New European Bauhaus Prize 2021 shortlist announced

The New European Bauhaus Prizes 2021 online platform announces the shortlist of 60 entries in various categories, selected from over 2,000 applications from EU Member States.

The New European Bauhaus has the ambition to make the Green Deal a cultural, human-centred and positive, tangible experience. Everyone should be able to feel, see and experience the green and digital transformation and the way it enhances our quality of life. 

To accelerate the green transition, contribute to the recovery and ensure a better living together for all, we have to capitalise on the existing wealth of knowledge, experience and capacities as much as to call for new visions, ideas and solutions. The New European Bauhaus Prizes will encourage that.

The Prizes recognize and celebrate existing achievements and support the younger generation to further develop emerging concepts and ideas. They give visibility to examples and concepts that illustrate how beautiful, sustainable, inclusive places already exist in our territories, our communities and in our practices, paving the way to the future.

Many projects shortlisted are centred on arts, culture, creativity, design and innovation, transformation of cultural heritage sites, and one project directly connecting Europe and Asia. Take a look at:

• LA FÁBRIKA DE TODA LA VIDA - LA FÁBRIKA, A FACTORY FOR DREAMS, LOS SANTOS DE MAIMONA, SPAIN. After being abandoned for years, an old cement factory is now a collaborative space for free culture. Located in a rural municipality of Spain, La Fábrika has become a landmark for an open network of creators, thinkers and social agents throughout the territory. 

• Dipdii Textiles connects Asia and Europe through a cooperation between Germany and Bangladesh that aims to get the best out of both worlds. The raw material of this project are torn blankets made out of old saris. In our hands these fabrics gain another life. Instead of expending resources, they are crafted with time, skills and creativity. With German designs and Bangladeshi crafts, a beautiful wear solution out of the ordinary is generated.

• Museo Universidad de Navarra (MUN), MUSEO UNIVERSIDAD DE NAVARRA WHERE LEGACIES AND ART MEETS LIFE, PAMPLONA, SPAIN. In the heart of the Campus, the Museo is an open, hiving space where the collections inspire artists, the artists inspire participants and the society. Through an innovative program, based in our Collection and impulsed by the visual and the performing arts, the MUN and its transdisciplinary art approach upscales the legacies and transfers to the society.

• ESSERI URBANI - THE OTHER SIDE OF ART, LOCOROTONDO, ITALY. Choosing art as a mean of reading the contemporary world, but also as a tool to take action on reality. It opens the curatorial practice and the artistic exercise to new possibilities: it’s an opportunity for research and experimentation, to bring together communities, landscapes and local architectures with contemporary artistic languages. The Festival takes place in the streets in a sort of widespread museum, with free admission and multimedia content accessible through QR code.

• TIERRAS EN DANZA SUMMER FESTIVAL AND INTENSIVE IN NATURE AND RURAL AREAS, GUIJO DE GRANADILLA, SPAIN. A contemporary dance project designed for rural areas with two different approaches. On the one hand, a summer intensive for professional dancers which brings people all over the world to improve their dance experience, learn about sports science, practice sports and enjoy nature. On the other hand, a free contemporary dance festival with shows, exhibitions, workshops, videodance projections...all of them planned fot the citizens to get to know this kind of art.

• Theform, PORTO, PORTUGAL. 2021, 4th Industrial Revolution, algorithms, custom experiences, virtual words, non-fungible tokens. It's about time to reflect on the future of design practice. Theform is a multidisciplinary design studio based on computational design and digital fabrication, focused on co-creation and immersive customization experiences. Theform will be able to work together with different kinds of designers like product, furniture, jewelry and fashion designers, forming, deforming and reforming products.

• Feminist Futures, BERLIN , GERMANY. An ongoing participatory art project that initiates, creates and archives science fiction stories of a feminist internet. In workshops, talks and exhibitions, imagination and narration serve as tools for public engagement in technological processes. Feminist Futures maps current issues on the internet and re-imagines them through stories, comics or poems. Fiction, in this context, becomes a cultural communal practice that enables political action.

• SongTiles: physical media for streaming, PORTO, PORTUGAL. The beauty of physical media merged with the convenience of digital streaming. A SongTile is activated by gently bumping your smartphone onto it, it'll open the app and play, like magic! SongTiles wants to bring back the nostalgia of CD/Vinyl, but upgraded with technology, like AR for virtual interaction, and blockchain for security and copyright. Also, selling SongTiles will provide independent artists a much higher revenue than pay-per-stream rate, aiming for a fairer and healthier industry.

A jury composed of more than 135 official partners of the initiative from all corners of Europe and a plethora of sectors will be evaluating the shortlisted applications. The winners will be known after the summer and the award ceremony will be on 16 September. 

Image: Dipdii Textiles - Dipdii Textiles Studio, Anandaloy in Rudrapur, Bangladesh. Designed by @studioannaheringer