2011 FAQ
FAQ (Frequently asked questions)
WHAT is COME UP TO MY ROOM?
Come Up To My Room is an alternative design show focusing on the diverse practices that live outside the norms of “traditional” art and design: i.e. multidisciplinary, independent, and self-taught. Framed within the backdrop of the historic, 120 year old Gladstone Hotel, the eighth installment of CUTMR will take place January 27 to 30, 2011. Site-specific work will be mounted in the rooms and public spaces in the second floor Gladstone Gallery and ground floor spaces of the hotel.
CUTMR is a chance for you, as a maker, to showcase personal projects, dream projects, impractical projects, and to refuel and to challenge yourself creatively. It involves a curatorial process that is based on trust between the designer and the curator. Through conversation and collaboration, CUTMR is about community, connection, innovation, and creating delight in the unexpected.
Participants can contribute work to Come Up To My Room in one of two ways:
1) Room Installations: participants will create new work that is site-specific and based in installation.
CUTMR is unique in that we select the artist/designer/teams for the rooms, and then trust them to design a site specific installation, following their own personal vision. We choose you, but we don’t know what you, as an artist/designer, have chosen to do with your space until we “come up to your room” and see what you have installed. Due to this unusual curatorial process, CUTMR lends itself to transience, and is never presented the same way twice. Please do not send a specific proposal for the room. Tell and show us only your past work/portfolio.
Key words for the room installations are immersive and spatial.
2) Public Spaces (including hallways, lobbies and interstitial spaces): participants will create functional lighting, seating, wall-based projects, or a dj table or bar.
Unlike the Room Installations, participants submitting for a public space installation MUST include details of specific works to be exhibited in the show. All participants are required to showcase new work and are asked to produce work specifically for CUTMR 2011. Please include as much detail as possible on your proposal for the space, as well as images of your previous work. Drawings, descriptions, etc., of your proposed project are essential.
WHEN is COME UP TO MY ROOM?
CUTMR is open to the public Thursday, January 27 to Sunday, January 30, 2011. Installation takes place from Monday, January 24 to the afternoon of Thursday, January 27. A press preview is scheduled for Thursday, January 27, from 4-8pm. The Gladstone hosts an opening reception on the evening of Saturday, January 29, followed by the annual LoveDESIGN Party in the hotel Ballroom. Exhibition dates coincide with the Toronto Design Week and the Interior Design Show.
CUTMR exists as a complementary and “alternative” design event to IDS, allowing participants to showcase their ideas in a prominent venue, free from the constraints of a large, commercial design show.
WHO produces COME UP TO MY ROOM?
Come Up To My Room is produced by The Gladstone Hotel, and was founded by Christina Zeidler and Pamila Matharu in 2004. CUTMR 2011 is curated by Jeremy Vandermeij and Deborah Wang.
HOW do I get involved?
Submit an “Expression of Interest” by Monday, May 31, 2010 by hardcopy or electronic proposals (MS-WORD docs or PDFs only). Your submissions must include:
√ Contact information (email and phone number) for you and all members of your submission team
√ Visual representation of 2-5 previous projects (no more than 5 images per project; high quality jpegs on a CD are preferred), and your website URL (if applicable)
√ Your CV
√ A 150 word bio of the artist/designer/collective
√ A one-page “Expression of Interest” specific to CUTMR 2011. Please describe your practice, who you are and why you want to participate in CUTMR, what kind of work you do, etc. Also indicate if you are applying for a room installation or pubic space project.
Submit your “Expression of Interest” to:
In person: Front Desk, The Gladstone Hotel, 1214 Queen St. West, Toronto ON, M6J 1J6.
Attention: CUTMR 2011 Curators: Jeremy Vandermeij and Deborah Wang
Email: submissions@comeuptomyroom.com
Please CC: jeremy@gladstonehotel.com and deborah@comeuptomyroom.com
DATES AND DEADLINES CHECK LIST:
√ Monday, May 31, 2010
Submit a hardcopy or electronic “Expression of Interest”.
√ June 7 to 11, 2010
Participants will be notified of their acceptance by email.
√ Tuesday, June 15, 2010 6pm | MARK THIS DATE ON YOUR CALENDAR!
All Participants meeting at the Gladstone Hotel.
You will be required to come to the Gladstone on this day if you are selected. Contracts and fees will be administered on this day. Public space participants pay their fee in full on this date. Room participants pay a $350.00 booking deposit, along with $150.00 damage deposit. Specific rooms will be selected on this day and final room allocations will be confirmed by the curators via email.
√ September 13 to 17, 2010
Individual consultation appointments (in-person, by phone or email) will be held with public space projects participants. All participants should have a clear idea, conceptually and spatially, of what they want to accomplish at this point. Curators will select public space locations in consultation with the participants.
√ October 2010
Bios, Statements, and Images for Catalogue are due (details and specifications TBC)
√ November 1, 2010
$441.00 balance of payment due (room fee, including the applicable taxes) for room installation participants.
√ Tuesday, January 11, 2011, 6pm
Final pre-exhibition participants meeting at the Gladstone Hotel.
WHY should I participate in COME UP TO MY ROOM?
The Gladstone is committed to providing all CUTMR participants with a rewarding and fulfilling experience including:
Focus - on independent and emerging designers with a range of design sensibilities including political, commercial and strictly aesthetic perspectives.
Exclusivity – This is not a trade show. The unique exhibition setting of the art hotel, and the size, focus and mandate of the event provides every participant with the opportunity to be prominently featured in the show. Each year there are approximately 25 unique projects in CUTMR, created by artists and designers engaged in a variety of multidisciplinary practices.
Exposure – Since 2004, CUTMR Exhibitions have drawn over 2000 attendees each year. Attendees included Toronto and International press, local and international design industry professionals and gallery owners, collectors, patrons, and general public. Past show catalogues continue to generate connections for artists and designers involved.
Accessibility – Participation costs for exhibitors and attendees are minimal compared to trade shows and more commercial events.
Connections – Networking opportunities for artists and designers with press and industry professionals is a primary objective and a hallmark of success for last seven years. 2004 through 2010 CUTMR exhibitions have resulted in lucrative connections for most participants with positive impacts on their careers, such as:
PRESS UPDATE
- CUTMR participants have been featured in Toronto Life Magazine, En Route Magazine, Canadian Interiors, Metropolitan Home, Canadian House and Home, Azure and showcased in features by the Toronto Star, the Globe and Mail, EYE Weekly, Dose, National Post, Design Sponge, Moco Loco, Fashion Television, City TV’s Hour Town, and many more!
- Motherbrand’s Souvenir Shop launch; now a permanent and popular feature of the Gladstone Hotel lobby. Also, numerous pieces from the Souvenir Shop have been featured in “Beaver Tales: Canadian Art and Design” at The University of Toronto Art Centre, 2008.
- Participation in CUTMR has inspired past participants to expand their practice through new retail storefront business ventures: Members of 2006 participants MADE Collective launched a retail space – MADE showcasing limited run production creations. 2005 participant Jamie Cheveldeyoff launched Koma Furniture Gallery dedicated showing work by independent local designers, with an alternative approach to mass production.
- Allyson Mitchell – CUTMR connection with Canadian Art magazine lead to a feature article and exclusive on the Magazine’s May 2004 cover. This exposure has served as a springboard for Allyson’s career. Allyson’s 2005 installation was featured in the May 2005 issues of Dwell and Metropolis magazines.
- Derek Sullivan, Scott Euson, and Nep Sidhu were featured at 2004 News at Five sculpture exhibit curated by Canadian Art Editor Richard Rhodes at Toronto International Art Fair.
- Suanne McGregor, Bruno Billio, and Allyson Mitchell exhibited work at Holt Renfrew’s Headspace after connecting with curator Eileen Sommerman.
- CUTMR chairs, designed and built by University of Waterloo architecture students, are featured on the front cover of NOW Magazine’s 2010 Design Week Issue
- Co-curator Katherine Morely exhibits at IDS (2010) and Radiant Dark (2009-10).
Images
Click here to Download Images of our Melody Bar, Art Bar and Café
Click Here to Download Images of Gladstone Hotel Rooms
Click here to Download Images of our Public Spaces
Click Here to Download Images of Random Events
Click here to Download Images of our Come Up To My Room – Our largest self produced Exhibition – Which features work from over 50 designers and artists.
Click Here to Download Images of our New Menus
