A programme of light-based and digital art commissions for Saltaire Arts Trail 2017

About

Saltaire Arts Trail is a community arts event organised by Saltaire Inspired and held annually on the late May Bank Holiday weekend. In 2017 the dates of the Arts Trail will be from 27-29 May.

The Arts Trail offers an imaginative visual arts programme, celebrating the village’s rich heritage, and offering opportunities to both emerging and established artists. It prides itself in reaching out to new audiences and making art accessible to all by using imaginative venues - the internationally recognised Salts Mill, public buildings, the homes of Saltaire residents and outdoor spaces around Saltaire, to display visual art outside of traditional settings, as well as delivering new exhibitions and commissions.

In 2017, a successful grant application to Arts Council England (subject to final confirmation) means that Saltaire Inspired is able to add a new dimension to the Arts Trail – a programme of light-based and digital art events.

The Commissions

Based loosely around the theme ‘Inside Out’, there are two strands of commissioned activity:

·         Two large-scale light-based commissions

·         The ‘Artquest’ trail of 15 QR code plaques with downloadable digital content

1  Light-Based Commissions

Two artists will be commissioned to create video projections mapped onto the front of two selected Saltaire terraced houses, ‘removing the front wall’ to reveal their artistic vision of what might be taking place within.  Proposals for works can be as ‘realistic’ or wildly imaginative as artists wish and must be accessible to and appropriate for broad audiences including young children.

The projection will run for two nights on 26 and 27 May from dusk for 3 hours.  Pairs of houses – one to be projected upon, the other to be projected from – will be allocated by the event organisers.  Commissioned artists will be able to access some limited technical and artistic support from the event organisers and projection technicians, but should have some proven experience in producing complex artistic video.

The artist will be paid an inclusive production fee of £2,500.  The technical aspects and costs associated with the projection will be met from a separate budget.

2  Artquest Trail

Artists working in any medium are invited to submit digital work for the Artquest trail.  Works can be in any standard digital file format including jpg, pdf, doc, mp3, mp4 etc. not larger than 10mb

The works must loosely address the theme ‘Inside Out’ and must be accessible to and appropriate for broad audiences including young children.

Works will be uploaded to a dedicated website and made available for public download for the duration of the Arts Trail through a trail of 15 QR code plaques mounted in publicly accessible areas.  Using a standard code scanner on their smartphones, audiences will be able to download the artworks for their own enjoyment.

Important: there is no practicable way to limit subsequent sharing or use of the digital work.  Only submit a work to the Artquest Trail if you accept that the work might be further disseminated by audiences.

Artists whose work is accepted for the Digital Art Trail will receive a £50 reproduction right fee.  The original work will remain the property and copyright of the artist.