international billboard art competition

Artists are invited to prepare an artwork in response to this year’s competition theme: Love or anxiety? How can we stop escaping and take responsibility for our own fate and the fate of the world?

This competition slogan can be treated as a metaphor of all the processes taking place in the world today. The contemporary world is filled with turmoil, challenges, and rapid changes. Societies and individuals struggle to keep up with the pace, and often find it difficult to understand and respond properly. We face permanent perceptual overload and overstimulation, along with an excess of emotions and events that drive us to retreat and escape, leading to increased anxiety instead of motivating us tackle challenges, take actions, and create new solutions. This anxiety is further fuelled by various social actors, such as corporations, the media, and politicians. How long will we continue to escape? How can we take action without succumbing to anxiety? How can we stop escaping and take responsibility for our own fate and the fate of the world? How can we collectively care for the world of which we are all a part? Where can we draw the energy for action? Where can we find the time to calm down, rest, and recharge? How can we tap into the source of creative power – love – which can serve as an antidote to destruction and harm? The contemporary world tempts us with numerous options, but each choice carries its consequences. Therefore, we must choose – love or anxiety?