BAD Award Open Call 2023

We invite designers and artists interested in bio art & design to propose projects for collaborative work across disciplines. The Bio Art & Design (BAD) Award, existing since 2010, is a yearly 25,000 euro award. With the budget a maximum of three successful applicants are given the opportunity to fully realize a new work of art or design that pushes the boundaries of scientific research and creative expression.

The BAD Award highlights and explores exciting new intersections among design, artistic practice and the (life)sciences. The BAD Award is made possible by a collaborative consortium of Eindhoven based cultural partners:BioArt Laboratories, Dutch Design Foundation, MU Hybrid Art House, and Next Nature. Furthermore, St Joost School of Art & Design / Master Institute of Visual Cultures joins the BAD Award as an education partner.

To be eligible for the award, you must have graduated no longer than five years ago from a design or art school/academy (at either the master’s or bachelor’s level). Applicants are encouraged to relate their proposals to recent developments in the (life)sciences, with a focus on living materials from molecules to the universe and every bio entity inbetween, natural and synthetic.

Wednesday 22 February 2023 (deadline 23.59 CET)

The BAD Award aims to stimulate emerging designers and artists to delve into the world of bio art and bio design, and produce new work in close collaboration with prestigious Dutch (life) scientists, working in numerous fields - such as sustainability, food, health, biotechnology, horticulture, and agriculture - with a focus on living materials: from molecules to the universe and every bio entity in-between, natural and synthetic.

The Award aims to:

• Ignite interest and excitement about the interaction between art and sciences through high-quality, original artistic practice and indepth collaborations.
• Examine the social, cultural and ethical contexts of the sciences through the arts.
• Promote high-quality interdisciplinary practice and collaborations between art/design, and science/technology.
• Foster the development of art/design projects with potential practical applications.

Funded projects must be collaborations between artists/designers and researchers/scientists based on an equal exchange of ideas and knowledge. Projects proposed for the BAD Award must be new and not yet in operation or fully realized.

Artists and designers with a keen interest in the sciences, who graduated within the last five years in the field of art or design (at either the master’s or bachelor’s level).

You can participate individually, or with others. As long as the main applicant has graduated within the last five years in the field of art or design (at either the master’s or bachelor’s level). The prize money will stay the same (25.00 euros), regardless the amount of artists / designers in your team.

Both EU and non-EU citizens may submit an application. For non-EU citizens it is necessary to take travel expenses, visa rules and COVID-19-regulations into consideration as they need to be covered from the budget or otherwise taken care of by themselves.

Artists and designers that are winners of previous Designers & Artists 4 Genomics Awards or Bio Art & Design Award are not eligible again for this competition.

Each participant can submit only one application for this call. The application consists of:

• Completed & signed Application Form, including project idea
• Curriculum Vitae (CV)
• Portfolio of previous work

The application is a preliminary idea that, if a match is found with one of the participating Dutch (life)science institutes, a more detailed proposal will need to be developed jointly.

Note that you have to list a maximum of three research institutes you'd like to collaborate with. Find the participating groups here.

Upload requirements

• Upload PDF files of your completed application form, your CV and portfolio. You can convert Word documents with a PDF convertor
• The maximum file size for each of these individual files cannot exceed 4MB
• The application must be written in English

The applications can be submitted by using the online registration system below.

If you did not receive a confirmation by email (even though on the website it stated that your application was successful), it's likely an error occurred. If so, please contact us via info@badaward.nl.

Application Form

Depending on the quality of the proposals the BAD Award consortium partners decide to grant a maximum of three Bio Art & Design Awards of €25,000 each.

The procedure is as follows (see 'Time table' for an overview).

• Deadline submission of applications by designers/artists on Wednesday 23 February 2023, no later than 23:59 CET;
• Check on completeness of applications by MU Hybrid Art House;
• Preselection of maximum 16 applications by a jury comprised of consortium members. Selected applicants are invited to participate in a matchmaking event in Eindhoven or online. Applicants that are not selected will be informed briefly; there is no possibility to object and formally appeal the decision;
• Matchmaking event on Friday 21 April 2023 in Eindhoven. During this event the selected 16 applicants of the first round pitch their ideas and have speed dates with the scientists from up to 12 science institutes. All applicants are available live or online to give the pitch and have a meeting with at least 3 science representatives. Non-EU residents may choose to participate online in the matchmaking an do their pitch and be available for questions, or prepare a self-explanatory slideshow or video.
• Successful matches (when researchers/scientists and designers/artists clearly indicate a preference to collaborate with each other) are made known by MU. The participants without a successful match will also be informed;
• Between 21 April and 24 May 2023, matched artists/designers and scientists will jointly write an elaborate proposal for the second round of the BAD Award;
• Deadline for joint full proposals is Wednesday 24 May 2023, no later than 17.00 CET.
• Jury meeting and interviews with the applicants (artists/designers/scientists) will take place on Friday 9 June 2023;
• All applicants (EU and non-EU residents) must be present (pitch and be interviewed) at the Jury meeting if COVID rules at that time allow. Only for this day, EU residents living outside the Netherlands can reimburse max. € 100 for their travel costs, non-EU residents can reimburse max. € 400 euros for their travel costs and only one reimbursement is possible per full proposal. (A copy of) the flight/train/bus ticket must be sent to MU in order to receive reimbursement. The country of residence is the country where applicants live at the moment of submission of the initial application. By this we do NOT mean nationality;
• The Award Finale and announcement of the winners takes place on Friday 9 June 2023, the same day as the Jury meeting. This is a public event. All finalists pitch again for the audience. The consortium will use the prioritization by the Jury and will grant a maximum of 3 Awards. The applicants who do not win an Award will receive the Jury reports later, but there is no possibility to object and make a formal appeal against the decision;
• From July till December 2023, the Award winning proposals will be realized by the artist/designers and scientists;
• In December 2023 (opening date to be announced), the Bio Art & Design exhibition will open at MU Hybrid Art House at its Eindhoven, Strijp-S location. Duration of the exhibition will be around 3 months.

BAD AWARD 2023

* Simultaneously with the opening of the bio art & design group exhibition in which the three winning projects of 2022 are on show, alongside other intriguing works.

The international Bio Art & Design Award jury consists of independent experts from the bio art & design world and the sciences. Jury members to be announced.

First selection of maximum 16 promising applications for the matchmaking event
The chair of the selection committee will make a decision after hearing representatives of BioArt Laboratories, Dutch Design Foundation, MU Hybrid Art House, and Next Nature.

The decision is based on the following criteria:

• Quality of idea (originality and feasibility), varying from ++ | + | +/- | –
• Quality of artist/designer (based on cv and portfolio), varying from ++ | + | +/- | –
• Likelihood of finding a match with one of the participating science institutes, varying from + | +/- | –

To limit unnecessary travel expenses, only the most promising proposals are selected for the first round of the matchmaking. It is preferred that applicants come to Eindhoven for the matchmaking pitches and selection but the option to take part online is also given (explicitly for non-EU-participants).

Final selection of maximum 3 winning projects for the Bio Art & Design Award
For the second stage of the selection process that leads to the final announcement of the 3 winners, it is mandatory for the 12 remaining contesting teams to be present in Eindhoven on the day of the jury selection. The artists need to be available for travel to the Netherlands if COVID-restrictions allow and present their joint proposal together with their Dutch scientific partners for the independent jury. That same day the 3 winners will be announced.

The Jury will make a prioritization based on the written proposals, the pitch presentations by the artists/designers/scientists and the interviews with the teams. There are four criteria, each scored from Excellent| Very Good| Good| Mediocre:

• Quality of final plan (artistic/esthetic quality, originality and feasibility)
• Quality of artist/designer (competence, based on cv and portfolio, pitch and interview)
• Collaboration with science group (technological competence, interaction, availability of support staff and infrastructure)
• Societal impact artwork (potential public engagement)

The top ranked proposals will be selected, with an average score of minimal Very Good.

Special conditions that apply to the award:

• The Award of € 25,000 is sufficient to realize the project.
• A time frame of 6 months is sufficient to realize the project.
• Working with genetically modified organisms is in general not possible. A permit to exhibit genetically modified organisms may take 6 months or more. Therefore a GMO permit must not be crucial for the realization of the project.
• New (still to be developed) biotechnology must not be crucial for the realization of the project. Backup solutions should be available.
• All applicants are available for the matchmaking event on Friday 21 April 2023 If they come physically it is at their own expense. EU and non-EU residents may also choose to participate and pitch online in the matchmaking, or they can prepare a self-explanatory slideshow or video, but should then be available for online questions on the day itself.
• All (EU and non-EU) finalists are available for the Jury meeting and Award ceremony on Friday 9 June 2023. Their travel costs are (partially) reimbursed: EU residents and residents from the UK can reimburse max. € 100 for their travel costs, all other non-EU residents can reimburse max. € 400 euros for their travel costs and only one reimbursement is possible per full proposal. (A copy of) the flight/train/bus ticket must be sent to MU in order to receive reimbursement. The country of residence is the country where applicants live at the moment of submission of the initial application. By this we do NOT mean nationality.
• If awarded, the designer/artist is available for the Bio Art & Design Award project from July till December 2023, at the expense of the project. For the 3 monitoring meetings physcial presence in the Netherlands is mandatory.
• Any visa requirements are to be dealt with by the designer/artist.
• The end result is ready before the MU exhibition opens in December 2023, and is premiered and first exhibited there.
• The applications are made known to the representatives of the collaborative partners involved (Dutch Design Foundation, BioArt Laboratories, Next Nature, MU Hybrid Art House) as well as the Jury but they are treated confidentially.
• The artists and designers are the owners of the ideas and projects. IP and other judicial contracts between the artists/designers and the scientists are made between them and do not involve the BAD Award consortium partners.

MU Hybrid Art House (hereinafter known as ‘MU’) collects and stores your data. For the annual Bio Art & Design (BAD) Award, MU cooperates with several partners. MU only grants BAD Award partners access to the data and solely when this is necessary for BAD Award purposes. Partners have access to the personal data of those who have applied for the award, like data provided by the applicants, on their own initiative, through the application and contact forms. The partners can solely view personal data via a secured online environment that is managed by MU: they are not authorized to manage or process the personal data.

MU always handles your data in accordance to the General Data Protection Regulation (Implementation) Act as described in the MU Privacy Policy.