At the beginning of this summer, we spent a lot of time trying to explain the strange idea and rules for ArtPrize. Apparently, somewhere along the way, people started to get it. As of this post there are over 113 venues and since the beginning of the week we’ve seen over 25 artists a day securing space. It’s growing a bit faster than I expected.

One expectation I had going into ArtPrize was that only a relatively small group of people would be interested in going to the trouble to exhibit art. This is not to say that exhibiting art is boring, but when asking the average person what they’d most like to do this year, they’ll probably say, “Go to Hawaii.”

I assumed it would be largely artists and people active in the art world who would jump at the chance to open a venue. While that is true, with 113 venues and counting, there are many more people who apparently have a latent desire to not only see art, but meet artists and help them exhibit their work.

I don’t think there is an average venue. Restaurant proprietors, small businesses, philanthropists, property developers and, yes, artists and art organizations have all pitched in to raise this barn called ArtPrize. I’m sure there is some entrepreneurship in the mix (a hundred hungry people walking into your restaurant to see a painting is bound to boost business), but I also believe venues have an unusual sense of ownership over the event.

The part of this experiment that most needed social technology is the venue/artist matchmaking. You could, conceivably, do the vote by paper ballot. It would be tedious, but doable. I find it hard to imagine this many venues and artists registering, connecting to each other, planning an exhibition and reaching agreements could happen any other way with this efficiency.

In short, the social experiment is working. Decentralizing control over the event has brought on a hoard of unexpected people opening up venues, contacting artists and putting together an exhibition that would not have happened otherwise. There’s something thrilling about seeing the numbers because they indicate all of these relationships forming and growing, like so many nerves spreading out from downtown. I can’t help but wonder how these relationships will change people and, ultimately, the city in years to come.