The World’s Largest Art Prize, Decided by Public Vote
ArtPrize goes public today announcing the world’s largest art prize will be awarded by a public vote. The event will happen in Grand Rapids, MI September 23 – October 10. The top prize is $250,000, 2nd place receives $100,000, 3rd receives $50,000 and $7,000 goes to 4th-10th place. The top ten finalists will be decided solely by number of votes.
The mission of ArtPrize is to “reboot a conversation between artists and the public on a grand scale.”
“I’ve been to events all over the world celebrating creativity and ideas.” says Rick DeVos, creator of ArtPrize, “I’ve also been an entrepreneur using technology to bring people together. I think the two can be combined. I see this is where culture is going.”
People attending ArtPrize can register to vote, then either go to artprize.org and vote online or vote using text message at the event. Artists are invited to register on artprize.org before July 31 and submit their work (one entry per artist).
How ArtPrize selects artists to compete is unusually open, it does not involve an official curator or committee. Different venues across the city will have different “hosts” with varying degrees of curatorial experience. Anyone who wants to host a venue and agrees to the minimum requirements can open a new venue. There is no limit to the amount of venues that can be opened. So, the number of artists who can participate is only limited by the amount of space that becomes available. These hosts select which artists will show in their venue. Artists are expected to connect directly with venue hosts on artprize.org to come to an agreement over showing their work.
According to Rick DeVos, “By decentralizing the selection of artists, I think it really boosts the chances for completely unknown artists to compete and amazing new voices to be discovered. ”
ArtPrize.org is the central hub for artists to find venues for their work (and vice versa) and to track votes live during the event. The website is up but still under construction. The ability on the website for artists and venues to match with each other is coming soon.
Registration for artists and venues begins today and runs through July 31, 2009. The ArtPrize event kicks off September 23. Winners are announced October 8. Closing day is October 10, 2009.