CALL TO ARTISTS  

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Un-monument | Re-monument | De-Monument: Transforming Boston

What is a monument? Who do we choose to memorialize? How can our public spaces reflect what is important to us?

We’re collaborating with artists, local cultural organizations, and community members to imagine ways of commemorating the people, places, and events that are important to our communities.

The Basics

For the second year of Un-monument, the Mayor’s Office of Arts & Culture, via the Boston Art Commission, is commissioning temporary monuments from groundbreaking artists. 

Through partnerships with artists and celebrated cultural organizations, Un-monument is presented through a series of interconnected activations including public art, free public talks at The Embrace with the Hutchins Center, writing with the Boston Art Review, and hands-on workshops at Emerson Contemporary. 

The Un-monument initiative includes six curatorial approaches to commissioning temporary monuments across the City.  Some Un-monument temporary monuments will be selected through this open call to artists led by the Mayor’s Office of Arts and Culture. Others are the result of direct commissions by five organizations serving as curatorial partners: Boston Public Art Triennial, Emerson Contemporary, National Center of Afro-American Artists, North American Indian Center of Boston, and Pao Arts Center.

This open call ensures that this opportunity is available to all artists. With multiple curators, we hope to create opportunities for more perspectives to join the conversation. Commissioning local organizations also supports Boston’s creative ecosystem and allows for participation in this dialogue at multiple levels.

Open Call: Two Artist Opportunities

In this Call to Artists, we present two distinct opportunities for artists. First, we are looking for proposals from artists or artist-led teams for new temporary monuments, as well as “un-monuments” that are socially responsive and transform public places to reflect the city’s cultural vibrancy in dialogue with Boston’s collection of existing monuments during summer and fall of 2025. All temporary monuments must all be free and accessible to the public in Boston. Projects may be proposed in any City of Boston neighborhood. The second opportunity is to take a Projection Mapping Artist Workshop hosted by Emerson Contemporary.

 → Opportunity 2: Projection Mapping Artist Workshop

As part of Un-monument, Emerson Contemporary is hosting a Projection Mapping workshop designed to support artists in gaining access to the skills and technology needed to either translate previous work or create new work by integrating projection with 2D works, sculpture, installation, performance, and public art practices. Participants should have a base knowledge of creating digital and/or moving-image works in the medium of their choice.

• Year: 2025
• Source of Funding: Mellon Foundation Grant, in partnership with Emerson Contemporary.
• Total Amount Available: $7,500 for 10 participants
• Award Amount per Grant: $750 (one time grant for participants) 
• Timeline & Important Dates:
• Call released: Wednesday November 13, 2024 12PM ET
• Virtual Question and Answer Sessions: Monday December 9, 2024 at 12PM ET and 6 PM ET on Zoom. 
• Written question deadline: Monday, December 9, 2024 at 11:59PM ET.     
  • You can email questions to unmonument@boston.gov with the subject “Un-monument: Call to Artists”.
  • All Q&A’s will be posted on our website. 

   

• Call closes: Monday January 13, 2025, 5PM ET 
• Eligibility: This opportunity is open to all professional artists, including individuals, for-profit businesses and nonprofits.

Apply

To apply for Opportunity 2: Projection Mapping Artist Workshop, please fill out this application.  For full project background, please read more here. 

For Opportunity 1: Temporary Monuments Apply here.