vision, and who use design to converse, connect, collaborate and delight in the unexpected.

We’re doing things a little bit differently this year. Please read on.

There are three ways to participate in Come Up To My Room 2009.

1) Room Installations: participants will create new work that is site-specific installation. Participants must be new to CUTMR or have not shown in past 3 years at CUTMR. Curatorial focus will be on strength of previous works.

2) Public Spaces: participants will create functional lighting, seating or wall-based projects which responds to the site, or a DJ booth and/or bar for the event. Past Participants of CUTMR are welcome to submit to this category. Curatorial focus will be on actual project proposals as well as previous work. Please submit sketches of your proposed installation.

3) Video/Short film: participants will respond to a brief set out by the CUTMR 2009 Curatorial Collective (see page 12 for details of brief). Anyone can enter this category. Finalist’s videos will be featured at The Gladstone during CUTMR, and selected applicant’s videos will be featured on the CUTMR blog site.

Potential for Collaboration

There are a limited number of rooms and spaces available in Come Up To My Room. We will accept individual submissions, but we invite and encourage participants to submit in collaborative teams or collectives.

If you wish to collaborate, but don’t have anyone in mind, please note in your "Expression of Interest" that you would like to work in collaboration, and indicate how many people you would prefer to work with (maximum and minimum). Clearly note whether you are applying for a room or public space installation.

Alternatively, upon reviewing submissions to the show, the Curatorial Collective may  group individuals together into teams, based on limited space and/or what we know (or predict) could be successful and/or mind-blowing combinations. These newly formed teams will meet for the first time at the All Participants Meeting, and create new work together for the show. Exhibition costs would be shared equally among the team members.

To Submit to CUTMR 2009

Please submit hardcopy or electronic proposals (MS-WORD docs only) no later than 5pm, September 26, 2008. Applications should include:

› contact information for you and all members of your submission team

› photo representation of 2-3 previous projects (no more than 5 images per project--high quality jpegs on a CD are preferred);

› your website URL (if applicable);

› your CV;

› a 150 word bio of the artist/designer/collective, and

› one page ‘expression of interest’ specific to CUTMR 2009 (see FAQ page).

Fees:

$650 + GST for room installations
$150 + GST for public space and video installations 

Fees include installation days and 3-day space rental; equipment rental (for video projection); exhibition administration and coordination; inclusion in the promotion, publicity, marketing materials, and exhibition catalogue. Fees are payable upon acceptance. Please do not submit a cheque with your "Expression of Interest".

Submit 'expression of interest' to:

In person: The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. West, Toronto ON, M6J 1J6. 
Attention: CUTMR 2009, Curatorial Collective

Email: comeuptomyroom2009@gmail.com [please cc] chrism@gladstonehotel.com

Need More Info?

Please download a PDF of our full Call for Interest.