Invited competition for the initiative "Demokratie leben"

Deadline: Thursday, Jun 5, 2025, 05:00pm

Demokratie leben

Together for a pluralistic, liberal and tolerant society, a free art and culture scene and a living togehter in solidarity in Austria!

We are looking for artistic subjects for a cooperation between Gewista and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna on digital Citylights in public spaces.

Initial situation
At least 70% of people in our country want a peaceful, respectful coexistence and a cosmopolitan climate of diversity for our living together now and in the future! Lived values such as tolerance, equal opportunities for minorities and the freedom of art should continue to have a high priority and be protected and defended in our democracy. For this reason, Gewista and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna came together in a cooperation to launch an initiative with artistically designed subjects on digital citylights. The aim is to send a strong signal for democracy and to accompany the public in their everyday lives and encourage them to think about how we want to live together in our country.

Project description
July sees the launch of the Demokratie leben initiative, which will run throughout the summer on various Gewista Citylights in Vienna's public spaces. The artworks selected by a jury of experts as part of a competition will also be presented on the web and on the Academy's social media channels. Graduates nominated by the heads of the studios of Fine Arts, Art and Architecture and Education in the Arts will be invited to take part in the first call for entries for July and August. An open call for all students, alumnae_i and teachers of the academy will follow in the fall for a subsequent second phase - running in winter.

Submission
Only nominated artists may submit:

one or two artistically designed, static poster subjects on the theme Demokratie leben
in portrait format in 300 dpi
as a TIF or JPG file, max. 5 MB
suitable for 1080 x 1920 px resolution
File name: Name_First_name_Demokratie_leben_Subject

The release for the Citylights displays are structured in two stages, i.e. a full-surface art motif and then a text motif for the initiative Demokratie leben (layout by Studio Beton) with the name of the artists and the title of the work. The design may contain lettering or typographic elements.

Deadline for submissions: June 5, 2025, 5 p.m.

The subject designs must be uploaded via the Academy's submission system https://calls.akbild.ac.at/

The submitters assure that they are the owners of the rights to the designs. They agree to the publication of their submitted poster motifs as part of the Demokratie leben initiative by Gewista and the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, naming the authors.

Honorarium
The jury will select six subjects from all submissions, which will be published as part of the initiative in July and August and awarded a prize of EUR 1000 each.

Jury
The jury for the selection of the six subjects for the Demokratie leben initiative is composed of Gewista Managing Director Franz Solta, Rector Johan F. Hartle, Vice rector Ingeborg Erhart, Barbara Horvath, Curator and external member (tbc), Karin Schönhofer, Corporate Communications Gewista, Representative advertising agency (N.N.) and the project manager of Academy | Art | Public Sphere, Claudia Kaiser.

Contact
Enquiries and information on submission by e-mail and by telephone on Mondays, Tuesdays and Thursdays or by appointment:
Claudia Kaiser, project manager of Academy | Art | Public Sphere
Schillerplatz 3, 1010 Vienna, Tel +43 1 588 16 1302, c.kaiser@akbild.ac.at

For further information please contact Claudia Kaiser (c.kaiser@akbild.ac.at, +43 1 588 16-1302)

submission form

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