The BDA Prize [Charlottesville: Identity & Design] 2018

The BDA Prize [Charlottesville: Identity & Design] 2018 now is over!

An ideas & design competition, The BDA Prize [Charlottesville: Identity & Design], has been recently opened for entries for 2018 seeking for a site-specific work of public art that will successfully embody the values and aspirations of a diverse community inviting all artists, architects, designers, and citizens that will offer ideas for an artistic, cultural, social, political, or ecological foundation that our community may build upon for the future.

About Competition

The goal of this strong>ideas & design competition titled The BDA Prize 2018 [Charlottesville: Identity & Design] is to strong>foster community dialogue about design . They seek proposals from artists, architects, designers, and citizens that will offer ideas for an artistic, cultural, social, political, or ecological foundation that our community may build upon for the future.

Established to generate forward-looking ideas to better our community through design and dialogue, the BDA Prize explores current topics for Charlottesville annually.

In light of recent events and discussions regarding the role of public sculpture, memorials and monuments, the 2018 BDA Prize seeks designs that express the identity and values of Charlottesville’s diverse community.

The site for this year’s competition is the west end of Charlottesville’s downtown pedestrian mall, one of the longest pedestrian malls in the United States, designed by the acclaimed landscape architect Lawrence Halprin in 1976.
Charlottesville is not a neutral city in which to have this conversation. It has proven difficult to have a thoughtful “conversation”, in the sense of considered and civil discourse, in the wake of a summer of events noted for brutality, violence, and anger.
The site includes one block of the Downtown Mall. The site also includes what is today euphemistically called “Vinegar Hill Park”, an idea originally proposed by Lawrence Halprin. Today’s incarnation is a disappointing echo of that original idea, a park in name only, a pedistrianized palimpsest of a street once lined with minority-owned businesses.

Proposals may encompass the entire site area or any fraction thereof.
Submissions should highlight the potential of public art, and the visual arts in general, and contribute to intellectual and reflective conversations in Charlottesville and beyond.

Closing date for online registration is at Midnight, 22nd February 2018. Posters must be received by 4pm EST 23rd February 2018. Gallery exhibition of all entries is sceguled for 2nd March – 7th May 2018. Announcement of winners and panel discussion will be 10th April 2018.

There is no entry fee for this competition!

Eligibility

The BDA Prize is open to all. No professional qualification is required. Design proposals can be developed individually or by teams.

Entry fees

There is no entry fee to participate!