276 artists applied from 17 countries. Now, the jury will be selecting finalists who applied from around the world for the Connective Corridor’s $650,000 call for public art – a partnership with the Syracuse University Office of Community Engagement and Economic Development and the College of Visual and Performing Arts. The project is one of the largest public art calls in the country, funded through a grant to Syracuse University’s Connective Corridor project from Empire State Development.

• Osman Akan, Brooklyn, NY (www.osmanakan.com) works in stainless steel, dichroic glass, HID lights and white concrete. With a MFA from the California Institute of the Arts, Valencia, CA and a BFA from Bilkent University’s Department of Art and Architecture, Ankara, Turkey, he’s been featured in the New York Times, Trendsetter Magazine and Sculpture Magazine. He exhibited most recently at the Dag Hammarskjold Plaza as part of the 70^th celebration of the UN, and has installations in Brazil and Hong Kong. Regionally, his work can be seen at the new Nanocenter at SUNYIT.

• Tristan Al-Haddad, Atlanta, GA (www.formations-studio.com) works in steel, aluminum and high performance concrete, mirrored stainless and polycarbonate. An assistant professor in the School of Architecture at The Georgia Institute of Technology, he has a Master of Architecture degree from Georgia Tech and has also studied at the University of Paris and the Center for Building Technology and Urban Design in Genoa, Italy. His work has been featured at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the High Museum of Art in Atlanta, and the Boston Center for the Arts, as well as the AIA Center for Architecture in New York City. He has been recognized in the New York Times, Metropolis, and has been a Fulbright Scholar in Chile
• Volkan Alkanoglu, Atlanta, GA (www.alkanoglu.com) works in anodized aluminum, high density polyethylene, timber and steel. With a Master’s of Architectural degree from University College, London and a Diploma of Architecture from Peter Behrens School in Dusseldorf, he is also a U.S. GBC LEED accredited professional. He has worked at firms in London and NYC, and created award winning projects for the National Library in Prague and the Venice Architecture Biennial, among other cities around the world. He has taught at the Harvard School of Design and Princeton, and is currently working on projects in the US, Europe and Middle East.
• Konstantin Dimopoulos, Melbourne, Australia (www.kondimopoulos.com) works in high performance composites and reinforced concrete. A native of Egypt and raised in New Zealand, he has degrees from Victoria University of Wellington and the Chelsea School of Art, London. He has created many commissioned sculptures for both private and public collections in Edmonton, San Diego, Seattle, Denver, Boston, Abu Dhabi and across Australia.
• Sharon Exley, Chicago, IL (www.architectureisfun.com) works in lighting and projections, as well as interactive public art. Sharon and her partner Peter Exley are known for artful collaboration, creativity and a passion for play. The Exleys propose to partner with Dear Productions, an architectural lighting design firm that produces large-scale public space installations, including projects in Millennium Park in Chicago. Sharon and Peter have done more than 180 projects for clients such as the J. Paul Getty Museum, MoMA and Chicago Children’s Museum, as well as international work. Peter is a faculty member of the Art Institute of Chicago was the president of the American Institute of Architects, Chicago.
• Marc Fornes, Brooklyn, NY (www.theverymany.com) works in painted aluminum. A TED Fellow, he has a Master of Architecture and Urbanism degree from the Design Research Lab of the Architectural Association in London, after previously studying in France and Sweden. Marc’s work includes large-scale, highly organic structures situated between the field of art and architecture, which are featured in installations at the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the FRAC Center in Orleans, France, and at the Guggenheim. He has been a resident artist at the Altier Calder, co-started a graduate studio at Columbia University, and is currently teaching studio classes at Princeton and Harvard.
• DeWitt Godfrey, Earlville, NY (http://www.dewittgodfrey.com) works in corten steel and bolts. An accomplished public artist who has completed large-scale commissions for museums and universities, his work has been featured at the Downtown Arts Center in Lexington, KY, Decordova Museum in Lincoln, MA, and the Kennedy Art Museum in Athens, OH, as well as at Colgate and Hamilton Universities, and Cazenovia, Mt. Holyoke, Amherst and Lehman Colleges. With a MFA from the School of Sculpture, Edinburgh College of Art and BA in Art from Yale, he is interested in the role art can play in community, helping re-experience the familiar in the urban environment.
• Blessing Hancock, Tucson, AZ (www.blessinghancock.com), works in stainless steel, acrylic, LED lighting and touch sensitive electronics. Her work can be seen in Washington Park, MD, Aurora, CO, Brooklyn Park, MN, San Antonio, TX, Oklahoma City, OK, Denver, CO, Palo Alto, CA, Portland, OR, Dallas, TX, Shreveport, LA, Alberta, Canada, and Chengdu, China. Many of her installations enliven public spaces integrated within public transit systems – rail and light rail lines, pedestrian bridges, municipal parking garages, boulevards, bike paths, and underpasses.
• Wesley Heiss and Marek Walczak, Allentown, PA (www.walczakheiss.com) work in steel, camera recognition software, LED strips, reflective materials, screens, electronics, and optics. With degrees from the School of Architecture, London and Cooper Union School of Architecture, their work has been shown in Sweden, Korea, Beijing, Copenhagen, London, Austria and at Whitney Museum of American Art and MOMA, New York. Commissions include work at the Jewish Museum of Heritage, Cooper Hewitt National Design Museum, 7 World Trade Center, Walter Art Center, and the Walker Arts Center. Other major projects include work for the 2000 Olympics in Sydney, Australia and Circo’s Plaza in Shanghai, China.
• B.J. Krivanek, Chicago, IL and Joel Breaux, Loreauville, LA (www.krivanek-breaux.com) work in steel, aluminum, fiberglass and motion activated lighting. As public artists and designers, Krivanek+Breaux works have been funded by the National Endowment for the Arts and many urban cultural affairs offices in Los Angeles, Phoenix, Chicago and Seattle. They have done streetscape and transit work that includes responsive structures, interactive installations, digital experiential spaces, and building façade activation for cities across the U.S.
• Jen Lewin, Boulder, CO (www.jenlewinstudio.com) works in custom cast plastic, aluminum, vintage Edison bulbs, LEDs and circuitry. An internationally renowned light and interactive sculptor, Jen fabricates large-scale interactive sculptures that combine light, sound and motion to encourage community interaction. Her work has been featured in National Geographic, The Smithsonian, Wired, The New York Times and BBC news. With degrees from New York University, she’s been the Creative Director for the Ivee Project at The Sundance Laboratory for Advanced Computing in Design and ITN (Saber) in Palo Alto.
• Elena Manferdini, Venice, CA (www.aterliermanferdini.com) works in CNC wood and laser cut styrene as well as powder coated aluminum and steel cables. A native of Bologna, Italy, she explores the relationship between nature, technology and audience in public settings based on playfulness, optical effect and perception. Her works have been installed at the Art Institute of Chicago, Istanbul Biennial, Los Angeles Municipal Gallery, MAXXI, Rome, Beijing Biennale, Gwangju Biennale in Korea, LA Museum of Contemporary Art, Museum of Art at Seoul National University, Seika University in Kyoto, and the International Architecture Biennale in Venice, as well as public spaces in the U.S.
• Erwin Redl, Bowling Green, OH (www.paramedia.net) works with suspended light panels integrated with animated RGB-LEDs, and computer controlled light installations. A native of Austria, he has a BA in Composition and Electronic Music from the Music Academy of Austria, and a MFA in Computer Art from the School of Visual Arts, NYC. He’s been a guest artist in residence in the Czech Republic and contemporary arts centers in the U.S. Among his recent installations are the Central Subway Union Square / Market Street Station in San Francisco, Interstate 77 Underpass project in Charlotte, NC, Pacific Design Center, and the Austrian Pavilion at the World Expo in Zaragoza, Spain.
• Vicki Scuri, Lake Forest, WA (www.vicikscuri.com) works in light, steel, concrete, stone and native plants. With a BA in Fine Arts from UC Berkeley and MFA from UW, Madison, WI, she has won numerous engineering and design awards for multimodal projects across the U.S. that include pedestrian links and trails, transit shelters, medians, streetscapes, gateway bridges and infrastructure walls. She has developed public art master plans for communities that promote economic development through the arts, and has won CODAworx Top 100 projects for her work.
• Sam Van Aken, Syracuse, NY (www.samvanaken.com), works with varied media but is best known for his iconic Tree of 40 Fruit which was featured in media around the world including Smithsonianmag.com, Time Magazine, World News, NPR Weekend Edition, Guardian UK, Huffington Post, Good Morning America, Epicurious, and Food and Wine. With a MFA from the University of North Carolina, Chapel Hill and a BA in Fine Art from Slippery Rock University, he is widely published and has been the recipient of numerous national residences and awards. He is currently working on commissions for the San Jose Children’s Discovery Museum, County of London, UK, City of Dubai, City of Singapore and Parallax Partners, New Hampshire.
• Christopher Weed, Colorado Springs, CO (http://www.chrisweed.com), works in powder coated steel and stainless steel tubing, cables and rods. A native of Philadelphia, he graduated with a BFA from the University of Maryland after two years of studying in Germany. He is included in collections in Munich, Frankfurt, Berlin, NYC, San Francisco, LA, Miami, and Seattle and across Colorado. His most recent work connects a corridor in Colorado that is the largest thoroughfare in the country. He just completed a very competitive commission for a Regional Transportation District (RTD) in Denver – a new light rail project that spanned three municipalities.

A community meeting is set for May 5, from 10 a.m. to noon to solicit public input as the jury begins the process of making final decisions.  The session is open to the public and will be held at the SU Warehouse, fourth floor conference suite.

The jury will be interviewing these semi-finalists and selecting approximately 6 to 10 winners who will receive commissions to fabricate and install public art along the Connective Corridor over the next year.  Winners are expected to be announced at the end of May.