ArtPrize jurors to reveal their top picks at Jurors' Shortlist Event

The ArtPrize jurors’ top 20 selections will be announced on Monday, September 29 at the Jurors’ Shortlist Event, the first event in the Critical Discourse series. The Jurors’ Shortlist Event begins at 7 p.m. at the Hub, located at 41 Sheldon Boulevard.

Jurors Andrew Russeth, Shamim Momin, Hrag Vartanian and Ariel Saldivar will present a list of five nominees – out of the 1,536 entries submitted to ArtPrize this year– for the 2-Dimensional, 3-Dimensional, Time-Based and Installation category awards respectively.

Jurors will draw from their expertise to share their perspective on the entries in their respective category.

Each category award winner will receive $20,000. Shortlist nominees will be eligible for the $200,000 Juried Grand Prize. A second $200,000 grand prize will be decided by the public with a popular vote.

“It’s pushing that dialogue,” says ArtPrize Director of Operations Dave DeBoer. “There’s that tension of what are jurors saying [and] what is the public saying, and what we find really interesting is that middle.”

The Jurors’ Shortlist Event, and the Critical Discourse series, are meant to allow for the exploration and challenging of various perspectives and for dialogue between art professionals and the public.

“A progression has happened in the community, that’s happened from ArtPrize and other great art institutions pushing people to think about art year round,” says DeBoer. “It can be a rare thing -to find an entire community embracing it and challenging each other and questioning each other and debating.”

To further that discussion, the Community Media Center's services The Rapidian and GRTV will be on hand to capture video responses from the audience directly after each presentation. Two video response stations will be ready to record the public's response to the jurors' picks that evening, which will then be shared on The Rapidian the following day.

"We've always loved supporting that dialog on The Rapidian, where our local citizens have a chance to share their news and opinions, whether they're cheering or have concerns," says Holly Bechiri, Rapidian Managing Editor. "We're excited to add another layer, with an easy and important way for Grand Rapidians to be able to jump into the conversation."

This year’s change in the awards structure may spur more dialogue during the Critical Discourse series.

“That was one of the structural changes with the awards this year,” says DeBoer, “of really kind of playing up those tensions and creating a conversation around encouraging people to ask themselves ‘What is good art?’ To challenge themselves to think further than ‘Why do I like this? What is it about this that speaks to me? Why don’t I like it? Why does somebody who spends their career doing this, why do they say that this is good?’"

The public will be able to share their own favorites through Lists, a new ArtPrize feature. Lists can be created online or through the ArtPrize mobile app using an ArtPrize account. Lists created by jurors and the public can be browsed through the “Find Art” page. The ArtPrize mobile app can also create routes with turn-by-turn directions to visit entries and venues on public Lists. 

The Shortlist Event will be broadcast live by WOODTV 8. The program will be available with ASL-English interpretation.