ART AND PHILOSOPHY
Calling all 11-18 year olds!
The Write a Script competition is open to all young people aged 11 to 18 in full-time education in the UK.
You will write a script for a short explainer video (maximum 210 words for approximately 12 scenes). Examples of videos can be found here.
We encourage you to use animal characters to tell your story! You can write a story with characters already residing in the garden or make up new characters. Or go for the combination of new and old characters. The choice is yours!
The theme
The scripts should be centred on the nature and value of value of art, the role art plays (or should play) in our lives, or disagreements about the merit or the interpretation of artworks.
Questions that can be addressed include:
Is there a ‘correct’ interpretation of an artwork?
Does art have a purpose or a function?
What makes something (a painting, song, perfume, outfit, statue, tattoo, etc.) a work of art?
Does an artwork have to be beautiful? Does it have to inspire us to be better persons?
Can an artwork have moral value?
Should we consider the artist’s intention when we interpret artworks?
Should we defer to the judgement of art critics or other experts about whether an artwork is good?
Is all art displayed in museum and art galleries?
How are entries judged?
Entries are assessed based on the fit between the script and the theme of the competition and on how engaging and thought-provoking the script is!
Prizes and rewards
We are looking forward to receiving your entry.
The best scripts will be published on The Philosophy Garden.
If you/your team win the competition, your script will be made into an animated video, produced by Squideo.
The video will be featured on The Philosophy Garden and posted on Youtube for everyone to enjoy. The video will be widely promoted on social media together with all our resources.
The video will also be featured as an exhibit at the Philosophy Museum in Milan (Italy).
Competition information and eligibility criteria
Young people from 11 to 18 in full-time education in the UK are welcome to submit an entry, as individuals or in teams.
The deadline for submission is 5pm on 29 June 2024.
Members of the jury will include four philosophers at the University of Birmingham: Laura D'Olimpio, Chiara Brozzo, Kathleen Murphy-Hollies, and Lisa Bortolotti.
The competition is made possible by an Arts and Humanities Research Council Impact Acceleration Award entitled: "Art and Philosophy: Debates at the intersection" (2024).
To submit your entry, fill this form!
Past competitions
Our first competition ended in February 2024 and asked participants to explore how people with different beliefs and values can deal with disagreement and come to a decision or solve a problem together.
People have different beliefs and values which means that they often disagree about issues that matter to all of us, such as whether vaccines are safe, whether non-human animals have rights, and whether our personal freedom should be constrained for the public good. How should people deal with disagreement? Can they still engage with each other's views constructively, make decisions, and solve problems when if they have reasons to disagree with each other?
The winning script is being made into an animated video, produced by Squideo, and will be featured on The Philosophy Garden, and widely promoted on social media together with all our resources. The video will also be an exhibit at the Philosophy Museum in Milan (Italy). The winning script and the two runners-up are now published here.
The competition was made possible by the support of an AHRC Impact Acceleration Award for a project entitled: "Towards a more cohesive digital society". Members of the jury included four philosophers at the University of Birmingham working on the themes of the competition: Jeremy Williams, Merten Reglitz, Kathleen Murphy-Hollies, and Lisa Bortolotti.
