Download Official Rules for ArtPrize 2010

The winning piece will become a part of the ArtPrize collection
This rule was actually in place during artist registration 2009, but was removed when we could not get IRS approval in time for the event. The collection is a tangible way for ArtPrize to be invested in the long term cultural value of the winning works. Learn more here

Entries from ArtPrize 2009 cannot be re-entered in ArtPrize 2010
ArtPrize is meant to be a showcase for new work.

Entries cannot be more than three years old
Again, we want to see new work. If the work took a number of years to execute, the date the work was completed needs to be within three years of September 22, 2010–opening day.

The entry must be wholly owned by the artist or collaborative
This rule was also in the 2009 rules, but was stated less clearly. An artist–or representative of the artist–may not enter a piece that has already been purchased or currently belongs in a collection. Artwork can be sold during the event, but sales are considered pending until the event is over. If the winning artwork has a pending sale, the sale is voided.

Entries with previous awards are allowed to enter
Last year we stated no entry could have won previous awards. Our goal was to bring new work into the event. This year we’ve simplified that goal down to the “three year” rule stated above. So, entries to ArtPrize 2010 may have won previous awards.

Registering as a collaborator will cost $25
Last year, artists paid $50 to register, and could add collaborators at no charge. This year, artist registration still costs $50, but adding a collaborator will cost $25 per collaborator. During the 2009 event, collaborators received the same amenities as artists, so this fee helps offset those costs.

Entry vs. Work
There’s also a verbiage change in the rules this year. The artwork artists enter in the competition is referred to as that artist’s Entry. Last year we used the term Work, which created some confusion, as an Entry can comprise multiple pieces, or a piece with multiple elements.

Artist Accounts on artprize.org

• If you created an account last year, either as an artist, voter, venue, or some combination of the three, you still have an account. This is the account you will use to enter ArtPrize 2010, and you’ll use it to vote when the time comes. Sign in using your e-mail address and the password you created last year. Artists/Venues with pre-existing accounts will still pay a registration fee for 2010.
• For those artists who entered last year, images and information about your entry will be preserved for the sake of archiving the event. This will also give potential venues and voters a chance to see some of your previous work. You are not able to use last year’s entry as your entry this year.
• Artist statements and artist bios from last year will be preserved, and will be able to be edited and updated. Info about your new entry will need to be entered.

Voting Period
Many rules have stayed the same from 2009. One of the rules that will stay the same and was often brought up in feedback sessions, which is why it’s mentioned here, had to do with the voting period. Namely, there is one week to vote on all entries to determine the top 10, and one week to vote on the winner from the top 10. Many people told us the first round of voting should be longer and the second round shorter. “People don’t need a week to decide who the winner will be from the top 10,” was said frequently.

In fact, our research shows that the vast majority did take the entire week to decide on the winner and changed their minds once or twice during the week.

Also, last year ArtPrize was an unknown quantity. Many people came down out of curiosity, became immediately daunted by the scope of the event, and tried to see as much art as possible on the fly. This year, ArtPrize is a known quantity and feedback indicates people are making plans to accommodate a lot more art seeing.

We’ll reevaluate the voting period after 2010 if there is a strong case to change it.

Artist applications to ALL OTHER VENUES will begin with Artist Registration April 19-May 27. Artist/Venue matching will take place from June 1-July 1. (Venues register March 15 – April 15.)

GRAND RIVER PROPOSAL PROCESS
Proposals must include:

1. At least three (3) images of the proposed artwork
2. Technical renderings that provide structural specifications
3. Proposed site of the artwork within the river
4. Method and materials for installation/mounting including structural specifications for engineering review

The City will convene two panels to review the proposals. The first panel will review the aesthetic merits of the work, and the second will review the engineering and technical merits. The artists that are chosen will be instructed by the City to develop and pay for a permit application to be filed with the Department of Natural Resources and Environment (DNRE).

Submit all proposals by email to Jose Reyna
jreyna [at] grcity [dot] us
616.456.4075

Proposal Deadline: April 1, 2010

File DNRE Permit application: April 7

Public Notice Period: April 21 – May 11

Artist Registration on artprize.org (all chosen artists must register): April 19 – May 27

Period for Notice of Public Hearing (if required): June 11 – June 20

Additional Comment Period (If public hearing required): June 21 – June 27

Determination/Approval by DNRE: June 28

There are four rules that apply to registration and matching:

1. Venues must register: March 15 – April 15
2. Artists must register: April 19 – May 27
3. Artists and venues must sign a Hosting Agreement
4. Artists and venues must secure connections during the matching period: June 1 – July 1

As long as the City registers the Grand River as venue by the venue registration deadline, the artists in the river register by the artist registration deadline, then the City approves a connection with those artists within the matching period, all parties are operating within the structure ArtPrize setup. A venue can set its own deadline for submissions, based on its internal selection process.

The early deadline for the Grand River certainly makes things inconvenient for artists interested in that venue, but it’s the only way for final approval to happen by the end of the matching period.

If artists send proposals directly to the City to apply for the River as a venue, does that mean all proposals should be sent directly to venues?
Unless there are special instructions on the profile of the venue in question, the artist profile page will serve as the proposal. The Grand River venue is a special case, and other venues will not work this way. During the matching period, artists will request a connection with a venue thru artprize.org. The venue will view the artist’s profile page, which includes the artist’s proposal (very much like a dating website).

Questions about applying to the River should be directed to Jose Reyna (jreyna [at] grcity [dot] us, 616.456.4075).

In 2009, artists and venues registered simultaneously. During registration, we even opened up matching. This created some confusion and angst. Many artists wanted to base their work on a specific space, but new venues were signing up all the time. Venues wanted to know all of the artists registered before planning their show,  but artists were securing venues as new ones signed up each day. Urgency for artists and venues to rush through planning was part of the first year experiment. However, it doesn’t need to be part of the future.

In 2010, venue registration, artist registration and matching will be broken out into separate time periods.

Venue Registration for 2010
Open: Monday, March 15 (Noon EDT)
Close: Thursday April 15, 2010 (5:00PM EDT)

Artist Registration for 2010
Open: Monday, April 19 (Noon EDT)
Close: Thursday, May 27 (5:00PM EDT)

Artist/Venue Matching Period for 2010
Open: Tuesday, June 1 (Noon EDT)
Close: Thursday, July 1 (5:00PM EDT)

We’ll start with venues. So, when artists register, they can plan their work around a known quantity of spaces available. Then artists will register. Venues can use this time to see who is joining and start planning a show. After artist registration ends, matching begins. Venues and artists will have had time to develop a “game plan” during the registration process, and many will probably have already begun talks informally.  So, during the month of June, negotiations over the Hosting Agreement can take place and artists can formally secure venues. By the close of Matching July 1, there’s plenty of time to work on the logistics of staging an exhibition.

ArtPrize 2010, the event, happens September 22 – October 10

Download ArtPrize 2010 Official Rules

ArtPrize 2009 was, in many aspects, successful on a scale beyond what any of us anticipated. In looking toward 2010, we are careful not to make sweeping changes to an event that worked so well in it’s first year, and is still very much in its youth. ArtPrize is put on by thousands of independent participants working within the simple framework we’ve set up, and one of our biggest anticipations is how venues and artists will adapt their plans for 2010, now that 2009 is under their belts. So, we don’t want to drastically change the game. Our work for the past few months has been to identify a few key areas of the event that can run smoother, so overall participation is improved. One area we’ve identified is represented by the introduction of Exhibition Centers.

Within the first few days of 2009’s event, The Old Federal Building became a venue with tremendous buzz. “If you have two hours to go to ArtPrize, go to The Old Federal Building,” was the advice visitors passed on to their friends. Why was this?

The Old Federal Building was centrally located, it was very well curated by the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art, there were two floors of pristine exhibition space (it’s the former home of the Grand Rapids Art Museum) and there was the ArtPrize store and a voter registration site. All of those factors made it a must-see venue. It drew over 80,000 visitors–the winning piece was exhibited there–and brought crowds to the surrounding area.

At the ArtPrize office, we discuss the inherent tension of the event between predictability and possibility. ArtPrize is about possibility. It’s a treasure hunt, a two week discovery process where visitors literally don’t know what they’ll find around each corner. It’s beautiful. However, when the prospect of an afternoon at one major venue outweighs the unpredictable–potentially inconvenient–prospect of exploring another part of the city, adding a little predictability may be in everyone’s interest.

For 2010, we’re trying out the idea of Exhibition Centers. An Exhibition Center is basically an Old Federal Building experience in another part of the city. If the Old Federal Building became a node that activity happened around, how can we create more nodes to get more activity into more areas?

Where will they be and which institutions will organize the exhibitions? Well, we’re working on that now. It’s a fluid idea and we’re learning the nuts and bolts of how to make it happen as I write this. Our hope–if the city’s infrastructure and generous sponsors will allow it–is to have Exhibition Centers throughout the ArtPrize district. This is a formidable task. If the 2010 Exhibition Centers succeed in spreading more activity into more neighborhoods, then it’s a program that can continue to adapt and grow each year.

We’ll announce more details in coming months.

UPDATE: Listen to the interview here

The interview is part of the launch for Michigan Radio’s new Three Things series:

To start a new year, Michigan Radio will take a look at how we can make things better in our state. We’re launching a series of interviews called “Three Things.” Michigan Radio’s Morning Edition host Christina Shockley will be asking artists, politicians, business owners, teachers, and people from all walks of life to give us their three ideas for things each of us can do to revive our state.

The interview with Rick DeVos airs tomorrow at 7:30AM. Listen to it on Michigan Radio or on the Three Things website.

You can also hear past interviews with:

• Governor Jennifer Granholm
• Actor, Jeff Daniels
• Michigan Senate Majority Leader, Mike Bishop
• President of the Michigan Chamber of Commerce, Rich Studley

Although I have nothing to say yet about changes you may see in 2010, you can mark on your calendar when the event will happen.

ARTPRIZE 2010
September 22 – October 10

Venues and artists, look for registration to begin in Spring of 2010.

Want important announcements emailed to you in the future? Sign up for Announcements in the upper right hand corner of this blog.

The official press release:

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., Nov. 19, 2009 – ArtPrize founder Rick DeVos today announced that ArtPrize 2010 will be held in downtown Grand Rapids, Mich. from Sept. 22 through Oct. 10, 2010. ArtPrize is a radically open art competition giving away the world’s largest art prize. DeVos shared the new dates during a meeting with 2009 sponsors and potential 2010 sponsors.

The announcement of the dates comes just a little more than one month after the completion of ArtPrize 2009 and follows several weeks of meetings among ArtPrize organizers, volunteers, artists, venues and sponsors, said DeVos.

“ArtPrize 2010 planning is under way and designed to build on the incredible success of ArtPrize 2009,” DeVos said. “We want to continue to push the boundaries of this great experiment and to reboot the conversation about art by creating more opportunities to engage more people in the ArtPrize experience.”

ArtPrize is reviewing ways to better help visitors spend time in individual ArtPrize neighborhoods in the three-square-mile downtown ArtPrize district and is considering increasing the number of exhibition sites that are professionally curated and house a number of artists, DeVos said.
ArtPrize also wants to encourage more hospitality events for artists and sponsored prizes, he added.

ArtPrize has begun sending a save-the-date invitation to thousands of artists worldwide.

In ArtPrize 2009, Ran Ortner of Brooklyn, N.Y. captured the top prize of $250,000 for his work Open Water No. 24. The second-place award of $100,000 went to Tracy Van Duinen from Chicago for Imagine That! and the third-place award of $50,000 went to Eric Daigh from Traverse City, Mich. for Portraits. The remaining entries in the top 10 received $7,000.

ArtPrize 2009 Winners

1. Ran Ortner – Open Water no. 24
2. Tracy Van Duinen – Imagine That!
3. Eric Daigh – Portraits
4. David Lubbers – The Grand Dance
5. Bill Secunda – Moose
6. Nessie Project – Nessie on the Grand
7. John Douglas Powers – Field of Reeds
8. Sarah Grant – The Furniture City Sets the Table for the World of Art
9. Jason Hackenwerth – Ecstasy of The Scarlet Empress
10. Michael Westra – winddancer 2

Detroit Free Press
N.Y. Artist wins $250K in ArtPrize Contest
Oct. 8, 2009

MSNBC
Ray Ortner wins $250,000 at ArtPrize event
Oct. 8, 2009

New York Times
Michigan Art Prize Goes to Brooklyn Painter
Oct. 8, 2009

Peter Murray, Founding Director of Yorkshire Sculpture Park
West Bretton, Wakefield (UK)

Adam D. Weinberg, Director, Whitney Museum of American Art
New York, NY (USA)

Michael M. Kaiser, President, The John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts
Washington, D.C. (USA)

Mary Jane Jacob, Professor and Executive Director of Exhibitions and Exhibition Studies
School of the Art Institute of Chicago
Chicago, IL (USA)

Day 1 – “As I wandered the streets of downtown and crept around Twitter on opening night, people were buzzing with excitement about ArtPrize. One comment struck me as being spot on: ‘Unless bad art wins, this will prove to be a monumental event for years to come.’”

Spectacular vs. Spectacle – “Too often artworks seem arbitrarily placed; they could easily move from one storefront, restaurant, parking lot, sidewalk or bank to another. They could even live in another city. There is something to be said for understanding one’s site and medium, and I think that statement is made in Calder Plaza.”

The Collective Experience – “I’ve been exploring the little communities within ArtPrize known as collectives. How do these artist groups further encourage and create community?”

The Squeaky Wheel Gets the Oil – “Aaron Heideman is a regular commenter on this blog. His remarks are thoughtful, but he’s clearly disgruntled. I’ve been tempted to reply: Dude, why are you so angry? But instead, I went to see the artist and his project, The Man in a Van, yesterday afternoon.”

Voting to What End? – “Would you vote for people the same way you vote for works of art? That is, if you were voting for an individual artist as opposed to an object would that change your vote?”

The Future of ArtPrize – “There’s still so much to write about ArtPrize, but the time has come for me to say goodbye…. I leave you with some thoughts, hopes, ideas, and suggestions for the future (knowing that I sometimes contradict myself).”

Cash in on some of these deals before the celebration begins. (Restaurants will also have ArtPrize wristbands to give away.)

The B.O.B.
616-356-2000
Extending Happy Hour Food and Drink specials until 7PM

TGI Friday’s
(616) 742-8443
Happy Hours specials extended until 7PM

Flanagan’s
(616) 454-7852
$2 wells, $3 Long Islands, $3 u calls, $4 bombs and food specials until 7PM

Charley’s Crab
(616) 459-2500
$3,$4,$5 appetizers, $3 wells, $4 glass of wine, $5 martinis, until 7PM

Ritz Koney Island Grill and Bar
(616)451-3701
$2 you name it, we make it! Until 7PM

McFadden’s
(616) 454-9105
Half off drinks, $4.95 pizzas 5-8 PM

Tap House Lounge
(616) 774-3338
Regular happy hour $3 long islands, $2.50 beers, 4-7PM

Hopcat
(616) 451-4677
$3 Michigan beers from 2-4PM & $6 burger/beer combo 4-6PM

My Bar
(616) 643-0545
$2.75 well drinks, $2.25 beers, buy one get one pizza half off

Quiznos
Buy one, get one for a $1 on subs, salads and soups (equal or lesser value, not to be combined with any offer)

Doors open at 6PM, tomorrow. There is no charge to attend. Starting at 7PM, enjoy performances by Bollywood Dance Troupe, blue13, Chicago’s Bucket Boys, New Century Shadow Dancers and – at 8:20 – hear the announcement of the winner of ArtPrize 2009. Celebrate afterward with blue13.

Food is available for purchase and a cash bar.

UPDATE: We initially reported $5 for a calzone and soda, but the price for the general public is $6.50. Volunteers, wear your red Ask Me shirt and pick up a meal ticket from Kathy, so you can eat free.

Sponsored by Meijer, Dick and Betsy DeVos Family Foundation, Rick and Melissa DeVos, Daniel and Pamella DeVos, Douglas and Maria DeVos, Richard and Helen DeVos, VanderWeide Family

Who are the winners?
The winner of the $250,000 art prize is the artist with the most votes. Cast your vote by 11:59PM tonight.