Courtesy of Dupont Underground

The time to tear things down in Dupont Underground has passed; now is the time to build things sculptural art up.

Organizers formally launched a competition, dubbed Re-Ball!, today for an artwork designed specifically for the long-awaited new venue.

The group behind Dupont Underground announced over the summer that the very first exhibition on the site—a former trolley tunnel that they’ve been trying for years to turn into a multi-use space—would be made of recycled materials from The Beach. After the National Building Museum’s summer blockbuster exhibition closed, volunteers helped move more than 650,000 translucent balls into the vacant, 14,000-square-foot space.

The competition is now open to all members of the public; entries are due by March 4. The winner will be given $10,000 for the build-out and a prize of $3,500.

From the competition brief:

The winning concept will take the medium in a new direction, one that responds to the uniqueness of the installation site. From the open, light-filled box of the National Building Museum’s Great Hall to the curving concrete volume of the Dupont Underground’s east platform, Re-Ball! entries should transform the constituent materials — and the space itself — into an entirely new experience.

“This is a tremendous opportunity for the Dupont Underground to make its cultural mission evident from the beginning, and to do something unexpected, unprecedented, and large-scale,” said Braulio Agnese, the nonprofit’s managing director. “We were thrilled when the National Building Museum agreed to let us take the BEACH balls for a new installation, and we’re eager to see what people envision for the material, and our space.”

If the winner can’t make it happen, the opportunity will go to the runners-up in order of selection by the jury.

The installation is slated to open to the public on April 30 and run through June 1. Organizers say Dupont Underground will open fully in the fall.