For two weeks, Artprize is taking over west Michigan's largest city. Artists submitted a variety of works, from pencil drawings and watercolors to kinetic sculptures and giant furniture, which are being displayed in a variety of venues throughout Grand Rapids' downtown riverfront district. The winner is whomever gets the most votes and will be declared on October 10th.
Rick DeVos and the Origins of Artprize
Artprize was founded by Rick DeVos, a philanthropist and one of west Michigan's patrons of the arts. DeVos conceived the idea after visiting other art festivals but decided he wanted a festival that engaged the public in a different way. This is according to an April 13, 2009 interview by the Grand Rapids Press, where DeVos stated Artprize would use, "technology to connect people to each other or to art in new and interesting ways."
The way Artprize accomplishes this is by allowing regular people, basically anyone who registers at the festival, to vote for their favorite works via text message or the Internet. Then, during the second week, voters cast their ballots once more for one of the top ten. According to the Artprize website, this will allow artists to engage their audience in a fresh way, since, "conversation, education and general engagement from the public arises when their opinion creates a tangible result."
Loch Ness Monster at Artprize and Other Creations
Over one thousand artists from around the world submitted entries, leading to a body of work as diverse as the artists themselves. These projects include a one hundred foot long Loch Ness monster installed in the Grand River and an oversized dining table and chairs placed atop one of Grand Rapids' bridges. Some other entries were:
- " Rhinoceros Head 2," a sculpture made of recycled tires
- "the trumpets of Jericho - Al Qanat," a series of graphite portraits by an Iraq war veteran
- "Read Me a Story," a ten foot tall aluminum dragon with streetlight
- "Peaceisnowhere," a sculpture of a woman made with 2,000 plastic army figures
- "misfold," a thirteen-foot collapsible paper sculpture
Most Controversial List at Artprize
Voters are also able to vote down a piece of art. This did not count in the final vote tally but gave the public another chance to engage artists. It also led to Artprize's Most Controversial list, which included submissions with the closest up vote, down vote ratio. Some from that list include:
- "Tooth Fairy," a series of billboards espousing the benefits of flouride
- "You Wear What I Wear," an inflatable nylon suit worn by the artist around downtown
- "Silicone Replica Series of Dolls," a collection of lifelike baby dolls
- "Follow the Leader," a sculpture of 8 cement cubes representing birds
- "Expressions Illuminated," a series of glass masks lit with changing color
Other works had people scratching their heads. As part of his submission, Rob Bliss launched 100,000 paper airplanes from several downtown rooftops as a gathering of musicians played in the street below. The event brought 20,000 people together, and lots of votes for Bliss, but according to Chris Apap, in a September 28th, 2009 posting to TheRapidian.com, it looked like, "gigantic clumps of folded paper were dumped onto the crowd below."
Artprize is Successful
Despite controversies, Artprize has been hugely successful. It brought thousands of people to downtown Grand Rapids which gave the area a much needed economic boost. It has also given hundreds of artists a public venue in which to display their work and a chance for recognition. Plus, it has gotten people talking about art, one of Rick DeVos' aims for the contest.
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