Santuario Sculpture Park looks to create a unique space in the city of Chicago, where active ecological stewardship meets open air gallery. Hidden in the Little Village Industrial Corridor is the former site of the Torco Oil Company’s Chicago Terminal, abandoned in 2009. Since then the brownfield has sat dormant as the city has changed around it. We see this as an opportunity to protect natural habitat, river access and communal space, all while creating a first of its kind art space in Chicago. 

The park is built on the idea that natural space where native, balanced ecosystems are restored and protected is the most necessary space of all. Through regenerative habitat building, thoughtful coexistence, and the harnessing of natural systems we look to bring new life to this space that has been stripped of it.

Alongside the work of regeneration comes the opportunity to make art which amplifies and intertwines with the sentiment of thoughtful coexistence. The land, existing in the intersection of nature and industry, would provide a rich context for artists and community members to question, hypothesize and make commentary about the world around them.

More than anything, the goal of the park is to be a space of inspiration and of community, a park that doesn't exist passively, but challenges and interacts with its visitors. The proposed artist residency would focus on bringing voices from Chicago and around the globe together in conversations relevant to the future of Chicago, through sculptural installation, experimental actions, site specific research, ecological pragmatism, education and social engagement. In creating this space we look to create a sanctuary, a reserve, a case study for a world that prioritizes harmony with nature and each other over everything.

The annual artist residency would give a selected group of artists the opportunity to work at a park (beginning between April-June), drawing from facilities, the land and a stipend amount of money to create. The residency would culminate in a final exhibition, in the late summer (July-September) and their work would remain installed until the winter.

The artists would be encouraged to create something specific to the site, the city or the ecological project that they will be immersed in and would have to participate in a community engagement or site specific event of their choosing. 

Aside from the cultivation of the artist's personal practices, the residency aims to infuse the park with a sense of life and with that, become more actively engaged in community life. 

The interaction between public art, which calls people into a conversation, and ecology, which is more focused and pragmatic is where Santuario could really become unique and exciting. With this, it would be interesting to have an annual research and science based residency. The program could give qualified individuals the opportunity to come to the park and propose ways to make the space better, more diverse, beautiful and exciting. Collaboration between the two residencies would be encouraged to expand or support each other's work.

Programming events present a number of opportunities to use the park to the fullest of its potential. The hope would be that we could provide many activities for free, like Workshops, Volunteer days and Gathering Spaces. But there is also the opportunity for programming such as: Summer Camps, Concerts, which could help provide additional funding for the park.

Socrates Sculpture Park is a one of a kind art space located in Astoria Queens and in many ways it has provided the proof of concept for this proposal. 

In 1986 a group of artists and community members working alongside the prominent artist Mark Di Suvero came across this riverside land, at the time it was an illegal dumping site. Over some weeks they cleared the space transforming it into an open studio and exhibition space.

Today, the sculpture park  is an internationally renowned outdoor museum and a designated New York City public park. Known for fostering ambitious and visionary artworks, Socrates has presented more than 1,200 artists, providing them the financial support, materials, equipment, and space necessary to create large-scale works in the public realm. 

It is clear when visiting Socrates’ that it is not just a park, but a vibrant public good, it does not sit passively but maximizes the possibilities of public space, through reclamation, revitalization and creative expression. It is hard to measure the effect that a place like this can have on a community, but when done right, and in collaboration with its members it is clear to be a transformative space.