Public Space Design Contest in Differdange (Luxemburg)

– Rules of Engagement

This document features the following sections:

  • General introduction 
  • Contest requirements
  • About Differdange
  • Useful links
  • Eligibility
  • Prizes
  • WINNER
  • Calendar & deadlines
  • Submission
  • Technical criteria & evaluation
  • Registration procedure
  • Submission details & FAQ
  • Intellectual Property
  • CONTACTS

General introduction 

In this contest, we encourage participants to come up with creative designs to transform 5 public spaces in the municipality of Differdange into community places. Whether you are an architect, a designer, an artist or another creative, you can propose your project idea for one or more places following 5 diffmix briefings available for each selected place.

Participants of this contest are asked to propose designs that they will realise during 2022 – the year of the European Capital of Culture in Luxembourg involving citizens and following the requirements specified in the contest rules and in the selected briefings. The creations must correspond to the general relevance and safety requirements, serve the public and be sustainable. For the implementation of your project, you will be invited for a minimum of 2 days to come to the City of Differdange.

 As artists and designers, how can we transform existing public spaces into community places through the use of art, new technologies, materials, aesthetics, and collaborative approaches?

Contest requirements 

It is up to the contest participants to choose one or more preselected sites in the City of Differdange (see the briefings), materials, colour, aesthetic and the type of the projects they want to develop. Each project should result in a functional artistic design that will be showcased during the Esch22 European Capital of Culture, as well as a collaborative process that includes citizens (either in co-creation or through side workshops etc.). 

Artists and designers should take into consideration the advances in technology, sustainable and/or local materials, and methods to involve citizens in these creative projects (whether in co-creation process or through side workshops, or a mix of different approaches).

About Differdange 

The City of Differdange is a unique combination of nature and industrial heritage. The city develops rapidly and has the first creative hub of Luxembourg, therefore has a great potential to become ‘the creative city’. 

  • is the third largest city in Luxembourg with 27,610 inhabitants
  • 115 nationalities live side by side and enrich city life

 

Creativity & Education 

  • with the 1535° Creative Hub, cultural centres, Luxembourg Science Center, Differdange offers an innovative professional framework and a varied cultural offer
  • Presence of LUNEX and Miami University, the International School, fundamental and sport schools make the city more dynamic and young

 

Nature & industrial heritage 

  • 61% of the area is covered with forests, agriculture and nature reserves.
  • The municipality has four parks in the center and two nature reserves, Prënzebierg-Giele Botter and Kiemerchen, which are real meeting places and relaxation.
  • Birch trees, willow trees and other pioneer trees are dominant when walking through the old mines that are creating an incredibly unique panorama.
  • Differdange is a first-rate industrial center (known for the manufacture of Gray joists) and proudly bears the name of Cité du Fer / The city of Iron. Some important industrial heritage sites include: 
    • The operating plant of the AlcelorMittal (former ARBED) and the future space of the Groussgasmaschinn project
    • The site of the 1535° Creative Hub
    • The industrial and railway park of the Fond-de-Gras
    • Thillebierg and the mines
    • Lasauvage and its industrial housing 

Useful links

Eligibility 

  • Who: individuals, Artistic Companies or Associations, Collectives…
  • This is a European Open Call, therefore we accept submission from the EU countries
  • How many people [in case of a team]: you can participate as a group, but the costs and fees are defined per transformed site.  

DiffMix Contest is open to artists, designers and creatives of legal age and all backgrounds, working in groups or individually in the EU.

Winners

The winners will be selected according to the open public voting. Citizens of Differdange will choose the ideas they like the most. As a result, there will be one winner per space, i.e. 5 projects in total. In case a winning project was submitted by more than one artist or by a collective, as well as in case of a collaborative idea, one prize will be still allocated to a submission regardless of the number of people involved. The winners will receive their prize as well as additional budget to implement their designs in Differdange in the beginning of 2022 (according to the project budgets specified in the briefings & submissions and following technical evaluation of the proposals).  The second and the third places will also get a prize for their creative designs.

Prizes

/ Winner receives 1200 EURO Prize 

/ The second and third place receive 600 EURO each

/ The construction / realization costs are covered according to the budgets for each place and technical evaluation of the submissions. 

[The maximum budget per intervention is 15 000 EUR. Please plan your proposition accordingly.]

/ For winners outside of Luxembourg: a flat rate will be granted to the winning projects (1st place) to cover your travel to Luxembourg.

/ All winning projects will be part of the official Esch2022 European capital of culture agenda and publications. Additional publications are foreseen in the national and regional media. 

Calendar & deadlines 

05.08. – Launch of the Call – Submission opens on our website 

15.10. at 12:00 CET – Submission closes

15.10. – 29.10. – technical revision of the submissions / discussion with artists

30.10. – 18.11. – voting

19.11. – 25.11. – announcement of the results & winners

End of 2021 – only for winners:  clarification of projects & implementation requirements

Beginning of 2022 – implementation of the winning projects in Differdange

Submission 

General requirements 

  1. Please provide a short introduction to your submission about your project (about 200 words, try to win over the citizens!)
  2. Please provide the following details in your submission: 
    • General and feasible concept 
    • Surface / specific area of the selected place where you would like to realise your creation 
    • At least 2 visualisations in sufficient quality that will give an understanding of how this creation will transform the existing public space (e.g. sketches, 3D designs, etc.)
    • Materials you would like to use 
    • General parameters 
    • General budget (maximum 15 000 EUR)
    • Ideas regarding the involvement of the citizens

 The language of the submission is ENGLISH.  

Technical criteria & evaluation

General criteria [must have]: 

  • The proposal has to be complete, including visuals.
  • The proposed design has to be feasible according to the briefing and contest requirements, and include citizens in the process. 
  • Safety requirements have to be addressed. 

The core values of the contest are:

Relevance – The degree to which the proposal is related or useful to the selected briefing(s) and is cost consistent. Relevance to the context – history, identity of the city and the space, natural and urban landscapes, local resources –  is always a plus. 

Physical characteristics – the creations must withstand weather for at least 1 year. Permanent creations are more recommended. Safety requirements and other relevant standards have to be always taken into consideration. 

Communication – Clarity & visual representation of the submitted project idea.

Functionality / Human-centered approach – the project idea should be made for people with the citizen’s needs in its core. Consideration of various age groups and special needs would be highly appreciated. 

Collaborative approach – Each project idea should not only consider but also include citizens, either in creation, realisation process or through side activities. 

Innovation – either it’s a hand-made work or a computational design, we appreciate innovative approaches in choice of materials, technology, aesthetics or implementation process.  

The diffmix organizers reserve the right to exclude any proposal that fails at any of the parameters mentioned in these rules. 

Registration procedure 

For a project to be accepted the artist / a representative of a team must be properly registered to the competition. All registrations will be done through the DiffMix project website (contest.diffmix.lu), where you have to create an account, log in and submit your idea.

In case you have any problems with the registration or submission process, please contact us at pbagrfg@qvsszvk.yh 

Submission details & FAQ

  • If a file is too heavy? Reduce the file size or provide a link (we transfer or others). Please take into account that this makes it more difficult for citizens to access your submission!
  • If the submission doesn’t work? Contact us at pbagrfg@qvsszvk.yh
  • Can I submit more than one project? Yes, but only one per public space.
  • Are any modifications possible? Modifications of a submission are not possible. The project can, however, be adapted, also based on the citizens feedback, in direct exchange and agreement with the diffmix team later in the process.

 

The submission page will be automatically closed after the submission date and time are reached, not allowing any modifications. We suggest uploading your project 48 hours before the deadline to make sure that everything works out correctly. This way you have time to solve any issues that might come up along the submission process. 

Intellectual Property

All the materials submitted to the contest will become part of DiffMix project’s files. DiffMix will have full rights to publish and promote this material, always making proper mention of their author(s). The material might also be used for DiffMix’s social media and exhibition purposes. DiffMix will not exploit any of the submitted materials commercially. For any other purpose, the authors of the projects agree to share their work under the Creative Common license Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (CC BY-SA 4.0) Creative Commons — Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International — CC BY-SA 4.0.

By submitting a proposal you are giving DiffMix the right to use the received material in both printed and online publications for non-commercial purposes. DiffMix Contest will also have the right to slightly modify any of the mentioned materials in order to better adapt it to the different formats and layouts that different publications might have. 

CONTACTS 

For additional info please check the FAQ on our website: 

contest.diffmix.lu 

 During the competition, all participants are permitted to ask questions which help them better understand the project, briefings and/or any other aspect of the contest.

Any questions that are not resolved in this document must be addressed to pbagrfg@qvsszvk.yh   

DiffMix Contest Rules_final

Contact

pbagrfg@qvsszvk.yh
B.P. 12 L-4501 Differdange

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DIFFMIX is a project co-financed by the Esch2022 European Capital of Culture and the City of Differdange with the creation of artistic interventions in the public space transforming them to community spaces with the participation of the residents. “Diff” is for “difference” and for “diffussion” of space, art and people and “Mix” is for the mixture of the needs of the inhabitants with the possibilities of art creations.

ESCH22 with the motto “Remix Yourself” offers a space of freedom and recreation that encourages us to bring new perspectives to our lives in order to strengthen this sense of common identity and trust and thus create a legacy of which we can be proud. Esch2022 encourages cultural diversity to foster personal growth. Inspire others and let others inspire you.

© 2021 DIFFMIX

ESCH22
Ville de Differdange