LIVE FOREVER The Michael Jackson Monument Competition Unveils the Lucky Winners

LIVE FOREVER The Michael Jackson Monument Design Competition just announced the winners!

The open international competition, jointly hosted by Archinect and Bustler, challenged designers to envision a monument to the epic that was Michael Jackson. There were no limits to this competition—the proposed monuments could be located anywhere and be any scale that the designers deemed appropriate.

On the judging panel of LIVE FOREVER were Christopher Hawthorne, Los Angeles Times Architecture Critic; Michael Bierut, Pentagram / DesignObserver; Sam Jacob, Fat / Strange Harvest; Archinect Senior Editors Heather Ring, Bryan Boyer, and Orhan Ayyuce; and Archinect Founder/Publisher Paul Petrunia.

LIVE FOREVER received over 200 entries from around the world, and the judges worked hard to narrow the broad field down to the winners of the prizes for BADDEST (1st Prize), BADDER (2nd Prize), and BAD (3rd Prize). An additional public voting process for the OFF THE WALL People’s Choice Prize also attracted a large audience and resulted in three currently tied entries. To break the tie, go here and pick your favorite until Sunday, September 13.

And here are - drum roll - the winners of the LIVE FOREVER Competition:

BADDEST / 1st PRIZE:

MJ Public Domain Countdown by fi5e (Hong Kong)

The monument is a digital display which counts down to the moment when all of Michael Jacksons’ creative content will enter the public domain. In 70 years when the clock reaches zero it will play Billy Jean on loud speakers, making it the first time the song is played free of copyright.  An online version of the countdown can be seen here. The monument is not location specific, and could be adapted to other venues.

Jury Comments:

“Concise, pointed, political, can be put up anywhere. And makes the point that what we ought to be remembering is the music first and the pets and the ranch and the dangled infants much further down the line. MJ for the people. Nice.”
- Christopher Hawthorne

“The music is the memorial, the access is the tribute. Well played.”
- Michael Bierut

“Its an interesting idea that the death of an artist triggers the activation of legally defined timeframe. In the UK, there is a unique exception to the usual term of copyright for the work of J.M. Barry - the author of Peter Pan. His royalties are collected in perpetuity by Great Ormand Street Childrens Hospital - which suggests that the conceptual frameworks of ownership of artistic material can be the site of creative speculation. The marking of the moment when MJs work passes into public domain is a significant recognition - a kind of intellectual property public/private threshold. The countdown acts as a gateway to a moment when MJs work becomes a kind of shared public space.”
- Sam Jacob

“Somewhere deep inside Casio there’s an engineer embedding a secret countdown timer in every digital watch that leaves the factory floor. Time, the enemy of most proper monuments, is here rendered as medium and message. A billboard, sure, a website, why not? Let’s remember this one in 70 years.”
- Bryan Boyer

“We’d like to see this one happen. Or is it already happening? Are we all counting down?”
- Heather Ring

“Billie jean is not my lover- Shes just a girl who claims that I am the one- But the kid is not my son- She says I am the one, but the kid is not my son / Reminds me a big billboard i saw in Houston advertising a DNA testing Company with a slogan: “Who is the Father?” http://www.netdoctor.co.uk/ate/sexandrelationships/affairs/200324.html it also reminds me those billboards of ‘how many people died today eating Mc Donald’s burgers and how many served.’ Very uncertain in seventy years when most of us will be well over century old, but worth the wait for a free download…”
- Orhan Ayyüce

BADDER / 2nd PRIZE:

Foreverland by PYT & Associates (California)

A gold-plated wind turbine powers an interactively-lit dance floor and speaker system. Michael Jackson’s music plays day and night for the fans that congregate in these remote sand flats.

Jury Comments:

“Remote, self-generating power. Plus bling. It works for me.”
- Michael Bierut

“MB’s right that this one has necessary bling; and in combining that shine with remoteness, gets rights at heart of something essential about MJ… Suggests gold-plated solitude when empty, but also could be place for communal activity. Bonus points for stripping out the messiness of other entries.”
- Christopher Hawthorne

“I’ve always been drawn to this entry. I love the idea of a remote dance-party destination monument.”
- Paul Petrunia

BAD / 3rd PRIZE:

Share Your Bed by James (Salt Lake City)

This monument embodies a holistic reflection on Jackson’s life. While on trial for child molestation charges Jackson said:“Why can’t you share your bed? The most loving thing to do is to share your bed with someone. It’s very charming. It’s very sweet. It’s what the whole world should do”. The quote implies the dialectic manner Michael lived life by. Innocence clashes with social ideals amidst the future buildings of the Jackson Casino in Las Vegas, sharing Jackson’s personal bed with the world.

Jury Comments:

“The way an ordinary domestic object is transformed into a site which is full both of a desire for universal love and something much more problematic is clever. This casts the bed as a public social space, at odds with our normal understanding of its significance.”
- Sam Jacob

“One of the few entries to tackle the idea of behind-closed-doors MJ head on, and further does with a kind of cheeky minimalism that seems entirely appropriate. If we want the memorial to take on the full scope of MJ’s superstar/reclusive/shady persona, this might be the one…”
- Christopher Hawthorne

“Gives form to a simple and moving statement from a complicated persona ...”
- Heather Ring

“Yep. It is time to back to basics… What is wrong with sleeping with somebody you don’t f… with. In fact, I would suggest it they put another but opposite one in front of a famous Hollywood artist agency to show the world it is not always the same use. Wait. Could this be a decoy and be very cynical? I just cut down a pointage… 8 to 7. You know how Utah killed California’s gay marriage aspirations.”
- Orhan Ayyüce

OFF THE WALL / PEOPLE’S CHOICE:

(Currently tied—Vote below to pick your favorite until Sunday, September 13)

MJKOP TOWERS by lava (Stuttgart)

The designer didn’t submit a description for this entry.

Fun? by Prozacville (Prozacville)

The Michael Jackson FUN â„¢ resort is set to be completed by 2012. One of the largest holiday resorts of its kind, it is to be built in Indiana, the man-made Island off the coast of Dubai.
We at Prozacville believe that the (patented) alternative energy system which allows for the extraction of electricity from the physical/psychological suffering of infants is in keeping with the unique sublimation employed by Jackson’s own wounded inner-child in order to facilitate and generate his art.

e=mj2 by ayseoren (Istanbul)

2J standing back to back is cape and M on the top is crown.The intersection part is empty in the form of moonwalk.The world on the ground is surrounding by the arms of MJJ to show we are the world.MJJ part is standing on the moon.The sun light will pass through MJJ and shadow will fall on the world. the moonwalk image will shine to symbolize he is a moonwalker, his dance and music will be remember forever. I appear and disapear, playing hide and seek, in the twinkling of an eye.

Pretty Young Things (Honorable Mentions):

For the complete list of entries, go here.

Thanks to everyone who submitted and voted on entries, and a big thank-you to our amazing jury who took time out of their busy schedules to help evaluate all of the entries.