Since 2015 the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Light Festival Karlsruhe inspires artists to create new ways to excite audiences. For 4 weeks, every evening in August and September, the more than 170-meter-long façade of the Karlsruhe Baroque Palace becomes a big stage for artistic contributions of projection mapping. Since 2023, the dm award connecting worlds will be rewarded to an outstanding project, that connects the digital and analog space and carries the projection mappings from the façade of the palace into the audience or towards the city center.
As a member of the UNESCO Creative Cities Network Karlsruhe commits itself to the sustainable development goals of the UN, for which we have the perfect partner in dm-drogerie markt as award holder, a sustainable and forward-thinking company from Karlsruhe. The open call for the dm award connecting worlds is an internationally announced award, for which artists or artist groups from all around the world can apply for. The projects submitted are to be realised as part of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Light Festival, which takes place for approx. 4 weeks every evening from dusk until approx. 11:30 p.m. On each evening several projection mappings with different contents and lengths between 3 and 15 minutes will be shown as well as sponsored and advertising clips. The project submitted for tender can be integrated into this sequence of events but can also function as a separate program item.
With the open call we are looking for innovative projects that address the connection of the digital space of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE projection mappings on the façade with the analog space in front of the palace. An extension up to or including the city center is preferred. The projects to be submitted therefore consist of two elements, one digital on the façade and one analog. The analog parts of the piece are allowed to function on their own, independent of the projection (mapping) on the palace façade. The projects submitted must take place outdoors, be open to the public for free and can, but do not have to be shown for the entire duration of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Light Festival 2025. Conceivable, for instance, would be the interaction of the audience with the façade, the installation of a media artwork that refers to the palace, a complementary staging of the space in front of the palace, the combination of other art forms with projection mapping (such as concerts or performances on several days), interactive projects with public participation, the integration of new technical possibilities or the creation of a new spatial experience.
The UNESCO City of Media Arts Office of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Karlsruhe is awarding the dm award connecting worlds with a prize money of 10,000 Euros, in partnership with dm-drogerie markt GmbH + Co. KG as the award holder, ZKM | Center for Art and Media Karlsruhe and KME Karlsruhe Marketing und Event GmbH as organizers of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Light Festival Karlsruhe. In addition to the prize, the production costs of the winning project will also be financially subsidized of up to 20,000 Euros net, with which the winner realizes their concept. Curatorial support and technical assistance by KME and ZKM are included in the prize. The cost allowance covers all costs incurred during production, for example, fees and technical equipment, as well as travel expenses for the winner. The technical conditions as well as the existing infrastructure of SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE are listed in the production guidelines. Any changes or additional technology must be planned in by the participants themselves.
The winning project of 2023 Particles Ensemble by Overlapping Studio.
Conditions of participation
The application period begins at September 24, 2024, and ends on November 22, 2024 at 1 p.m. CET. Before submitting your application, please read the following information carefully. Please don’t hesitate to address your questions to our team: cityofmediaarts@kultur.karlsruhe.de.
Production guidelines
Model data and photos
Terms and conditions:
- The application must be submitted in one document in English by November 22, 2024 (1 p.m. CET), and include:
- personal information of the artist or artist group (name / company name, e-mail address, postal address, telephone number, nationality / headquarters, short biography);
- a short, but meaningful and well comprehensible project outline, including a storyboard, ideas for the presentation of the project or work (maximum 1,500 characters including spaces) as well as a list of required materials, technical equipment, granting of rights and staff (security, supervision, etc.);
- visual material in the form of renderings, photos, illustrations or video footage: A maximum of 5 images, 3 video clips or sound samples with a maximum length of 5 minutes each or up to 5 links;
- text information may not be submitted in the form of images, as this makes further processing of applications more difficult.
- Excluded are works that are performed in the context of a school or university education (e.g. term papers or theses), as well as projects that have already been realized.
- Employees of the organizing institutions, sponsors, and presenters of the award as well as members of the jury are excluded from participation.
- Applications must be submitted to: cityofmediaarts@kultur.karlsruhe.de. Due to filesize, the application must be sent via download link. Submissions that do not fulfill the above-mentioned requirements will not be admitted to the competition and will not be presented to the jury.
We welcome applications from all people, regardless of gender, sexual orientation, cultural, ethnic and social background.
Note:
- Participants must be reachable at the address they supply.
- The award recipient is obligated to attend the awards ceremony on a date that will be announced in the future, to personally accept the award.
- The concept you submit must not have already won other awards or been submitted to a similar competition.
- By applying to this call for entries, you agree to the publication of any information you provided concerning the submitted artwork.
- The winning work will be published across various media and communication channels. Therefore, we kindly ask participants to assemble the audio, visual, and textual components with the utmost precision and diligence.
- All submissions will be preserved and stored in our archives; participants in the competition implicitly consent to the archiving of their entries. We process the data participants have sent us in connection with the submission in order to conduct the competition.
- The project realization can be started after notification and in consultation with the Office of UNESCO Creative City of Media Arts of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Karlsruhe.
- The project must be completed by July 31, 2025 so that it can be presented in time for the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Light Festival. Even if the project is not shown at the start of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE in the middle of August 2025, it is requested that it be completed in time to allow sufficient time for the installation of the artwork and any planning.
Important dates
- September 24, 2024 Start of the application period
- November 22, 2024, 1:00 p.m. (CET) Application deadline
- December 2024 Notification to the applicants
- January 2025 Public announcement of the winner
- Mid August – mid September 2025 SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Light Festival 2025
Selection progress
A jury of experts will select the winner of the award from the projects submitted. The jury is chaired by Dr. Dominika Szope, head of the Department of Cultural Affairs of the City of Karlsruhe, and consists of representatives of dm as award holder, the UNESCO City of Media Arts Karlsruhe, the ZKM as curators, and the KME as organizers of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE. On the basis of curatorial and technical criteria, the jury will decide which submission will receive the award and can be realized
Decisions are not made in public. There is no right of appeal. The applicants will be notified by the end of December 2024. The winner will be announced publicly.