DOWN THROUGH THE NEEDLE'S EYE: CALL FOR PROPOSALS

The Rotating History Project, in cooperation with the EMP Collective, is taking proposals for its forthcoming exhibition, Down Through the Needle’s Eye. The 6-week show is scheduled to open on July 13th 2012, at the EMP Collective Space, located at 306 West Redwood Street, Baltimore MD.

This multimedia exhibition will serve as a case study of Baltimore’s Garment District, now commonly known as the Loft District—an area loosely falling between Fayette Street, Greene Street, Pratt Street and Hanover Street. Following the Civil War, needle industries—largely centered in the Garment District—became the largest generators of capital in Baltimore. It was here that umbrellas were first manufactured in the US and the largest and second largest men’s clothing factories in the world once operated. The city’s labor movement and many of its early union struggles happened here as well.

The rise and decline of the Garment District as a flourishing industrial center for Baltimore’s manufactured products, as well as the people who worked and struggled to maintain their livelihoods through the decades, speak to events and societal practices that are not alien to our own time and highlight the finite nature of our society’s industries in general.

The EMP Collective Space, located in the Faust Building, in the heart of the Garment District, was once a wholesale boot and shoe business, and through time leased space to clothing firms, dry goods wholesalers, and merchants of men’s furnishings.

The goal of the exhibition is to invite artists to create site/theme specific works that draw on any relevant themes or ideas that may resonate and inspire art. All mediums are welcomed, including 2D and 3D, film, music, installation, performances, lectures and all other forms of writing/dialogue, such as oral histories.

The show is part of a larger group of happenings called the Rotating History Project. Through a variety of artistic mediums, the Rotating History Project aims to draw attention to the threads running through our history, culture and environment, which remain relevant to our ever-evolving society today.

Proposals should be sent via email and include a description of the intended project in 250 words or less. Please include the proposal description in the body of the email, rather than as an attachment. Sending a resume is optional. Preference will be given to proposed artwork and projects that best contribute to the overall vision of the theme.

Artists may choose to include attachments of jpeg or PDF images of proposed work OR jpegs/PDFs of up to 5 previous work. Images should be under 2 megabits in size. For proposed projects based in the written medium, please submit a writing sample of up to five pages in a Word Doc or in the body of an email. Art related to performance or video may be submitted via mail on a DVD.

All proposals and jpeg/PDFs should be emailed to rotatinghistoryartproject@gmail.com by Thursday March 1, 2012.

All DVDs must be postmarked by Monday February 27th and mailed to Attn: Teddy Johnson/Heather Rounds, 717 Homestead St, Baltimore, MD 21218.