Another name was quickly found, but the redesign of the sculpture for the “Unterföhringer Kulturpreis” turned out to be quite difficult: Because none of the submitted designs could satisfy the municipal councils and there was no consensus, the call for applications was repeated – and moreover for one enlarged circle of artists. Participation should no longer only include workers from the town and the district of Munich, but from everywhere. Even those who have already submitted their work get the chance to make improvements, as the Unterföhringen cultural office says. The competition runs from Monday October 25th to Wednesday December 1st. We are looking for a trophy to replace the boy figure made of black marble, which is classified as problematic because of its representation.
According to the head of the cultural office, Barbara Schule-Rief, seven drafts were received in the first round. She and her team anonymized the work and presented it to the Youth and Culture Committee for a vote. But even during the deliberations of the committee behind closed doors at the end of September, no consensus could be found, as Schulte-Rief reports. The idea, born of this, to hold a new competition, found favor three weeks later in the local council, also in a closed session.
The fact that none of the present drafts convinced the local politicians could also have been due to the fact that the first call for tenders was quite narrow, as the head of the cultural department Schulte-Rief and mayor Andreas Kemmelmeyer (non-party electorate, PWU) admit self-critically to the SZ in unison. “Perhaps the required reference to home and tradition was a stumbling block,” says the town hall chief looking back. In the new round, “we’re walking away from it,” he reports. In this way, the artists would have the opportunity to submit abstracts that are less aimed at the Isar, bricks and prince-bishops, as was initially desired.
Since it was first awarded in 2010, the Unterföhringer Culture Prize has been a coveted award among national and international stage artists. It is awarded as an audience award, which means that the guests of the cultural events decide on the winners. Until 2019 they were presented with the Unterföhringer Mohr, a small black marble bust. The name was deleted in the course of the racism debate a year ago; The municipal council decided in mid-July that the figurative should also be different – and some time later launched a competition, which, however, did not bring the desired results.
In the new invitation to tender, the requirements for the figure are specified on the one hand, and on the other hand, one does not want to pretend the artists so much, so the mayor. Artistic form and technique, size, weight and material should be chosen so that long-lasting and easy storage is guaranteed. In addition, a place for a label or a badge must be provided where the year and name can be affixed. The suggestions are pre-sorted by the cultural office and then presented to the Unterföhringen municipal council for voting. The three best works will be rewarded with prize money of 1000 euros; the winning design will also receive this amount for the final implementation.