Open Call for Land·Ecological Art on Eulsukdo, Busan – We Pass, the Earth Endures
Competition Brief
Busan Metropolitan City invites a site-specific work of land and ecological art for Eulsukdo, an island in the Nakdong estuary, South Korea. The call seeks one integrated artistic concept, which may combine installations, spatial interventions and public activities. It is a selection process leading to contract negotiations for implementation, rather than an ideas-only award. The challenge is to make ecological relationships perceptible while limiting the work’s physical impact.
Site, Programme and Eligibility
The designated area covers 49,326 m² around 1142-8 Hadan-dong, Saha-gu. Applicants must use the zone-specific map: the car park is excluded, pedestrian routes must remain usable and the ecological bridge must remain unobstructed. The proposal should address materials, fabrication, visitor experience, community participation, safety, maintenance and eventual change or removal.
Buildings and building-type structures are not permitted. The brief recommends above-ground interventions no higher than 1 m; greater height or excavation depends on the relevant heritage and river-use approvals. On-site construction and installation are prohibited from November through February to protect migratory birds.
Professionals active in art, landscape architecture, architecture, design and related fields may enter individually or in teams, internationally and without a team-size limit. Overseas applicants need basic Korean and/or English communication skills. New members cannot be added after selection. Entries must be original and must not previously have been publicly presented, exhibited, entered or awarded.
Registration, Submission and Project Dates
| Stage | Official schedule |
|---|---|
| Call announced | 21 September 2026 |
| Registration and fees | No separate registration deadline or entry charge is specified in the reviewed guidelines. Submission is by email using the official forms; no fee-refund policy is stated. |
| Submission window | 2 November 2026 at 00:00 to 22 November 2026 at 24:00 KST (UTC+9). The call is announced now; the submission window has not yet opened. |
| Last enquiries | 20 November 2026 at 17:00 KST, because the closing day falls on a Sunday. |
| Evaluation and results | Document review and presentations during November–December 2026; results in December, with detailed dates to be announced. |
| Indicative delivery | Contract in December 2026; approvals in January–February 2027; installation in March–May; completion/opening in May–June 2027. The schedule may change. |
Time remaining until submissions close: 22 November 2026 at 15:00 UTC, equivalent to the organizer’s published deadline of 24:00 KST at the end of that day. This is not a registration countdown.
Submission Materials
| Item | Requirement |
|---|---|
| Official forms | Forms 1–3: application, participation consent and personal-information consent; sign, scan and submit as PDF. Team participants must complete the applicable individual consent forms. Form 4: artwork overview, including one representative image. |
| Proposal format | Approximately 20 A4 landscape pages, excluding cover and contents. Recommended image resolution: 150 dpi; recommended total file size: no more than 50 MB. The guidelines explicitly specify PDF for the official forms; a separate proposal-file extension is not expressly stated in that section. |
| Proposal contents | Site response and concept; sketches, drawings or 3D representations; materials and production method; community engagement; change/decay scenarios where relevant; safety and maintenance; viewing conditions; phased schedule; itemised budget. |
| Budget breakdown | Fabrication and installation, materials, programmes and documentation, technical services, maintenance, contingency, and accommodation/subsistence where needed. |
| Language and units | Korean or English; SI/metric units. The Korean version prevails if interpretations differ. |
| Anonymity and file naming | Keep identifying information out of the Artwork Proposal itself. Separately, the prescribed archive and file names include the artist’s or team representative’s name; follow page 11 of the guidelines exactly. |
| Packaging and delivery | One compressed archive containing application documents, artwork overview and artwork proposal, emailed to eulsukdo.ecoart@gmail.com. The secretariat sends confirmation by email. No physical model, video or unspecified supplementary material is accepted. |
| Second-round presentation | Use the submitted proposal, without an additional presentation file. Total 25 minutes: 15-minute presentation and 10-minute Q&A. Overseas presenters seeking video participation must declare their situation when submitting. |
Funding, Artist Fee and Contract
| Component | Meaning |
|---|---|
| Production support | KRW 380,000,000 for production, implementation, installation and associated costs, including stays where required. The project operator administers and disburses this budget; it is not a cash prize paid freely to the winner. |
| Artist fee | KRW 20,000,000, covering concept/design, artistic supervision and site inspections, plus exhibition-programme cooperation. The reviewed text does not expressly clarify tax treatment for this fee or the main production budget. |
| Presentation honorarium | KRW 1,000,000 for each second-round participant except the party entering the final contract, under section 2.7. It includes taxes, transfer and currency-conversion costs, and consideration for use of submitted materials. This qualification is more precise than the brief’s general support summary. |
| Implementation route | The selected participant becomes preferred negotiator, normally for a 14-day negotiation period. Selection does not itself guarantee an executed contract. The operator handles production/construction contracts and related payments. |
| Continuing duties | The selected artist cooperates in permitting, technical reviews, documentation, public programmes, maintenance and defect rectification for one year, with advice across the work’s lifecycle. |
Jury and Assessment
| Aspect | Published provision |
|---|---|
| Jurors | Two separate panels of seven. Names are confidential under the guidelines; individual biographies cannot therefore be assessed. |
| Disciplines | Art, environment, landscape architecture, architecture, design and engineering, with external specialists and equivalently qualified internal experts. |
| Selection | Four proposals shortlisted after document review; presentations determine the winning proposal and reserve ranking. |
| Safeguards and disclosure | Conflict-of-interest screening and recusal are specified. Individual scores and detailed comments are generally not disclosed. Procedural objections require evidence and must be filed within seven days of results. |
| Assessment category | Points out of 100 |
|---|---|
| Artistic merit | 30 |
| Ecological and environmental suitability | 20 |
| Public value and expected impact | 20 |
| Feasibility | 20 |
| Operation and maintenance | 10 |
Rights and Conditions
Copyright remains with the artist/team, while Busan holds ownership and use rights in the final work and project materials. The city receives a royalty-free, non-exclusive licence for public, non-profit uses, including publication, editing and archiving. The terms permit relocation, replacement or removal on specified grounds and limit assertion of moral rights in relation to legitimate actions; the artist normally receives advance notice and an opportunity to recover the work at their own cost. The anticipated lifespan is three to five years, subject to the work’s nature. Proposals must not be publicly disclosed before final results. Participants should read the full conditions, including the narrowly defined objection procedure, before entering.
Organiser and Documented Record
The commissioning body is Busan Metropolitan City’s Urban Parks Division; Urban Collabo Co., Ltd. is the project-management agency. The official material situates the initiative within Eulsukdo’s wetland restoration and environmental-art development. It does not document an earlier completed edition or previous winners of this particular call, so no prior competition result is claimed here. Municipal commissioning provides an identifiable administrative framework, but delivery still depends on permissions, contract terms and site conditions.
✦ ArchUp Competition Review
The most valuable design question is how an intervention can change public understanding without increasing pressure on the habitat. A convincing entry should make its installation, maintenance and removal as intelligible as its visual concept. Salt exposure, flooding, ground disturbance and wildlife movement need to influence the proposal from the outset.
The declared disciplines and weighted criteria fit a brief that crosses art, ecology and construction. Confidential jury identities limit independent assessment of the panel’s individual experience, while the stated recusal procedure provides a relevant procedural safeguard. Neither point alone establishes how the eventual evaluation will perform.
For applicants, the practical test is whether the artist fee can support the full professional commitment, including technical coordination and post-installation duties. A modest physical intervention with a well-costed ecological and public programme may be more credible here than a visually dominant object. This is an editorial assessment of the published brief, not a recommendation to enter.
Reviewed 4 October 2026 against the organiser’s official guidelines and call website, under ArchUp’s competition transparency policy. The featured image is the organiser’s official Eulsukdo Ecoart visual.
