Create your Bucharest

Create Your Bucharest aims to catalyze the social and cultural visions of artists, designers and architects on Bucharest, a multifaceted city shaped by its diverse past and its large cultural community. From October 3, 2014, the official launch date, until January 15, 2015, candidates can submit innovative concepts and works dedicated to a specific space, focusing on one of the most dynamic urban centers in Southeast Europe. The results of the Create Your Bucharest competition will be presented in the MAK exhibition Mapping Bucharest: Art, Memory, and Revolution 1916-2016, one of the main projects of VIENNA BIENNALE 2015: IDEAS FOR CHANGE (June 12 - October 4, 2015), initiated by Christoph Thun-Hohenstein, Director of MAK. The organization of the Create Your Bucharestcompetition is made possible thanks to the generous financial support of OMV and OMV Petrom. The international integrated oil and gas company OMV, headquartered in Vienna, focuses its cultural sponsorship actions on cultural exchanges in the field of contemporary art between the countries that constitute its main markets: Austria, Romania and Turkey. For ten years, OMV has been the majority shareholder of OMV Petrom, the largest oil and gas producer in south-eastern Europe, based in Bucharest. Through this project, the two companies intend to leverage their economic involvement to further contribute to cultural dialog. In keeping with the interdisciplinary and international orientation of VIENNA BIENNALE 2015, the Create Your Bucharest competition is addressed to artists, designers and architects, including those organized in teams, as well as students in the field of art, design and architecture. Romanian citizens, Romanians living abroad, as well as foreign students and creative professionals living in Romania are invited to participate. Projects can be submitted in the field of visual arts (painting, drawing, engraving, mixed media, sculpture, object, photography, video, film, media), design (plans, prototypes, new technologies) and architecture (plans, models, photography, video, film, new technologies). The aim of this open competition is to identify new patterns of social and cultural perception among Romanian and international communities and to make this potential accessible to the public in the context of Bucharest. The prestigious jury, which includes Peter Weibel (President of the jury and Director of ZKM), Barbara Baum (OMV ART PROJECTS, Vienna), Andreiana Mihail (art consultant, Bucharest), Alice Rawsthorn (design critic, International New York Times, London) and Christoph Thun-Hohenstein (Director, MAK, Vienna), will evaluate the submitted works at a meeting in Bucharest, taking into account criteria such as their relation to the candidate's artistic practice, innovation, artistic and social relevance, sustainability and feasibility. In the exhibition Mapping Bucharest: Art, Memory, and Revolution 1916-2016 curated by Peter Weibel and Bärbel Vischer, curator of the MAK Contemporary Art Collection, the winning entries of the Create Your Bucharest competition, as well as works by internationally renowned Romanian artists, will highlight the inspiring diversity of the contemporary scene in Bucharest and Romania, against the backdrop of historical and current avant-garde movements. The first place winner will be announced in March 2015 and will receive a cash prize of €10,000. Nine special prizes of €3,000 each will also be awarded. Competition entries can only be made online. Further information about the competition and the necessary documents can be found on the interesting and attractive website createyourbucharest.org, by buero bauer.