Open Call to all students in FIU’s CARTA College of

Communication, Architecture + The Arts! 

Help make Miami’s creative history and join the Department of Reflection in the creation of a collaborative artwork to be featured at The Wolfsonian–FIU inspired by the museum’s iconic street-side landmark, the historic Bridge Tender House / Josephine Baker Pavilion.

​We are looking for idea submissions that delve into history, memory, the personal, the political, and everything in between. We all know that a “bridge tender house” is where the bridge tender, the person operating the mechanical bridge, is housed. But what can it become? They are essential and yet, along with the bridge tenders inside, often overlooked or forgotten. Bridge tender houses are both armature and limb, but also individual architectural expressions. They are the lingering human element left to watch over the cold inhuman infrastructure below. What if you were a bridge tender, operating alone during long hours?

What would your ideal bridge tender house look like? Let us know by sketching it out, writing a poem, building a model, creating a collage, or using any other creative media you prefer (see below), and we’ll combine as many as we can to create a unique hybrid amalgamation of all submissions as one singular collective bridge tender house. This collective structure will then be built as a physical model and put on display at The Wolfsonian–FIU in conjunction with our Bridge Deconstruction Site to open November 3, 2023. 

• Submissions are due September 15, 2023. Email submission or any questions to info@departmentofreflection.org.

• Any and all mediums encouraged, including: drawings, architectural renderings, writing, poetry, photography, video, sculpture, painting, dance, performance, and more.

• Final submissions to be determined by misael soto, Wolfsonian–FIU Chief Curator Silvia Barisione, Assistant Professor at FIU Architecture Katarzyna Balug, artist and West Palm Beach County bridge tender Sue Welch, and Wolfsonian–FIU Student + Academic Engagement Coordinator Molly Channon.

• By submitting something, all students agree to having their ideas appropriated into the final model/artwork. All participants will be credited.​

• All student submissions will be included in a compendium to be published online and in print at a later date.