"A monument for collective memory, action, and solidarity in the heart of Europe."

Open Call: Design for the Official Climate Victims Memorial (Brussels)

A Historic Initiative: Following the successful campaign by Climate Justice for Rosa to lobby for and establish the official annual European Day for the Victims of the Global Climate Crisis on July 15th, we are proud to launch this physical call to action.

This project is a partnership between Climate Justice for Rosa, Greenpeace, Amnesty International, Oxfam and the Climate Coalition.

We are calling upon artists, architects, designers, scenographers, and creative collectives to contribute to the creation of a public memorial dedicated to the victims of the global climate crisis. This initiative marks a historic first worldwide. While public spaces have traditionally featured temporary activist shrines, digital archives, or memorials mourning natural landmarks like melting glaciers, there is currently no permanent, physical public monument anywhere on Earth dedicated specifically to the victims lost to a warming world. By establishing this permanent sanctuary in a public park in Brussels, this project pioneers an entirely new era of memory activism right in the institutional heart of Europe.

The Ambition

We want to create a physical space where people can pause, reflect, and emotionally connect with the human impact of the climate crisis. The memorial should function not only as a monument for remembrance and silence, but also as a space that invites encounter, dialogue, and collective reflection.

We are entirely open to a wide range of artistic interpretations. The installation may create opportunities for interaction between visitors or offer ways for communities to gather, listen, speak, or reflect together.

Physical Context & Constraints

The memorial will be installed in a public outdoor environment in Brussels. Because of the practical constraints of a public park site, we are looking for proposals that remain realistic in scale and footprint.

Mobile or Symbolic Component

"We want to ensure that climate victims are symbolically present in the spaces where crucial climate decisions are being discussed."

An important, unique aspect of this project is that the memorial—or a core element of it—should ideally be transportable or reproducible in a symbolic way. Our coalition intends to bring this element directly to climate conferences, policy debates, commemorations, and public events moving forward, ensuring the human cost remains central to political spaces.

Budget

The estimated production budget we can currently foresee is around €25,000.

• At this stage, approximately €20,000 has already been secured.
• Our organizations are actively working to secure the remaining funding, though it cannot be fully guaranteed at this moment. The available budget should therefore be considered within this range for now.

These amounts primarily cover production and out-of-pocket costs. Depending on the partnerships involved, certain working hours or technical forms of support may potentially be provided separately.

What We Are Asking at This Stage

We are currently looking for expressions of interest. At this preliminary stage, we require answers to the following questions:

1. Are you interested in contributing to this project?
2. Are you available to actively engage in the process over the coming weeks?
3. Can you commit to delivering a first concept proposal by July 1st, 2026?

Your first conceptual proposal may include: Sketches, conceptual notes, or baseline visualizations. Our goal is to select a creative partner by the end of June, so that the collaboration can be publicly announced during a major press conference on July 15th, 2026.