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Raise the curtain.

DeVos unveils ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, worlds biggest art competition

By Nick, Section News
Posted on Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 09:57:36 AM EST
Tags: Grand Rapids, DeVos, ArtPrize, Cool Cities, Pure Michigan (all tags)

See, now THAT'S how you help build a "cool city." It doesn't take a government program or a bureaucratic decree and it isn't about tax dollars and central planning. Cool cities are about growth and life and energy and innovation and entrepreneurship.

Exhibit A (literally): Grand Rapids

Rick DeVos this morning unveiled ArtPrize at a giant press conference on Lyon Square in front of the old Civic Theatre downtown.

ArtPrize is a two-and-a-half week annual festival, kicking off this fall that will effectively turn the entire downtown area into an art gallery as artists from around the world create and showcase new works of art while competing for a $250,000 grand prize, the largest art prize in the world.

Better yet, the winner will be selected by the public. You, me, anyone.

This sort of event does not exist anywhere else in the world. This is a first-of-its-kind event and it is happening right here in GR. And I don't mind telling you, I'm geeked!

The competition will work like this...

Artists of all kinds from around the world converge on Grand Rapids. Think paintings, sculptures, performance art, abstract, pop, photography... you name it.

Artists team with business owners and developers downtown through ArtPrize.org to host and showcase their work. Whether it is in the lobby of an office complex, on the top of a hotel, the patio of a restaurant, a bridge, projecting something onto the side of a building... the possibilities seem pretty much endless.

Then regular folks see the work and vote for their favorites via text message or on the internet. And not just Grand Rapidians. Anyone and everyone... provided they've actually made the trip to Grand Rapids and registered to participate at one of the exhibits. This has all the makings of a mammoth tourism draw.

The competition will be whittled down to the Top 10 after the first week. Each of the finalists will be guaranteed thousands of dollars in cash but the big prizes are for first, second and third place. $250,000, $100,000 and $50,000 respectively.

Former gubernatorial candidate Dick DeVos and his wife Betsy (Rick's parents) were on hand for the announcement and have made a multi-year pledge to cover the prize money through the Dick and Betsy DeVos Foundation.

No Grand Rapids tax dollars will be used to fund this program. No state tax dollars or "Pure Michigan" spending will be needed to prop it up artificially.

"The call is going to go out to thousands and thousands of artists (today) to kick this off," Rick DeVos told the Grand Rapids Press.

The event will help harness and show off the creative energy and "cultural capital" Grand Rapids has developed over the years, said Joseph Becherer, director of exhibitions and curator of sculpture at Frederik Meijer Gardens & Sculpture Park.
"This kind of gift tied to this kind of ingenuity can only mean something positive for Grand Rapids as it is now, but also helping to imagine Grand Rapids as it will be tomorrow," Becherer said.

The competition begins September 23rd and the winner will be announced on October 8.

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DeVos unveils ArtPrize in Grand Rapids, worlds biggest art competition | 18 comments (18 topical, 0 hidden)

That's the way it was explained, yes... (none / 0) (#2)
by Nick on Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 10:50:01 AM EST

Anywhere and everywhere within a 3 mile radius of downtown can host an artist's work.

Front yards, vacant buildings, patios, rooftops, bridges, even living rooms I suppose... you name it.

Yeah, the DeVos family is awesome. They are so completely genuine. Love that whole crew.

great idea - some thoughts on pot. complications (none / 0) (#3)
by benwetmore on Thu Apr 23, 2009 at 02:39:46 PM EST

it's a great idea, I just hope they thought of some of the obvious problems - i.e. the cost of second place. Why would a great artist spend $50k of his own personal capital to come in second in art democracy? Hopefully they have an answer for that. You could hire starving artists from the lyme academy in CT, and produce 3-5 major works a year for the same price, or any of the great artists on artrenewal.org

I would just worry that the best guys aren't going to compete because solely rewarding the first place makes it too costly to play the game
esp. when predicated on the weird whims of the mob. Now, this is all to say that the way they've set it up is still better than having a panel of art 'experts' decide where you end up with something truly ugly.

But, I dunno... quite a few masterpieces were never appreciated in their time. The truly timeless items sometimes take a few decades to bloom. I don't care much for impressionists, but it's a good example: van gogh sold one painting his entire life, I think to his brother if I recall. The empirically proven model of producing great art is for a reasonably well educated man of extreme wealth hires specific talent and gives them a specific moment, story or tale to memorialize, my very amateur mind seems to say that that seems to work the best, though I wonder how the people will vote: will they choose dogs playing poker or the madonna and child or a crucifix in urine like Robert Mapplethorpe. I'd suspect that the various interests in the city will lobby hard for their respective art, so it'll become a contest of who has the best lists and can do the best turnout. Maybe it'll end up being a mammoth monument to Obama.

Though likely it'll be tony the tiger saying "Grand Rapids is Greaaaaaaaaaat!"

Which I could do for much less than 250k. In fact I'd be happy to do it for 100k plus expenses. My bad art skills will look quite postmodern. I could paint it as a mural on the side of a building
and all the art community would try valiantly to transpose meaning onto it.

I think you misunderstand... by Nick, 04/23/2009 03:37:02 PM EST (none / 0)

Downsides by benwetmore, 04/27/2009 08:43:29 AM EST (none / 0)

Yep, definitely a naysayer ;) by Nick, 04/27/2009 08:50:35 AM EST (none / 0)

statist art = good by benwetmore, 09/17/2009 06:17:10 AM EST (none / 0)

ok by benwetmore, 10/13/2009 04:07:18 AM EST (none / 0)
well by benwetmore, 10/13/2009 04:08:40 AM EST (none / 0)
I dont understand your point by benwetmore, 10/13/2009 04:09:42 AM EST (none / 0)

I don't think it's hidden knowledge by benwetmore, 11/15/2009 06:24:34 PM EST (none / 0)

the poor writing comment by benwetmore, 11/24/2009 04:22:09 AM EST (none / 0)

by this point by benwetmore, 02/21/2010 11:03:22 PM EST (none / 0)

whatever dude by benwetmore, 11/24/2009 04:23:42 AM EST (none / 0)

Nick - Welcome back!, and... (none / 0) (#10)
by rdww on Thu Sep 17, 2009 at 08:22:09 AM EST

... I agree that this is a strong positive for GR, but also share Ben's concern over the final pick. I'd more likely see a 10ft by 10ft. black velvet dayglo painting of Jesus winning the vote.
Heck, look at the Calder monument itself. I've often wondered if the old guy just went around in later years making a bundle peddling amoeba-like junk to the rubes in the hinterlands, a sort of artistic Professor Harold Hill.