Re’imagine – Project Project Collective

Design contest: transaction documentation (concept designed Winter/Spring 2021)

Update: Rethink your receipts – Announcing the contest results (published August 5, 2021)

The Project Project Collective, in collaboration with Apt613, an Ottawa arts and culture media organization, invites submissions to its inaugural Re’imagine design contest, which has as its focus transaction documentation (e.g. receipts, invoices / bills of sale, paystubs). The goal of the Re’imagine series is to spark dialogue in Canadian society through artefacts that make us think (read: subversive and smart).

The project is inspired by speculative design, whose goal is not necessarily problem solving, trying to predict the future, or pure criticism, but is mainly concerned with possibilities, pushing us to consider our preferences over a set of possible futures, and the ways in which the objects we design help or hinder our attempts to build those futures.

Lately, some organizations have been trying to reimagine their relationship to their clients, from supermarkets adding their own labeling on food products to note sustainability, minority-owned products, or hotels trying to be radically transparent about their economic model. While some designers have begun rethinking grocery receipts to visualize spending by food category, we are hungry for more of these reimagined transactions – that’s where you come in! Tell us how you see the future of gas station receipts, sharing economy paystubs, or plane ticket invoices.

While the project is grounded in a specific place (Ottawa, Ontario, Canada), any artist that identifies with the artistic challenge is invited to submit.

The artefact (artwork, digital object, etc.) must be:

Original, but not necessarily made expressly for this contest (modifying or updating existing work is fine).
Medium-agnostic, and in either digital or physical form. (If the artefact exists in physical form, no need to mail it to us—photos of the piece are sufficient.)
In the spirit of fostering low submission burden, all we ask you to include is a short artist/designer/creative statement (100 words max) as well as links to any additional information that would help us to get to know you (such as a portfolio or your design or artistic resume).
Please submit your artefact to <dan@projectproject.ca>, with a cc to <community@apt613.ca> and a subject line noting your submission (e.g. Re’imagine contest entry).
All complete entries will receive a receipt acknowledgement. The winning entry will be contacted at least two weeks prior to a public announcement. We hope the project will spark greater community engagement. The team and jury will propose a few ways to ensure dialogue between the winning piece and the organization (or industry) it is associated with (such as a short blog piece, a possible webinar, etc).

The winning entry will receive a $1,000 CAD prize. Two other honourable mentions will receive $250 each.

The jury will consist of a panel of friends of the Project Project Collective with expertise and interest in various design and artistic forms. The jury will be announced as part of the winning submission.

Submission deadline: June 15, 2021 by midnight EST.

For more information, see press to date about this project:

Apt613 – We’re launching a design contest and invite you to Re-Think Your Receipts—$1,000 cash prize (published April 13, 2021)

CBC Radio One – In Town and Out – Project Project Collective’s contest to Rethink Your Receipts (aired April 17, 2021)