Silk Cities International Competition – COMMUNITY’S CULTURAL LIFE IN PUBLIC SPACES

Overview

Cities and urban spaces are transformed from time to time when communities practice their cultural traditions and express their cultural identities. From yearly preparations and celebrations of the New Year, festivals, and rituals to more frequent cultural activities in public spaces a community’s cultural life interacts with public urban spaces and urban life.

This international Competition seeks to visually explore the above. Silk Cities and partners invite you to submit your photos and videos to demonstrate the relation between a community’s cultural activities and public spaces.

How do public spaces interact with a community’s cultural life, such as preparations for the new year, festive events, performing arts, social practices, or religious rituals, interact with public spaces? How do they influence or be influenced by public spaces? These are examples of our questions.

• You can address both historical and contemporary traditions and practices belonging to your culture. They can relate to special times of year or everyday urban life.
• You can capture those culture-based community life in public spaces in normal situations or after cities and communities face disasters, wars and revolutions.

Cultural legacies, whether to be preparations, celebrations, music, food and more, describe intangible heritage. The Competition, therefore, highlights relations between various types of intangible heritage performed by communities and urban spaces. Many of these intangible cultural legacies and traditions are not bound to current geographic borders; instead, they spread along territories, uniting local, regional and global communities.

The Competition is open to the public, whether amateur or professional photographers and videographers. In addition to cash prizes, winners will enjoy extensive global exposure through various platforms and outputs, such as interviews, an open-access Competition eBook, digital gallery and more. Selected works will be exhibited at the International Conference, ‘Intangible Heritages, Cities and Communities’ which is being organised and their point of views will be discussed.

Submission categories

• Photo
• Short video, such as video reportage, documentary, and video art

Technical guideline

• Photos must be at least 1500px wide.
• Photo to have minimum 150 dpi resolution.
• The duration of each video clip must be between minimum 1 minute and maximum 5 minutes.
• Video clip format: Landscape
• Maximum file size ≤ 50 MB
• Photos and video clips must be accompanied by their respective support text (100-150 words), explaining the inspiration, perspective and any other information and location.

General guideline

• Teams and individuals are welcomed. Teams can include up to 3 people. Multidisciplinary teams are encouraged.
• Teams should introduce their corresponding representative.
• Registration required for submissions to be considered.
• Up to 2 photos can be uploaded per each registration.
• One video can be uploaded per each registration.

Read full terms and conditions here.

Jury

The multidisciplinary jury panel consists of established and award winning artists and experts.

(alphabetical order)

Isabel Cristina Carvalho, Portugal Urban and digital art researcher	Ali Ettehad, Iran Director, writer, visual and performing artist	Samer Mohdad, Lebanon Photographer and photojournalist
John Mullin, UK Academician at Academy of Urbanism	Gabriela Ortiz, Mexico Musician and composer	Etinosa Yvonne, Nigeria Photographer and visual artist
Malalai Zikria, France Actress and director

Criteria

The jury committee will judge all submissions based on the following criteria:

• Relevance
• Originality and creativity
• Composition and overall presentation

Prizes and Awards

First Prize in each category

Global exposure and unique experiences:

• Featured in the Competition eBook (open-access)
• Interview (Silk Cities Urban Talk)
• Publication on Silk Cities digital media
• Display work in an exhibition during the 4th Silk Cities International Conference ‘Intangible heritage, cities, and communities’ being planned for autumn 2023
• Free registration to participate in the 4th Silk Cities International Conference and its social events (worth over £200)
• Participate in round table in the Conference and discuss work
• Certificate

Second Prize in each category

Global exposure and unique experiences:

• Include work in the Competition eBook (open-access)
• Publication on Silk Cities digital media
• Display work in an exhibition during the 4th Silk Cities International Conference ‘Intangible heritage, cities, and communities’ being planned for autumn 2023
• Free registration to participate in the 4th Silk Cities Conference and its social events (worth over £200)
• Participate in round table in the Conference and discuss work
• Certificate

Third Prize in each category

Global exposure and unique experiences:

• Include work in the Competition eBook (open-access)
• Publication on Silk Cities digital media
• Display work in an exhibition during the 4th Silk Cities International Conference ‘Intangible heritage, cities, and communities’ being planned for autumn 2023
• Free registration to participate in the 4th Silk Cities Conference and its social events (worth over £200)
• Participate in round table in the Conference and discuss work
• Certificate

Shortlisted entries

• Include work in the Competition eBook (open-access)
• Display work in an exhibition during the 4th Silk Cities International Conference ‘Intangible heritage, cities, and communities’ being planned for autumn 2023

Important dates

• Submission opens: 23/May/2022
• Submission deadline: 30/June/2023 (23:55 GMT)
• Announcing the final shortlist: 31/July/2023
• Announcing the winners: 15/August/2023

Registration

• Registration is free for both individuals and teams
  • Submit photo
  • Submit short video

Organiser

• Silk Cities

Supporters

• The Bartlett Development Planning Unit (DPU), University College London (UCL)
• Urban Design Group

Team

• Diba Deihim
• Ehsan Fatehifar
• Ali Puya Khani
• Maryam Eftekhar Dadkhah
• Farnaz Arefian

Special thanksto Silk Cities’ friends who generously helped with the poster and text translations: (alphabetical order)

Avar Almukhtar, Yves Cabannes, Isabel Carvalho, Andrew James Hopkins, Abhishek Jain, Madina Junussova, Miwako Kitamura, Baber Mumtaz, Rahaf Orabi, and Rui Pang.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

How can I submit for the competition via the intended platform?

• You just need to sign up there and it’s free of charge.

How should I name the submission files? Is there any regulation or format?

• Naming photo files: Use P-your family name and the file order (1 or 2),
• Naming video files: Use V– your family name, example: V-Jonson

Can I save my work as a draft before submitting it?

• Yes. You can save your work as a draft and check it. Submit the work after you are happy with the work and supporting information.

Is it possible to update my submission?

• You can just submit one time, therefore, please finalise your document before submitting.

Can I change a team member’s info after submission?

• No. You however can edit the information while working on the draft mode. Make sure to double check your information before submitting it.

How should I pay for the registration?

• There is no payment needed for registration.

How many projects can be submitted per team?

• You can submit one entry per registration. If you want to send more ideas, you need to register again for the same process.

Is there any age restriction?

• All participants and team members must be over 18.

What is the official language of the competition?

• The official language of the competition and all communications is English.

I have submitted my work. What’s my submission code? Where can I look for it?

• Your team code for a submission will be generated automatically once you complete the submission. Upon registration and submission, you will receive an automatic email containing a link to your submission with your submission code. It is also available within your profile in the submission platform.

Can I add text to my video?

• Yes.

I have other questions, how should I contact the organiser?

• You can contact us on info@silkcities.org.

Silk Cities International Competition – COMMUNITY’S CULTURAL LIFE IN PUBLIC SPACES

Terms & Conditions for the Silk Cities international competition

• The competition is open to anyone over 18 years old. Members of the conference committee, jury and Silk Cities employees are not eligible to enter the competition.
• Submitted photos and short videos must be originally created by the participant; no copyrighted photos or videos may be used.
• By submitting to the competition, the participant certifies and warrants that all information provided is true and that the submitted photo(s) and video(s) are owned by the participant – whether to be an individual or team. The participant certifies that the submission does not violate the rights of a third party or any copyright law.
• The official language for all submissions, communications and project outputs is English.
• No submission will be accepted if there are any names, title, and logo appears on the photo or video.
• Notifications will be sent via email. If a participant is unable to be contacted after reasonable attempts have been made to do so, the competition committee reserves the right to offer the prize to the next best entry decided by the jury. Participants are advised to ensure their email is written correctly.
• The jury’s decision is final. The jury may also decide not to select any photos if entries are judged of insufficient quality. Any attempt by a participant to influence the result or manipulate the competition will lead to disqualification.
• Judging and notifications follow the important dates. Any changes to important dates will be shown on the competition website.
• By submitting photo(s) and video(s) to the competition, the participant continues to remain the copyright holder of the submission. The participant agrees to grant Silk Cities free of charge the non-inclusive and irrevocable right to use the photo(s) and short video(s) in any manner and media, including without limitation, the right to publish, distribute, copy, store, amend and display or translate in printed or electronic media even if they are not the winning entries. Silk Cities agrees to mention the full name of the creator when photos and videos are used in any printed or digital publication, websites, social media, or other related materials.
• If the participant is a team, the corresponding representative will be notified and responsible for handling the cash prize allocations to team members, if the team wins. The interview will be with the team if possible. Free conference registration will be offered to one member of the team.
• Submitted photo(s) and short video(s) must not contain violence, sex, or attacks on beliefs, individuals, or organisations.
• By entering the competition, the participant agrees with the competition’s terms and conditions as well as technical and general guidelines. Any entry deemed offensive or has breached any of the conditions will be disqualified. The conference committee reserves the right in its absolute discretion to make a decision on the above. In the case of disqualification, the registration fee may not be refunded. The conference committee, Silk Cities and partners are not responsible for intellectual property violations that might have resulted through the submissions of photos or videos.
• Participation in the competition, participation in the conference, including being selected, does not constitute an endorsement or support by the conference committee, Silk Cities, or partners of the participant’s views. The participant shall not advertise or otherwise claim to have obtained any such endorsement or support.

相關連結：

• Silk Cities International Competition