The Chicago Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events (DCASE), the Chicago Department of Transportation (CDOT) and the Chicago Transit Authority (CTA) invite professional artists and artist teams with a demonstrated history of completing complex, permanent, outdoor public art projects to submit their qualifications for a $750,000 public art commission for the new CTA State and Lake Station to be built on the Loop elevated tracks at the intersection of State and Lake Street in downtown Chicago. Construction is scheduled to begin in Summer 2023.

SUMMARY OF THE OPPORTUNITY AND SITE

The City is building a completely new State/Lake Station for the CTA to provide a fully accessible facility that services five train lines. The new State/Lake CTA station will replace the more than 100-year-old existing structure with a modern, fully accessible rail hub with wider platforms and a host of customer amenities built to 21st Century design standards. It includes wide balconies open to the public, facing north and south, creating scenic overlooks of State Street

The current State/Lake station was built in 1895, as part of the original Loop elevated, and in 2019 was the second-busiest station on the Loop ‘L’, with more than 3.7 million annual entries. The station serves five of the CTA’s eight rail lines. The new design features a blend of old and new, retaining original design elements such as salvaged posts and railings that frame the vending and Customer Assistance kiosks.

The station’s design and construction process are being led by CDOT on behalf of the CTA. The station design, by TranSystems / Skidmore, Owings & Merrill (SOM), features platforms that are double the current width, to better accommodate customers. It also includes a full-coverage, glass canopy to protect customers from rain and snow, as well as a walkway connecting the inner and outer platforms.

The project will add elevators — there are currently none — to make the station fully accessible. The new station will also improve connectivity between the elevated lines of the downtown Loop and the underground Red Line on State Street. This public art opportunity is for a suite of objects to be located at specified sites on the passenger platforms and crossover.

Successful public art proposals will approach the artwork’s setting with a bold and creative vision that is sensitive to its context which includes the new station architecture, the vistas up and down State Street and, importantly, the people on the platform and their relationship to the artwork in a space which many will be using daily. Designs will be informed by a robust community engagement process that interacts with project area neighborhood residents, interested members of the public from across the city, and commuters who will use the facility. Designs should include elements of an appropriate size, scale and orientation to engage viewing from multiple potential vantage points. The artwork must be engineered to withstand the demands of its environment and require minimal to no annual maintenance.

Acceptable media for the artwork are stainless steel, galvanized steel, bronze, laminated art glass panels, ceramic or other durable materials pending review and approval. Artworks must be fabricated and finished to allow routine power washing and withstand damage from general public interaction.

Finalists will be paid a $2,500 honorarium to develop proposals.

Click here to apply. Renderings below courtesy of Chicago Transit Authority.