Not that BDC. The Baltimore Development Corporation is not to be confused with the Baltimore Development Cooperative, the group of artists awarded the $25,000 Sondheim Prize at the BMA over the weekend. Here's how the BMA folks described the co-op in a press release announcing the award...

The Baltimore Development Cooperative uses the strategies of art, research, and activism to critically engage with urban spatial politics. Co-founded in 2005, the group has produced tours, exhibitions, workshops, and site-specific projects in public space. The BDC is dedicated to the analysis of neo-liberal urbanism and the invention of alternatives based on social, economic, and ecological justice in the city.  The core members of BDC are Scott Berzofsky, Dane Nester, and Nicholas Wisniewski.

For the 2009 Sondheim Prize Finalists exhibition, BDC created Participation Park, a two-part multi-media installation. Outside on the terrace in front of the BMA is a colorful geodesic dome with seating that invites viewers to create their own experience; whether listening to music, eating, or talking. In the exhibition galleries is a cardboard sculpture of Baltimore’s downtown landmarks on bulldozer tracks.

Congrats to BDC.

[Image: Mitro Hood]