My neighbor blogger, Judith H. Dobrzynski, already heralds the successful milestone of Artprize, the international competition drawing artists and arts conversation to Grand Rapids, so I don’t have to (I blogged about the launch of the initiative back in April). But 1000 artist applications, and 900 already matched to exhibition venues scattered around downtown Grand Rapids, are worth another mention on this blog.
Yet more evidence that bold and public prize money, and alignment of other goals behind it, can change the shape of things. As some suggested in comments to my earlier post and elsewhere, the initiative may not be a new idea. But it seems to be an effective one. (Those interested in competitive, innovation prizes should also follow the Netflix Prize, which attracted some serious programmers to solve one of the company’s technology goals).
Here’s hoping the folks in Grand Rapids can keep the ball rolling and the incentives aligned all the way through the event itself.
No, ArtPrize isn’t a new idea but its producers should be given their credit due. Funding for the arts is abysmal here in the USA so kudos for their effort. FotoFest in Houston, TX has the oldest (25 years and counting) and longest running city-wide art exhibition in the United States. CURATE THIS! (conceived as an experiment by 2 artists/gallery directors in New Orleans, LA) held in June, 2008 was the first global online voting event for a public art exhibition here in the United States drawing 400 ‘guest curators’ from 11 countries, followed shortly thereafter by The Brooklyn Art Museum’s ‘Click: A Crowd Curated Exhibition’. The CURATE THIS! creators were scheduled to create a city-wide public art exhibition (inspired by FotoFest) in the fall of 2008 during Prospect 1: New Orleans but their limited artist budgets had to allow for a longer brewing period. During that time,
they founded The BECA Foundation – Bridge for Emerging Contemporary Art, a non-profit, proudly artist-centric arts organization and in June of 2010, they will finally add the long awaited city-wide public exhibition component to CURATE THIS! in Denver during the Denver Biennial of the Americas followed by a second incarnation in New Orleans in the fall of 2010 during Prospect 2: New Orleans. Don’t look for a $400K purse but it will be one hell of an event focused on the organization’s mission of creating public exhibition opportunities for emerging artists + designers! In addition to the public vote component, there will also be a professional curatorial component. The BECA Foundation is about creating opptys. for emerging artists +
designers, the very ones who need exposure to and critique by those with expanded knowledge and expertise. The public and professional
components are 2 equally important keys to the success of CURATE THIS! Leaning too far to one side or the other leaves out potentially important contributions to the event and benefits to the participants (both artists and the participating public).