Madison to choose finalist Library Mall art piece

A new piece of public artwork will soon stand at the convergence of State Street, Library Mall and East Campus Mall as a capstone for the State Street Reconstruction Project, which the city began planning in 2013 and constructing in 2014.

Madison’s selection committee for the project will choose which work to feature from three finalists’ submissions.

The location for the project is at the 700 and 800 blocks of State Street, near Memorial Library. The city chose Library Mall for the location because it is an “ideal location” for site-specific work and “celebrates” Madison’s pedestrian thoroughfare, according to a city press release.

The city put out a request for qualifications in the early fall, to which more than 60 artists and artist teams responded. From there, the Madison Arts Commission and the Downtown Coordinating Committee chose three applicants for the final selection phase. Those applicants are Koryn Rolstad Studios, Dimitar Lukanov Sculpture and RDG Dahlquist Art Studio.

The selection committee will review those three finalists Friday to decide which will have the opportunity to complete the project. The artists will present those proposals at the Madison Central Library on West Mifflin Street.

The presentations will go in order of Koryn Rolstad at 1:45 p.m.; Dimitar Lukanov at 2:45 p.m. and RDG Dahlquist Art Studio at 3:45 p.m. Anyone is invited to attend the event. City of Madison Urban Design Planner Rebecca Cnare said the city hopes to finish the project by summer 2017.

“We look forward to hearing the artists presentations on Friday, and will work together to have a successful outcome that can be enjoyed by all users of the State Street Mall,” she said.