The seed for Thanatopolis was planted in 1983. It was an emotional response to the frustration of I-Park’s founder with the available options offered by the cemetery, funeral home and monument dealer upon the death of a loved one. There had to be a more fulfilling way to honor a special individual in one’s life upon their passing. And, it was felt, there needed to be a greater role for creativity and personalization in this process.
--Why Thanatopolis?, http://www.i-park.org/WhyThanatopolis.html

What is Thanatopolis?
• a special space for creating serious, fitting, moving memorials to individuals from all levels of society, a place where the longing to create and do something meaningful for the deceased can be satisfied
• a physical place, a concept and appropriate imagery for attenuating memory
• a harness/focal point for the agony and creativity unleashed by death
• a natural setting for experimentation in the rituals of interment and memorialization
• a new home for the ‘living memorial’ idea...
--Thanatopolis at I-Park, http://www.i-park.org/Events.html

This just in: A call for artworks from I-Park Arts towards the creation of "Thanatopolis," an alternative, artist-imaged memorial park/space seeking to fill the gap left by empty and irrelevant contemporary memorial practice. Work is sought from visual artists, landscape artists, performance artists and more. Full call for works with all relevant links below; Submission deadline is July 12th.

Thanatopolis at I-Park
I-Park’s major inter-disciplinary project for 2010 is Thanatopolis, an alternative memorial park/space in the advanced conceptual stage of development. I-Park is soliciting memorial-themed proposals in the following fields:

Music Composition/Sound Sculpture
Visual Arts/Environmental Sculpture
Theater/Choreography/Performance Art
Landscape/Garden Design
Architecture
Landscape Architecture

Selected projects will be presented at the Thanatopolis Exhibition on October 2, 2010.

Submission deadline is July 12, 2010.

For a copy of the general Call for Proposals, click here.
For the specialized Call for Entries in the field of Music, click here.
For the specialized Call for Entries in the field of
Performance, click here.
For context, click here for ‘Why Thanatopolis?’
For complete program information, click here.

Image: St. Michael's Cemetary: Foundation of Pensacola.