Blind Spots in the Street: art against racism

Winning entries are upon billboards in Kassel!!







This competition is part of Blind Spots in the Sun - a series of art interventions dealing with colonialism, collective memory and racism in Germany.

The call was open to Black artists*, illustrators* and designers who have themselves experienced racism in Germany or those who are from or live in the former German colonies of Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, Tanzania, Rwanda or Burundi.

Winners will be announced soon!

THE COMPETITION

The open call is about creatively exposing the blind spots in the collective consciousness of the white majority in Germany. By putting up posters on large advertising spaces, we aim to reach a wide audience - especially those who would otherwise not deal with these issues.

How it works
The jury, consisting of Mo Asumang, Princess Marilyn Douala Manga Bell and Henrik Langsdorf select 4 winners from the submissions. Entries that received a majority vote will then be put up on billboards throughout Kassel (Germany) in September. An exhibition will follow.


The poster campaign
The Blind Spots in the Street poster campaign works like an advertising campaign: it consists of a series of posters on billboards in public spaces that are intended to arouse curiosity but do not directly reveal the topic. Each billboard is tagged with a QR code. When scanned, the QR codes lead to our website, where information on the idea behind each poster is provided.


What matters

The images must be striking and impactful in public. Most importantly, they must arouse curiosity! Only those viewers who really want to know what's behind the image will scan the QR code.
Examples for the interaction of images and texts can be found on our BLOG.

The task
The task was to develop a teaser ("eye-catcher") image that arouses curiosity in the viewer without revealing what exactly the image is about. The objective is to get a wider audience to learn about the issues of colonial history and racism. 


The Topics

  • Traces left by the German Empire in their former colonies of Cameroon, Togo, German Southwest Africa (now Namibia) and German East Africa (now Tanzania, Rwanda and Burundi).
  • Racism in Germany today.
  • Links between racism and colonial history.


The goal
The goal is to expose the blind spots people in Germany have towards these issues and to get them to reflect about them.

Rules
1. Participants are at least 18 years old and have had their own experience with racism in Germany or are originially from or live in the former German colonies of Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, Tanzania, Rwanda or Burundi.
2. Colors should be primarily red, black, white, and shades of gray so that the images are recognizable as part of the campaign


Deadline

The deadline was 06 June 2021. 

For updates further, please follow us on Instagram and Facebook!

TERMS AND CONDITIONS OF PARTICIPATION

  1. The participants are at least 18 years old and have had their own experience with racism in Germany or come from/live in the former German colonies Togo, Cameroon, Namibia, Tanzania, Rwanda or Burundi.

  2. By participating in the contest you automatically agree to the rules. You also allow us to store your registration data and use it in the context of the competition.
  3. You agree that your entries may be reproduced (with credit to the artist's copyright) and published on any media for the purpose of conducting and promoting the contest.

  4. The unrestricted copyright for your submission remains with you.

  5. The works of the winners selected by the jury will be displayed on public advertising spaces in Kassel. Winners will be notified in advance. Each participant retains copyright to the submitted image and text. In case their work is exhibited, the participants will receive credit. Should any entry be published without credit, we kindly ask for notification in order to correct the mistake.

  6. The motifs of the winners must be approved by the billboard operators. Thus it cannot be ruled out that entries get rejected that were selected by the jury.

  7. You are responsible for persons shown on your work have given their consent and released them for publication. You are also responsible for ensuring that these persons are also authorized to give their consent.All necessary permissions must be given to you in writing.

  8. All participants assure that:

    - they are entitled to submit their work here, also in relation to third parties - they are authors for the submitted work and own exclusive copyrights

    - the submitted images and texts do not contain any religious, sexist, youth-endangering and/or racist content. If submissions do not conform with good morals, criminal law or the road traffic regulations (e.g. posters containing road signs), the advertising space operator has the right to reject motifs.

    - to the best of your knowledge and belief, the submission does not contain material that depicts or promotes conduct that is considered a criminal offense or otherwise violates applicable law.

    - the entry does not in any way infringe the copyrights, trademark(s), or intellectual property rights of any third party.

  9. We reserve the right to exclude entries from the contest that do not comply with these rules

  10. Should a dispute arise due to non-compliance with the rules, you will indemnify us for any royalties, damages or other compensation due to third parties.

  11. The legal process is excluded. Winning claims are not transferable.

The competition

This it the procedure

Step 1. REGISTRATION

Register to participate using the participation form (see below).

Step 2. CONFIRMATION OF PARTICIPATION

After we have received your registration, we will send you the details of this contest by e-mail.

Step 3. SUBMIT YOUR WORK

Submit your work (important: HORIZONTAL FORMAT!) along with a text describing the idea behind the work by email to info@blindspotsinthesun.org

Step 4. JURY MEETINGS

All submitted works will be reviewed by the jury of this competition.

Step 5. ANNOUNCEMENT OF THE WINNERS

The winners will be announced during the Blind Spots in the Sun intervention series.

Step 6. PUBLICATIONS

The works of the winners will be displayed on public billboards in Kassel.

TO PARTICIPATE
register here

After registration you will receive further details about the competition, the submission of your work and the further procedure. We are looking forward to seeing you!

Contact Info

Henrik Langsdorf 

Partners, Sponsors, Supporters

We would like to thank our partners, sponsors and supporters for their active support in terms of content and funding!
We are currently still looking for further sponsors and would be pleased to receive your message at info@blindspotsinthesun.org
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