We are pleased to announce the winners of the DiffMix Art Contest, which ran from August to November 2021. The contest was launched by the City of Differdange in the framework of Esch2022 – European Capital of Culture. DiffMix first asked citizens to designate places with a potential for transformation within Differdange. Out of the 30 proposed places, the five spaces with the highest potential for transformation were identified in workshops with citizens and in technical consultations.

Seventy-two submissions for the five urban spaces were accepted and voted on by the citizens of Differdange on the contest’s online platform. The professional local committee, consisting of local artists, architects and representatives from the City of Differdange (Service culturel and Service médias & communication), examined the top five most-voted submissions per space, and selected the winners based on the following criteria:

• Relevance to the briefing & space (is there a connection to Differdange according to the brief?);
• Feasibility (is the project feasible and is the team proposing it able to execute it?); 
• Public Interaction (how is the population of Differdange involved in the building of the art space?);
• Overall impression.

Without further ado (drumroll playing), the Contest Winners are:

Place Jehan Steichen

1st position: Play and Park (Julia Zasada, Jakub Witkowski, Architect/Designer) 

2nd position: Migrating Fish (Paul Schroeder, Freelance Graphic Designer)

3rd position: Water Park (Lutz Rief, GROSSE8 Design-Studio)

Parc de la Chiers 

1st position: AMPHITHEATRE CHIERS (Lilo Ming Kiefer, Artist and Designer Duo)

2nd position: THE KAPLA PARC (Marion Delaporte, an atelier of other)

3rd position: THE COMMUNITY PATTERN TABLE (Lucie Majerus, designer)

Thillebierg 

1st position: Kissing Bench (Mrs & Mr Garcia, Art Designers)

2nd position: #FIRSTKISS (Nicolas Abdelkader, Plasterer/Draftsman)

3rd position: #KISS BY KISS (Julia Zasada, Jakub Witkowski, Architect/Designer) 

Am Wäschbuer

1st position: LIGHT FOR A WASH HOUSE (Marion Delaporte, an atelier of other)

2nd position: WASCHBAR (Sandrine Moura, Architect)

3rd position: #COMMONPLACEDIFFERDANGE (Andrew Phillips, Architect)

Place des Alliés

1st position: COLOURS OF DIFFERDANGE (Julia Zasada, Jakub Witkowski, Architect/Designer)

2nd position: STAGING DIFFERDANGE (Daryan Knoblauch, architect & educator)

3rd position: A SERIES OF BRANCH SHELTERS (An atelier of other – Marion Delaporte, Timothy Tan, landscape scenography and urban installation)

Congratulations to all winners!

It was a close vote preceded by very intense discussions and difficult decisions. If your submission was not voted in the top five or not selected by the committee, please rest assured that the DiffMix team is grateful for your participation.

As a small thank you, we will send you two copies of the brochure which shows all the submissions for this contest. Please drop us an email at: social@diffmix.lu for this purpose.

The next step is to contact the winners in January. We will discuss the transfer of the reward and the road to the realization of their proposed ideas.