Permanent Public Art Work – UTSC Instructional Centre

The Doris McCarthy Gallery, UTSC: Call for Applications
Deadline for expressions of interest

An Instructional Centre is being built at the University of Toronto Scarborough, marking an exciting new phase of campus expansion and a bold new addition to a campus that already boasts internationally celebrated architecture. With an expected completion date of March 2011, the new facility will support the emergence of UTSC as a vital hub for cultural and intellectual activity in the eastern region of the Greater Toronto Area.

The Instructional Centre will be a major, publicly accessible building at UTSC and will integrate community life with the campus. The building will house high-quality classrooms; research, teaching and computer labs; staff and faculty offices; and study spaces. The site selected for the Instructional Centre — the intersection of Military Trail and Ellesmere Road — will become the core for activity on an expanded north campus. Planned mixed-use facilities located at the street level and near-by will include: retail shops, restaurants, cafés, an athletics complex, and a stop for Light-Rail Rapid Transit (LRT), creating a highly animated street front that will be attractive to students as well as to the community.

This major infrastructure project provides UTSC with an opportunity to commission a permanent, public artwork to be installed in the four-storey atrium of the building. The atrium itself, and the public space surrounding it, will be a meeting point, study area, and a spatial organizer for the building. The project budget is 175,000 USD, which includes all fabrication and installation costs and fees. Construction of the building is underway and is expected to be complete by March 2011.

This inaugural, major public art commission furthers UTSC's ongoing commitment to contemporary art. As evidenced by the recent announcement of UTSC's participation in the 2015 Pan and Parapan American games, the University of Toronto Scarborough continues to reach an increasingly international audience.

The Doris McCarthy Gallery, University of Toronto Scarborough is inviting local, national and international Artists or Artist Teams to submit:

• Resume(s);
• 6-8 visuals of recent, relevant work**; and
• Artist's statement outlining interest in the project and experience.

**Please submit digital images on CD listing title, date, materials and dimensions for each work. Include a stamped, self-addressed envelope for return of submission material, if desired.

Please note: Artists are NOT asked to submit proposals at this stage of the competition.

Submissions must be received in a sealed envelope bearing the name and address of the Proponent by 5:00 p.m., Local Time, Monday, May 31, 2010 at the following address only:

Procurement Office, Financial Services
University of Toronto Scarborough
Portable PO102, Room 103
1265 Military Trail
Toronto, Ontario CANADA
M1C 1A4

Submissions received after the above closing time will not be considered and will be returned.

Facsimile or electronic submissions, or modifications to submissions shall not be considered.


This project will be administered by the Doris McCarthy Gallery, UTSC. The artwork concept will be selected through a two-stage open competition, by a Selection Committee convened for this project, which will include practicing arts professionals as well as representatives from the UTSC community.

A short list of 3-5 artists will be paid a fee to develop a project proposal based on a Terms of Reference document provided to the short-listed artists by UTSC.

The Selection Committee will finalize its decision in November 2010.