CALGARY.- The City of Calgary Public Art Program is seeking Expressions of Interest from experienced artist-led interdisciplinary teams to create a unified, iconographic or symbolic language that will map and identify infrastructure.

The Visual Language Project is the cornerstone of the UEP Public Art Plan, in that it should provide a cohesive and elegant visual language for identifying, mapping and codifying the watershed systems. Through close collaboration with UEP staff and other stakeholders, the Visual Language Project team will provide a conceptual framework for UEP infrastructure, education, and all public art projects to follow.

Total budget for the public art project is $200,000.00CDN. This will include the creation of a visual language, an action plan for implementation, and a prototype design with proposed budget for a site-specific public art work (the Outfall Project).

Submissions must be received no later than 4:30 p.m. on Friday, August 10, 2007.

For more information and to submit a proposal, interested artists must access and download Expression of Interest document #07-025 The Visual Language Project: Understanding Our Place Within the Watershed from the Alberta Purchasing Connection at www.purchasingconnection.ca.

All submission-related inquiries to Donna Chaytors, Senior Buyer, City of Calgary at (403) 268-5559 or donna.chaytors@calgary.ca.

This Call for Artists is also posted at www.calgary.ca/publicart > Opportunities for Artists > The Visual Language Project.

The Visual Language Project is the third project to be initiated as a result of the UEP Public Art Plan. This Plan, launched in January 2007, was created to guide the expenditure of the public art funds made possible through The City’s Utilities and Environmental Protection (UEP) department.

Believed to be the first of its kind in North America , the UEP Public Art Plan is founded on the principle that public art, in collaboration with other disciplines, can create remarkable places that encourage sustainability and stewardship of the environment. The Plan, which represents a key component of the overall Public Art Master Plan being developed by the Public Art Program, takes a leading step in North America through its innovative and forward-thinking approach of integrating public art into utilities and environmental systems. The Plan also capitalizes on The City’s excellent environmental record as a steward of the Bow River , and ensures that all upcoming UEP public art projects both enhance and preserve this legacy.