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Brooklyn’s own Ruth Bader Ginsburg—Supreme Court justice, feminist icon and all-around legend—is finally getting a memorial in her home borough. And not just any memorial: The state is launching an international competition to design a permanent tribute at Brooklyn Bridge Park’s Pier 1 and artists everywhere are invited to throw their sketchbooks into the ring.
The project, announced this week by the Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg Memorial Commission in partnership with the Brooklyn Bridge Park Corporation and New York State, comes with a hefty $1–2 million budget. The idea is to honor Ginsburg’s life and legacy with a piece that’s as enduring as her words from the bench. The call for entries is intentionally broad: While you could propose a statue, organizers are just as open to installations, interactive works or even something abstract, as long as it captures her values—integrity, dignity, resilience and, of course, her razor-sharp use of language.
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Justice Ginsburg herself once said she wanted to be remembered as “someone who used whatever talent she had to do her work to the very best of her ability. And to help repair tears in her society, to make things a little better through the use of whatever ability she has,” according to the official memorial competition guidelines. That ethos—rooted in the Jewish principle of tikkun olam, or “repair the world”—is meant to guide the artists who apply.
As for the setting, it’s hard to imagine a more fitting stage than the southwest plaza of Pier 1. The 1,000-square-foot site overlooks New York Harbor and the Lower Manhattan skyline, a backdrop as monumental as the subject herself. The memorial will need to work in all seasons, be durable enough for waterfront weather, and blend with the park’s existing landscape design.
The process will unfold in two phases. The first round, open now through February 2, 2026, requests broad concepts, a statement of intent and some preliminary sketches. A shortlist of finalists will be announced in April 2026, with more detailed designs due later that summer. The winning concept will be revealed in November 2026 and if all goes to plan, New Yorkers can expect the finished memorial to be unveiled in March 2028.
That may feel like a long wait, but as any fan of the “Notorious RBG” knows, some fights are worth the patience. This time, the gavel’s in the public’s hands: If you’ve ever dreamed of shaping the city’s next iconic landmark, this is your chance.