Office for Art in Public Space

KiöR Competition Procedures

The most common form of competition procedure is the restricted competition, with a limited number of participants. Artists are invited to participate by name and receive an expense allowance.

If a larger investment is being made, open competitions, in which all artists can participate, may also be offered. A disadvantage of this procedure is that the participants do not receive an expense allowance in the first phase. The office is therefore in favour of limiting the requirements of the awarders in the first phase of the competition to a concept idea and not, as in the case of restricted competitions, to call for a feasible design.

Frequently, competitions are also held following preliminary application procedures. In these so-called participation competitions, reference examples of works created already are to be submitted, without concrete drafts for the current assignment. Participants are then selected for a restricted competition. Participation in these preliminary application procedures is not remunerated.

for art in public space and art in architecture in Berlin

Documentation

The decision-making bodies (juries, advisory boards, commissions) comprise an odd number of persons and are composed on a parity basis. The members should be competent and knowledgeable: artists, representatives of the awarding authorities and users, architects, the specialist public and representatives of the administrations concerned. Art experts should be in the majority (one vote is sufficient).

The employees of the Office for Art in Public Space take part in juries as procedural experts, but neither select artists for procedures nor propose them themselves. They ensure transparency and fairness in the implementation of procedures and communicate the proposals of the advisory boards.

The awarding body is the legally binding partner for all participants in a competition. The awarder must guarantee the proper implementation of the competition. The awarding body may be an administration (federal, state or district), an association or a private person. In most cases it is the state or district administration.

The jury will decide on the artistic quality of submitted proposals in order to recommend one of the designs for realisation. A jury comprises expert judges and material judges. The latter judges will be from the awarding body, the representatives of a participating public administration, or the users. The expert judges are visual artists. Expert judges should always be in the majority within a jury (one vote is sufficient).

The specialist commission for art in public space submits proposals for restricted, invited competitions. The Office for Art in Public Space is the executive office of this commission and forwards the proposals to the competition organisers.

for Art in Architecture and Urban Space

In the case of all buildings, streets, squares and parks erected with public fundssuch as schools, kindergartens, administrative buildings and other municipal construction measures1 to 2 percent of the construction budget is spent on art. This requirement is defined in the Construction Directive (ABau).