Rokas Sutkaitis and Julius Seniūnas became the winners of the Kaunas 2022 contest to create the logo and visual identity for the programme “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture”.
PLLC Rosencrantz & Guildenstern and Fernanda Salles took second place.
McCann Vilnius were third.
The contest went on for a few months and finished on November 3rd; its participants included artists, graphic designers, agencies of creative and communication professionals from Lithuania and all around the world. Nine international experts were in the jury: Peter Bilak (Netherlands), Will Rust (UK), Fion Dobbin (Latvia), Gintaras Šeputis, Marius Dirgėla, Viktoras Bachmetjevas, Jūratė Tutlytė, Virginija Vitkienė and Rytis Zemkauskas (Lithuania).
The evaluation took two days – the jury closely examined and then discussed the proposals provided by the participants which remained anonymous for the whole duration of evaluating up until November 7th, when the winners were already chosen. Member of the jury, philosopher and advisor to the minister of culture, Viktoras Bachmetjevas was happy about the international spectrum of proposals. “The title of European Capital of Culture obliges the city to look for new contexts and see ourselves within a fresh, contemporary map of Europe,” V. Bachmetjevas noted and added that he was impressed by the minimalist, modern and flexible nature of the proposals.
Participants were asked to base their ideas/designs on the mission and values of the programme “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture”. Head of the project Virginija Vitkienė stated that the requirements for the applicants were fairly strict: “We wanted the new logo and visual identity reflecting our essential aims to be contemporary and community-based. Local specifics and the main directions of the project (ConTEMPOrary, Confusion, Confluence and Consciousness) were not to be forgotten too. The winning proposal is a great example of embodying it all and even taking a step forward. We’ll be able to modify and adapt it to various communities with time.”
Chairman of the jury Peter Bilak emphasised the interactivity of the winning project: “The design of the winning proposal is quite simple and minimalistic yet is rather complex on an idea level, leaving space for the communities to engage with interactivity. Every person will have the chance to add an own interpretation to the logo and this way give new meanings to it.” Will Rust agrees and also notes that the chosen proposal is “an especially beautiful and successful attempt to include the community into the project while providing everyone with the opportunity to constantly change the logo.”
The design by Rokas Sutkaitis and Julius Seniūnas will replace the temporary logo and will be used in spreading information about the “Kaunas – European Capital of Culture” programme from 2017 to 2023. The winners will be able to take pride in the visual identity they’ve created being chosen to represent the project as well as in a monetary reward of €9,900.
disappointingly weak.