National Museums Liverpool has launched a £30,000 call for an artist to co-design the cast iron panels that will shape the new entrance of Liverpool’s International Slavery Museum.
Michelle Charters OBE, Head of International Slavery Museum said: “This is an artist call unlike any other, for a museum which is the only one of its kind in the world. The finished artwork will be a deeply meaningful feature of the striking design for our new Entrance Pavilion, ensuring the story of transatlantic slavery and its legacies is no longer a hidden aspect of our history, but unapologetically prominent on Liverpool’s waterfront.”
The museum was opened in 2007 and has been a prominent tourist attraction inside Liverpool’s Maritime Museum. However, the space has never had its own front door. Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios has designed a new entrance pavilion for the museum, with the successful artist transforming cast iron, that was once used as chains and manacles, as a symbol of ‘resilience and remembrance’. Kossy Nnachetta, Lead Architect at Feilden Clegg Bradley Studios said: “The fabric of the Entrance Pavilion was always envisioned as the ‘work of many hands’. We are thrilled that National Museums Liverpool can send this wide-reaching call-out for an artist, maker, or any creative soul, to interpret the spirit of decades of community conversations, and embed that into the design.”
The artist or collective that designs the panels will receive the £30,000 plus additional costs and expenses. National Museums Liverpool says: “This is a once in lifetime opportunity for an artist to play an integral role in creating a permanent and powerful public artwork, that sits at the heart of the museum’s wider transformation.”
Interested parties have until 17th November to submit their applications.
