Image by Toby Farrow: Shadowing, Bristol, Oct 2014

Playable City Award is now open for submissions

Posted on Mon 23 Feb 2015

Following the international success of Hello Lamppost (2013) and Shadowing (2014), we are delighted to announce the Playable City Award returns for its third year, with the call for submissions opening today.

Following the international success of Hello Lamp Post (2013) and Shadowing (2014), we are delighted to announce the Playable City Award returns for its third year, with the call for submissions opening today.

Creatives from anywhere in the world are invited to propose distinctive ideas that put people and play at the heart of the Future City. All over the world governments and tech companies are investing in smart systems for cities, using communication networks and sensors to join up services, collect data and make efficiencies. The £30,000 Playable City Award asks us to imagine how we might use these same technologies to make our cities more livable, hopeful and collaborative. The winning proposal will be installed here in Bristol for the public to play in autumn 2015.

This award is open to artists and creatives from any discipline, from any country. The commission offers practical support and generous access to facilities to enable the creators to realise their ideas. Whilst making their project, they will become part of a vibrant community of artists and creative technologists based here at the Pervasive Media Studio - providing extensive opportunities for collaboration. The winners will also travel to Japan in the Autumn as part of Watershed and British Council’s Playable City Tokyo programme.

Clare Reddington, Creative Director of Watershed and Executive Producer of the Playable City Award says,

“The international interest in Playable City has been phenomenal, both in terms of applications and requests to host the work. The award celebrates and reflects everything that is interesting, innovative and collaborative about Bristol – and I can’t wait to select a new project to share with the city and the world.”

The Playable City Award was established in 2013, and has received applications from countries including USA, Japan, China, Uganda, Iraq, Italy, New Zealand, Brazil and Denmark. The first recipient of the award was PAN Studio, for their project Hello Lamp Post which received huge global attention and is currently installed in Austin, Texas as part of SXSW.

Last year’s winner, Shadowing, created by Jonathan Chomko and Matthew Rosier has also attracted acclaim and is nominated in the Design Museum’s Design of the Year Award.

The call remains open until Tue 7 April and the shortlist will be announced on Tue 5 May. Find out how to apply.


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