The Seattle Office of Arts & Culture is pleased to announce the selection of Cedric Bomford for a major commission as part of Waterfront Seattle. A Canadian artist working in photography and installation, Bomford is currently based in Winnipeg, where he is an assistant professor in the University of Manitoba School of Art. This project is Bomford’s first in the U.S.

Building on a conference on “Art, Design and Play” organized by Waterfront Seattle and the Office of Arts & Culture last March, the call’s focus was to bring an artist into the process of designing play areas or equipment for Waterfront Seattle. Bomford will join a team of architects, planners and city designers to create the project over the next several years.

Waterfront Seattle is the large-scale project to replace the Alaskan Way Viaduct with 26 acres of new public space, streets, parks, and buildings. Arts and culture will play a central role on the Waterfront, through permanent commissions, live arts and entertainment, and the creation of new cultural spaces for artistic production and presentation. Responding to the history of the site, its ecology, economy, and communities, the art program will help to create a sense of place on the renewed waterfront that will act as an invitation to residents and visitors alike.

As outlined in the Working Plan for Art on the Central Seattle Waterfront, commissions and ongoing cultural programming are part of the construction process for the waterfront. Major commissions, such as this one, will engage residents and visitors and make the Waterfront an active cultural center for the city. The art plan advocates for “cultural connections between the city and the rest of the world.” The pier site for this commission links to Seattle’s history as a port, and to connections between the local and the global on the waterfront.

About Cedric Bomford

Born in 1975, Cedric Bomford lives and works in Winnipeg, where he is assistant professor in the University of Manitoba School of Art. He holds a BFA from Emily Carr Institute of Art and Design, Vancouver, and an MFA from the Malmö Art Academy, Sweden. His work has been exhibited across Canada and internationally.

For more information visit Waterfront Seattle

Photo caption: Cedric Bomford, Das Amt, 2001