IGNASI DE LECEA AWARDS

"-Une statue de quoi?, demanda Tristoise.
En marbre? En bronze?
-Non, c'est trop vieux, répondait l'oiseau de Bénin,
il faut que je lui sculpte une profonde statue en rien,
comme la poésie et comme la gloire" Apollinaire.
Le Poète Assassiné

Ignasi de Lecea

On 28 November 2005 Ignasi de Lecea passed away. As an architect who held numerous positions of responsibility in the management of Urban Planning in Barcelona City Council he was a connoisseur of contemporary art. He bestowed his artistic sensitivity on many projects in the sphere of Public Art for which Barcelona has become an international reference.
But Ignasi de Lecea was also a subtle city-builder. With his guidance on countless projects, both large and small scale, he has left his mark on many of the works spread throughout the city. A love for detail, knowledge of features of materials and methodological simplicity are the main characteristics of his project management. A lover of green areas, his influence can also be noted in the prominent array of parks and gardens dotted around the city. In recent years Ignasi de Lecea tirelessly devoted himself to the city's Public Art Information and Management System project. This initiative, run jointly by the City Council and the University of Barcelona, is a major step forward, not only in the form in which information on Public Art is given, but also in the clear, museum-like structuring of the project with relation to study and research on the development of the city and its history. For Lecea, a work of art in the urban space was not just a monument, but a catalyst for social symbolism and an agent for preserving history.A great communicator and master of English irony, Ignasi de Lecea profoundly enjoyed teaching and his death was at a time when this passion was about to take shape on the new Masters courses at the University of Barcelona, dedicated to the same subject.

Conditions

These awards are an initiative of the consolidated research group "Art, City, Society" by the Generalitat (the Autonomous Government of Catalonia) and the CR Polis of the University of Barcelona, for the PAUDO network (Public Art and Urban Design Observatory).

The awards are for those city councils, public administrations, universities and private non-profit entities that have carried out initiatives, projects or research, aimed at enhancing the production, management and dissemination of public art and urban design.Nominees for the honorific awards will be convened biannually and the awards will be presented in September of alternate years within the programme of the International Symposium "Waterfronts of Art", held in Barcelona and organized by the research group and the CR POLIS.Nominees will be evaluated by a mixed international jury, formed by representatives of the city administration and universities. The jury's decision will be final and binding.The jury may also give a special mention to any of the initiatives, projects or research, in accordance with the quality of the work submitted.Awards will be given in the following categories, all referring to the period 2005-2006.

1. PhD thesis.
2. MA thesis or Diploma de Estudios Avanzados thesis.
3. Independent research.
4. Local or regional initiatives for the development of Public Art programmes.
5. Public administration initiatives for the diffusion of Public Art and Urban Design of a town or region.
6. Research publications on Public Art and Urban Design.
7. Initiatives in higher education dedicated to Public Art and Urban Design.
8. Personal careers in the study, teaching and research on Public Art and Urban Design.
9. The jury may also give special awards.Candidates must be nominated by members of the PAUDO by 3 March 2007.

Applications must include reasons for backing the nomination.Institutions that are members of PAUDO may present only one candidate for each category and propose a maximum of two projects for the special Jury Awards.When all the nominations have been received, the jury will make a first selection, whereupon short-listed candidates must supply all the information necessary to the jury, so that the final selection of award winners can be made.The jury will make its decision public before the end of June 2007.Results will be available on the web-page http://www.ub.edu/escult/paudo/paudo.htm, and the presentation of the awards will be integrated into the fifth International Symposium "Waterfronts of Art", to be held in Barcelona in September 2007.