About ArtPrize

History

Read an interview with Ran Ortner, ArtPrize® 2009 winner.

On a brisk, clear morning in April 2009, Rick DeVos announced a new “social experiment.” He was going to give away the world’s largest art prize based solely on a public vote. DeVos said the event would take over downtown Grand Rapids, Michigan that fall. As it turned out, that was just the beginning.

An open call

ArtPrize would be a very different kind of art competition. It would decentralize the traditional, top-down art contest in two ways.

First there was the open call to artists, venues, and voters. Any artist in the world could compete; anyone with property in downtown Grand Rapids could turn their space into an art gallery; and any visitor could vote for their favorite artworks.

Second, ArtPrize made what amounted to a dating website for artists and venues. There would be no selection committees, no juries. Anything was possible if the artists and venues agreed to make it happen.

Public vote would decide who won the cash prizes. With voting on the Internet or on mobile devices, the votes would be tallied quickly. You could track the progress of your favorite artworks online, in real time. How would this affect the winners? No one could say. This was a new kind of event, impossible just ten years before.

Initial response

The radical openness of the idea exhilarated some and drew heavy criticism from others. Despite all the disagreement, one thing was clear: with opening day just six months away, speculation had to take the backseat to action.

On opening day (September 23, 2009), 159 venue owners opened their spaces to display the entries of 1,262 artists from 41 states and 14 countries.

The big event gets huge

Neither the organizers nor the city were prepared for the massive public response.

By the first Sunday, restaurants had run out of food. By the next Sunday, hotels had run out of rooms. On the final day of the event, a line to see the winning piece stretched down the street for over two blocks. Ultimately, the venue with the winning piece would host over 80,000 visitors, while the number of total event visitors topped 200,000. Total votes cast during the event: 334,219.

The winners

Brooklyn artist, Ran Ortner, won the top prize of $250,000 for his large-scale painting of oceanic waves, Open Water No. 24. On October 7, Ortner was an artist who couldn't pay his phone bill. On October 8, Ortner was in every major newspaper in the world. He had the world's largest art prize under his belt, plus two more paintings sold and three more commissions.

Ran Ortner's winning work, Open Water No. 24, is currently on display at the Reserve Wine Bar & Restaurant. View and listen to the January 15, 2010 video of Ran Ortner at the GRAM.

Open Water No 24 by Ran Ortner

Chicago muralist Tracy Van Duinen took the $100,000 second place prize for his bricolage mural on the Grand Rapids Children’s Museum. Traverse City, MI artist Eric Daigh took the $50,000 third place prize for his push-pin portraits.

Other highlights

Two artists who didn't make the top ten were discussed more than most of the winners.

One hundred thousand paper airplanes flew at the event staged by Rob Bliss

One hundred thousand paper airplanes flew at the event staged by Rob Bliss

Rob Bliss, a local social media darling who stages record-breaking interactive events, threw over 100,000 paper airplanes from atop buildings along one of Grand Rapids' main corridors. That Sunday afternoon, the city was flooded with people who came to participate in the event, adding musical accompaniment to the airplanes' flight.

Salt and Earth by Young Kim

Young Kim, an art professor in Greensboro, North Carolina, created what many named as their favorite piece. Salt and Earth was an expansive grid of white squares made of poured salt. Screened over the salt in reddish clay dust were the portraits of Grand Rapidians. Unfortunately, Salt and Earth was in a building blockaded by construction, but by the end of the first weekend a handful of visitors discovered it. Three days later, thousands of people were pouring through the warehouse-turned-gallery to see the work. The meteoric rise in votes was a little too late to make Salt and Earth enter the top ten. The Grand Rapids’ Urban Institute for Contemporary Art awarded Young Kim a curator’s prize at the closing ceremony.

Views from the ground

A lot more happened over the 16 days of the event. For a comprehensive view of the event and its winning entries, see the report from The New York Times.

Adam Weinberg shares his thoughts on the event

Adam Weinberg shares his thoughts on the event

For a more intimate report, see the journal of Nicole Caruth (of the Art21 Blog). ArtPrize brought in Nicole to chronicle the event, and her journal captures the the mixed emotions of art-world guests such as Adam Weinberg (Director of Whitney Museum of American Art), Peter Murray (Executive Director, Yorkshire Sculpture Park), Mary Jane Jacob (School of the Art Institute of Chicago), David R. Collens (Storm King Art Center).

You can read what Michael Kaiser (President, John F. Kennedy Center for Performing Arts) said about his ArtPrize experience in the Huffington Post. For an urban planner's perspective of the event, see the piece from GOOD Magazine.

Coming soon in 2011

19 days

162 venues

1,582 artists

42 states and 21 countries

$484,000 dollars in awards

In 2010

19 days

192 venues

1,713 artists

44 states and 21 countries

$474,000 dollars in awards

465,538 votes cast

200,000+ visitors

50% non-residents

In 2009

18 days

159 venues

1,262 artists

41 states and 14 countries

$449,000 dollars in awards

334,219 votes cast

200,000 visitors

What people said

No matter who wins, the 17-day competition has spurred a lively debate in Grand Rapids, a city of about 200,000 with a tradition of interest in art.

Micheline Maynard

NEW YORK TIMES

To those of us who believe that art has the power to inspire and enliven our communities, [ArtPrize] was a glorious example.

Michael Kaiser, President of the John F. Kennedy Center for the Performing Arts

THE HUFFINGTON POST

If urban leaders are paying close attention, they will use DeVos’ art inspiration as a way to transform the way they do business.

Carol Colletta, CEOs for Cities

GOOD MAGAZINE