Tracking Top Artists
In a couple days, voting will go live on artprize.org. Voting, as has been mentioned, is entirely electronic. This means that on the website, we’ll be able to see which artists are getting the most votes. But exactly what will we see?
This is a question ArtPrize has put a lot of thought into. You see, when we list the top artists on the website, you will also be able to vote right on that page. There is a danger in displaying artists with their ranking and total votes like this:
1. Jane Artist (10,000)
2. Joe Sculptor (9,122)
3. Bob Painter (8,999)
The danger is that the top artist is always displayed at the top of the page, giving that artist the most exposure on the website. It potentially creates a snowball effect of votes for that artist: The most prominent on the page gets the most votes.
To create a more level playing field on the website, ArtPrize designed a system, so people can track “buckets” of which artists are in the lead without revealing who, exactly, is in the lead day to day.
During Week 1 of voting, you can view artists sorted in buckets of:
Top 25
Top 50
Top 75
Top 100
The artists displayed will be randomly sorted. No artist will consistently appear at the top of the page for visitors to the website. When voting begins on the Top 10 in Week 2, the Top 10 will be randomly sorted as well. (Of course, you can search and view all artists at any time, but you won’t see exactly where they rank in the overall 1,262.)
Vote tally numbers will not be displayed on the website with each individual artist for the same reason as stated above. We do not want voters to skip to artists in the lead to sort out how they will vote.
Paul, You may of answered this elsewhere but will venues be allowed to provide computers to vote on site? Do you have a protocol for that? I have noticed that once logged in I need to make sure I logged back out even after closing a browser window or even restarting my computer.
Matthew,
1. Venues can allow visitors to use their computers to vote
2. Login sessions will expire after a certain amount of time unless a user checks the “Remember me” box, which is why your computer logs you in automatically even after restarting
What an intelligent and fair solution. Thanks for having thought so much about this!
#1 good to know, will be useful.
#2 I actually don’t have the “remember me” box clicked on the ap.org page and I don’t have it saved to my browser password preference file either(ff3.5 OSX) My bank logs me out after a certain time as does the library. Might a good feature here too.
This sounds like a well thought out way to display the leaders in the competition. I was wondering how this would work and was worried those who took an early lead would end up the winners due to the snowball effect. Thank you for doing it this way. It’s more fair for all the artists and still lets people get a sense of where an individual artist might be in the competition.
One other question, I read earlier thoughts that all votes might be reset to zero for the 2nd week of voting so the finalists all start out equal that week. Is this what’s going to happen, or do they keep all votes from the first week?
I concur this is better system than what was proposed in the post of showing the top person at the top – thus, creating a snowball effect. But I also think the bucket system is going to be in itself another snowball effect system. People in the top 25, 50, and 100 buckets are still going to get increased votes because of this ranking. It will be inevitable people are going to look there first.
You should also have a dead last bucket of the bottom 100 to help those people get out of the bottom of the barrel.
It is my understanding that when the Top 10 are announced, votes will go back to zero.
I guess I don’t understand why people would vote for artists based on how many votes they already have. It’s not like trying to make “your vote count”…you’ve got one for each artist if you want. Why wouldn’t people just vote for what they like or think is best or great art?
I’m curious what you see as the purpose of revealing the art work that is getting the most votes? Is it too difficult to keep the numbers under wraps?
Jane, I don’t think it is so much that people would vote for artists who have the most votes because they have a lot of votes. I imagine what happens is that people first see the names of the leaders more thus giving more exposure. Plus you see that someone you are unfamiliar with is getting the most votes and you then wonder why. What does their work look like that so many others like it? So you check it out and perhaps decide that you like it too. Then you might add your vote to them. You might like someone else you’ve never heard of deep in the pack, but because you never see their name or work you don’t know this and thus never vote for them.
Jane, It is my guess that the thinking behind it is not that you will vote for someone just because they have many votes already, but that naturally people are going to be curious as to who is ranking where. If they are able to view the piece or remember it while looking at the list of rankings, they may very naturally say, “Yes, I agree!” and continue the votes for that piece. It will obviously be very difficult to remember each piece that one has seen as there are so many, so to have early frontrunners stay in public view through ranking displays presents this snowball effect since they are more likely to stay in viewers minds. I think this setup of a good effort to maintain interest in the event while trying to be fair.
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I think it is an interesting idea to have a bottom 100…but sort of like the down votes, though the intent is to see what sparks controversial dialogue, puts a negative twist on the event. Though the intent would be to help those in the bottom get more votes, I do think it would be upsetting to be ranked there, and more upsetting if one didn’t receive enough votes and stayed there. I’m not sure any artist would enjoy knowing at the end of the day that they ranked at the bottom. I am for celebrating our winners, not making it seem like there are “losers” that need to be supported, as I don’t really think there are in this event. (I realize it is a positive intent, but maybe look at it from the artists view?)
Sounds good to me. There will be the ARTPRIZE displayed on each venue outdoors, I hope Pat E.
I like this idea of a bottom 100 being displayed where the top 100 is displayed, also just a random selection of artists would be interesting as well.
I also think Miriam has a good point. Why make the vote totals public at all? Especially prior to the top 10 being announced.
In the future I would much rather voting be place-based, eg voting via text message using a code located at or near the installation site or carried around with the artwork in the case of moving or parading works of art.
The top 100 will snowball. Why go there?
Voting opened today, less than an hour into it the website crashed. And with only 1500 registered voters, too. Less voters than there are entries. And the art world is supposed to take this seriously, right? Sorry Grand Rapids, enjoy your city art festival, but this is not a world-class art event. It is not even an event of national noteworthiness. And given the low number of registered voters, I’d say most of your own city doesn’t even care. A shame, really. So much potential lost because of a vision that was misguided. A little independent consultation could have easily made this turn out differently.
Umm…Eligarf, there are currently over 9,300 registered voters according to this site. And, this is only the first day. So….yeah.
agreed, Liz. This is the first time ever a city has done anything like this to anything near this scale. I think a day or two to let it get going is acceptible. It does go on for two weeks, after all.
Eligraf,
Maybe it isn’t worth mentioning but:
first day stats: 10,109 Registered voters, 5760 Votes placed.
and that’s in the span of six, I repeat, six hours.
The crash lasted about 10 minutes, even the best websites go down Eligraf. Facebook itself was down a couple of weeks ago for a couple of hours. What say you?
oops- my math is off- not six hours- eight. But still, you get the idea.
Kevin and Miriam, I think really the fairest way to do this is keep the rankings under wraps, but this event has had a huge emphasis on technology. This is how they want to keep people interested, keep the numbers rolling in like during elections. I don’t think the system they have will eliminate the snowball effect, but all I can think is that there are other motives here because of the “information, now!” world we live in. Also, there is an emphasis on the “controversial,” so the aim may also be a reverse snowball effect where instead of someone agreeing with all the frontrunners, they disagree and so it shows how many have been “argued about.”
Oh, and this Eligarf person is odd…does he/she really believe 1500 is LESS THAN 1,262…how can they determine how ArtPrize has “turned out” when it has barely gotten started?
why isn’t anyone voting for me?
At the end of the competition can you at least let each artist know how many votes we had by putting them on our individual artist pages?
i am wondering how it is that an artist’s work that hasn’t even been seen or performed yet is in the top 25? this certainly suggests a “popularity contest”, something i had hoped would not happen.
Eligarf, I enjoyed reading your earlier post in response to “Anarchy or Education”. It was food for thought. But it seems that you have descended into premature criticism and anger…is your Chicago Gallery not doing well? Are you having a bad day or a bad week? If it’s such a misguided event, why are you even interested and why are you following the blogs so closely? Grand Rapids and the organizers of ArtPrize have a lot to learn from this inaugural year. Let’s hold our judgment until everything shakes out. Adam Weinberg, the Director of the Whitney in New York, had some very positive things to say in his lecture yesterday at Kendall. Turnout was disappointing, but his interest in ArtPrize was not.
While it’s fun to see the top numbers, it has influenced what venues/artist I will check out next. On the good side, it gives visibility to some otherwise less mentioned artists, but only if they already have good numbers. I do worry about how that influences the final outcome, but hey! It’s FUN! I’m having a great time and look forward to repeat visits.
This Artprize experiment is unfortunate. So many talented artists are not getting exposure because of location. The more important and serious works are not getting votes because Artprize was executed with the context of entertainment. The public vote has potential for international success, but not under its current context. I’m disappointed in Artprize, and I’ve been a strong supporter all the way through. Also, why can’t we have international voting??? It’s not like people won’t go to the exhibits to view art. To have international credibility, Artprize MUST allow international voting.
I agree with Aaron.
18 of the current top 25 are located at The Bob(7), UICA(5), OFB(3), and the Blue Bridge(3).
These are probably great pieces of art. But you get an idea that unless you are in those locations, the odds are against you.
I also have a feeling (hope it doesn’t happen), that the top 10 will be either in extreme high traffic areas, or the ones covered by the media.
I think there’s an easy solution to the voting debate. Have two sets of prizes: one for the competition in its current form and a second for an international prize based on voting from around the world.
There are ways to prevent ballot stuffing by restricting ISP and e-mail addresses usage.
I agree with Jason. There seems to be an advantage to the artists that are in a high traffic area. What’s the chance of getting some media coverage ASAP for those artists off the beaten path? I just came from American Seating Park – 801 Broadway and there is some excellent art there that I feel is going to be overlooked due to poor media coverage and lack of onsite voting, etc… For all those people who have been traveling to low traffice areas. Please spread the word of the great things you have seen so those artists are not forgotten or missed.
I am one of the artists at American Seating Park – 801 Broadway. My sculpture is a Christian-based piece created to spark thought, discussion and meaning to the crucifixion of Jesus. I hope to see many more people this weekend. Thank you to all who have given me such positive comments and feedback regarding this piece of artwork. I appreciate it.
I think it would be a great idea if there was more time given to separate the top 10 from the others. More time for voters to see ALL artwork. At least another weekend before separating would be FABULOUS!
While I understand and agree with not putting tallies by each artist’s name, the Top 100 is essentially doing something similar. For people who are visiting the website they get instant images in the categories of the Top 25, 50, 75, 100. I’m sure the snowball effect is happening within that realm regardless of tallies because those are the artists that are getting exposure consistently on the front page. I’ve watched how the people who are in the Top 100 are now, also in the Most Voted Down category. My logic tells me it has a bit more to do with voters perusing the Top 100 and Voting down from within those findings. I logged on to enter my votes for my chosen artists and admit I got sucked into the realm of only looking at the Top 100 for a good 20 minutes before i continued on to vote. As a participating artist, out of sheer curiosity, I would love to be able to see my votes up and down. Even if these numbers are only visible to me and not the general public. otherwise, unless i am standing next to my piece during all open hours, i have no way to gauge
how my work is being received. maybe something that could be implemented down the road…
It is unfortunate that Artprize made the decision to “spoon feed” the top 100 to the web right from the first day of voting….I think that could have been done more equilaterally in the second week. First week should have been more of a free-for-all. Second week posting w/ open voting and third closed to a single vote.
Will the voting totals be displayed eventually? If not, will the artists have access to their actual vote counts after the contest has ended?
I am taking this opportunity to express something that is happening at ArtPrize that I find to be nothing less than appalling. The BOB is a venue for over a hundred artists, all of whom want to have their work given the same attention as everyone else (just to be clear, I am not exhibiting at the BOB). But one “artist” in particular, Jacqueline Gilmore, is using her position as the wife of the owner of the BOB to destroy any semblance of an even playing field. All employees of the BOB are required (that is, forced) to wear t-shirts that feature her face on the front along with “vote for Jacqueline Gilmore” and her voting numbers. This is a blatant abuse of her position as wife of the venue owner, and a slap in the face to all the artists who are exhibiting there. None of this would mean much if not for the fact that she is currently in the top 25 artists and her work is completely unextraordinary. Quite simply, it is bad painting. She has no business being in the top 25 artists. She is one of the participants in ArtPrize who give the entire event a bad name. As a serious artist who hopes to have my work judged on its merits, I am embarrassed for her and by her.
Deb, I happen to be on a gilmore collection email list. They always email me about pretty good deals on food, but last week they sent this:
YOU DON’T KNOW JAC…
ART-ecture
by Jacqueline Gilmore
Live Unveiling & 3D Lightshow
Sept 23 – 9pm @ The B.O.B.
Artprize at The B.O.B. Sept 23- Oct 10
Make your vote count for GR!
VOTE # 24751
@deb, @jason:
We have gotten the same email.
Regardless of how fair or unfair this all is, and I am an artist in a distant venue, I have been astonished at the interest in art. Yes art. I have had conversations with strangers on the street, in venues and restaurants, all over, about art. Yes I’m tired of hearing about the blue bridge and the ‘big’ pieces which seem to be getting all the hoopla, and will most likely win, but ultimately thousands and thousands of people are enjoying art for 2 weeks in Grand Rapids, Michigan and I think that is an incredible thing.
Sara, I agree. The conversation about art has been great.
It is just too bad that a few artists seem to be taking advantage of the public voting system.
Jason&Sara–totally agree, that aspect of the last 5 days has been great.
Deb, I heard about the T-shirt requirement at The BOB also. Maybe ArtPrize should be informed and she would be disqualified??? This would be the only time that I would cast a Thumbs Down. Also, wouldn’t you think The BOB would waive the $5.00 cover charge to get into the building to see the art for these 2 weeks?!! Must be they need the money to print T-shirts for the wife.
On the subject of thumbs down votes. I for one messed up on the voting and thought my vote was not going through. I kept hitting the thumbs up and it would turn from up to down votes. Oops, perhaps that is how some of the “controversial artists” got on the list. Any advertising is good advertising. Good luck.
Whatever abuses of display or publicity that occur during AP one shouldn’t forget that this was a system that AP designed to work. They wanted it to be this way. The “decentralized curating” and the “rebooting of the conversation” ideology was constructed as a(fill in your choice)_____ new, fresh, challengeing, referendum, attack, reconstruction, of the established way of connecting Artists with sites and venues and ultimately Art with the public. AP didn’t invent a system where the public gets to view Art they ‘reinvented’ a system because they (fill in your choice)____ wanted to, felt there was a need to,wanted to make a soci/political statement,thought it was democratic, or wanted a public event for GR.
Did anyone who likes Art, is interested in Art, is a Art profesisonal, or an Artist, actually think the B.O.B was going to be a good place to exhibit Art? Did anyone question that people would have the ability to view let alone vote on over 1260 Artists? Did anyone actually think this was going to have any type of “fairness” to it, what ever that means?
The lunch box series with Adam Weinberg was interesting when he compared AP to a type of freedom that Burning Man has. Weinberg admitted when he started his talk that he had just got off the plane and had not seen AP or actually knew very much about AP and I think his analogy was incorrect. AP never had the sense of artistic freedom that Burning Man has. Lets not forget that it is the AP system that allowed the venues to jury the artwork. Venues who may not have had the ability to select work that would even work in their spaces.
One the other hand AP may be a competition where a lot of people ( venues and artists)can do what ever they want and this in the future may be it’s down fall.
I feel heartsick about the direction the top 25 is taking. The gold statue man (with the monkey!), Jacqueline Gilmore, Rob Bliss, the table and chairs, nessie…it’s so sad.
I’m holding out hope that some serious work still remaining in the top 25 rises to the top and makes it to the top 10.
I also hope that next year the BOB and the Blue bridge/river can somehow be persuaded to get some help from a qualified curator.
I think the Gilmore abuse of position is wrong, but I have to say I did very much enjoy the video presentation, and when I’ve been down there to see it, everyone around is enthralled.
Bravo to Rick DeVos and all the wonderful hardworking volunteers. Kudos to all the fantastic artists. And — “WOW HOW COOL” to all who have trekked out of their normal comfort zone to check out that artist in an unfamiliar locale!
I’m optimistic that ArtPrize, like art itself is a work in progress. Problems do have away of working themselves out.
Perhaps next year, many artists will avoid a venue that is packing the art in like a sardine can.
Maybe like me, the artists will know that there is no such thing as a level playing field; and decide it’s better to show your work in a not-so-perfect-spot, than to have it sitting, un-viewed on your studio floor.
To strive for perfection is human — and I think, what art is all about — but to expect it — and wait for it — is a fearful way to live.
Nancy,
You expect your car to work when you buy it. You expect your doctor to give you the right medicine. You expect your local library to carry the best books available. Why should we expect “the worlds largest Art competition” to be any less?
It always amazes me how arrogant some people are. Just because a peice is big does not mean that it isn’t art. As for the B.O.B. they are not charging a $5 cover and they are allowing everyone full access, including restrooms. If it isn’t right for Jaqueline Gilmore to utilize the resources that she has available to her, than no artist or venue should be able to promote their artwork either. You can’t regulate how much advertising can be done other than disallowing it completely. And have any of you read her bio? Not only is she an established, trained and experienced artist, her work is beautiful, and I think that ArtPrize and many of the artists should thank her and the B.O.B. for bringing in a large crowd. People in our culture today are very visual and what better way to attract people, especially children to art than making an interactive peice that incorporates the painting with the show. I’m also curious to know which other artists besides Jaqueline Gilmore plan to donate their entire profits to God’s Kitchen.
I’m just happy to be part of this event. I knew going in, being “across the river,” that I’d be well down the voting list, but so what? I’m honored to have been chosen, even if I have to drive 1000 miles each way … twice. What a hoot this is. As for location, I’d rather have my piece on the lawn of the Public Museum, where it shows beautifully, than be crammed amongst scores of others in a parking lot.
As for snowballing, I think it’s probably happened, as mentioned adequately above. Don’t forget the other factor, though … bars and restaurants. That’s where people go, and the art in or near those establishments gets lots of attention, just because.
In the end, the artistic choice for AP is no different than the choices we all make all the time regarding placement, pricing, etc.
I’m just glad that there are lots of people enjoying my piece, even if I never hear from any of them. It’s the experience that matters.