Encountering ArtPrize

Michigan’s second largest city, Grand Rapids, is transformed into a large indoor /outdoor gallery for 19 days in Sept-Oct, 2010 for a unique art competition that has attracted thousands. Democratic in concept — visitors can weigh in on the pieces they like best. Top prize: a cool quarter million dollars. We went on a sunny October Saturday, Michigan fall weather at its glorious best — leaves turning orange and red and all the shades in between, blue skies and warm 70 degree weather and ART! Best of all, the glass artistry of Dale Chihuly was also on show at the Frederick Meijer Gardens and Sculpture Park.

I asked Bob, who writes about the philosophy of art, to add his thoughts. Here they are:

Artprize is a huge collision between over 1200 artworks and 200,000 people.  In the end there are ten ranked winners selected by popular vote in two stages.  The first stage selects the ten, the second ranks them.  Voting is a somewhat haphazard process, especially in the first stage,  because few if any visitors see all the works; works in some locations are much more likely to be seen than others at more isolated sites; large works are more likely to be noticed than small works; eye-catching pieces have an advantage over subtle ones.  At least  some of the winners would make the art world elite cringe, or so I suspect from cringes elicited in me – only an observer of elites and non-elites alike.

So is Artprize a good thing? Definitely. It is not that people won’t see art without Artprize. Apparently, more visit museums than sporting events. But Artprize allows people to interact with art pieces in a special way. It tells them very clearly that they are the judges rather than novices seeking enlightenment from experts. It creates a kind of empowerment. I heard a lot more people talking about, interpreting, and making judgments about works than I do in museums and galleries.  This makes fine art into a popular art, something that has not been the case for some time.  The results are not always pretty in part because pretty works are sometimes favored over more demanding ones. That’s OK.