bbbank award in projection mapping 2025
In 2025, the BBBank Award in Projection Mapping is once again inviting artists from all over the world to submit their ideas for the projection mapping of the 170-metre-wide facade of Karlsruhe Palace as part of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE 2025. The Karlsruhe SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE are an annual highlight of the UNESCO City of Media Arts. Over four weeks, 300,000 people come to the large stage of the Karlsruhe Baroque Palace to experience media art together in an evening atmosphere.
In 2025, the theme of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE follows the 200th anniversary of KIT, the Karlsruhe Institute of Technology. Founded in 1825 as the first technical university in Germany, KIT is now one of Germany's eleven technical universities of excellence.
The BBBank Award is presented by the ZKM | Karlsruhe as a partner of the BBBank and the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE. The Open Call invites international artists to work on the subject of science, research and innovation.
A jury will select three finalists from the submissions, each of whom will receive 15,000 euros to realize their idea. On the opening evening of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE, the audience itself will vote to select a first-place winner from these three works. The prize money for first place is 5,000 euros. All three shows will also run in the program over the following four weeks.
The jury, chaired by ZKM | Karlsruhe, includes representatives of HfG | Hochschule für Gestaltung Karlsruhe, BBBank eG as sponsor, KME Karlsruhe Marketing und Event GmbH and the City of Karlsruhe as representative of the UNESCO City of Media Arts. The jury decides on the basis of curatorial and technical criteria whether the submissions can be awarded and realized.
- The final work must be 5 minutes (+- 5 seconds) in length.
- The submitted concept should not have won other awards or been submitted to a similar competition.
- All entries will be archived until 30.09.2025; participation implies acceptance of this archiving.
- Winners (or their representatives) agree to attend the awards ceremony (tba) to receive the award in person.
- The finalists agree to perform the work produced in the competition exclusively at the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELEN Karlsruhe 2025 and in subsequent years.
The three finalists will receive 15,000 euros to produce their submitted idea for the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE 2025 program. The winner of the public vote will receive a further 5,000 euros.
The ZKM | Karlsruhe will provide curatorial and technical coaching for the production. The premiere of the work will take place exclusively as part of the SCHLOSSLICHTSPIELE Karlsruhe 2025. The production grant will cover all costs incurred during the production work, such as fees and technical equipment.
Your submission must be complete in German or English by November 5, 2024 // 1 pm CET and include the following:
- Description of the work submitted as a storyboard (max. 2,000 characters incl. spaces) and optional image files
- 5-second media check (what is shown there does not matter, it only has to comply with the production guideline)
- Short biography detailing artistic experience (max. 1,000 characters including spaces)
- Portrait photo (min. 500 x 500px)