Earlier tonight at the ArtPrize Hub (41 Sheldon) the shortlist for both the public and the juror picks for ArtPrize 2012 were revealed. Hosted by Wood TV8’s Brett Thomas and Emily Linnert, the broadcast included interviews with the five jurors and intermittent updates, listing off the public’s top 25 picks.
The juror categories include 2D, 3D, time-based, best use of urban space, and best venue. The winner of each category at the end of the competition will be awarded $20,000. The public’s top 25 was a broader, more general list of the favorites so far. During the event each juror was interviewed individually and asked to explain their choices to the viewers. Tyler Green, a columnist for Modern Painters magazine is responsible for the 2D art category. Some of his choices weighed in more heavily on content while others hinged largely on skill and execution.
Lisa Freiman, the Chair of the Indianapolis Museum of Art’s Contemporary Department is responsible for choosing the winner in 3-Dimensional work.
“There are a lot of great entries,” says Freiman of the work. Freiman gave a lot of positive feedback, both about her picks and about the event as a whole.
“I found that the public interest was quite high and delightful and I think you guys have to keep pushing it further,” she says of community involvement in ArtPrize so far. “It’s a great thing for this city.”
Juror Cathy Edwards, Director of Performance Programs for the International Festival of Arts & Ideas, is in charge of the time-based art category. She could not be at the panel tonight and was represented by her assistant, Amy Wilson.
“Cathy and I approached it as a real team effort,” Wilson says about their collaborative process. After “hitting the street running,” she says they “spent a couple of hours talking, going over what we liked and playing devil’s advocate.” She commented not only the pieces she and Edwards chose, but also of the nature of the genre itself and the critiques it invites.
“I feel like your category could really draw in the public art critic,” Linnert mentioned toward the end of the interview.
“I think a lot of what we’re seeing is very engaging,” Wilson’s replied. “The audience really has to sit and spend time with it. It really requires a bit of time and thought.”
Susan Szenasy, Editor in Chief of Metropolis Magazine and juror responsible for the use of urban space category, left no stone unturned during her interview. Her explanations were very thorough and provoked several laughs and gasps from the audience.
“I loved it,” she says of her first pick, “10,000 Hours La Grande Vitesse,” a work created on the famous sculpture on Calder Plaza. She is impressed that any of the artists had “the guts, the willingness, and the willpower to add something to it. It also made me go there. I’ve seen that picture a thousand times and it’s really beautiful in pictures, but in reality [VandenBerg Plaza] is a terrible place .” Throughout the remainder of her interview she explained her difficulty with churches as venues, as well as her disdain for parking garages, one of which houses one of the pieces in her top five.
“It called my attention to a really bad solution for public parking,” she said earnestly. “They’re really ugly and [the artist] calls attention to it in a really beautiful way.”
The final juror was Tom Eccles, the Director for the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College. He’s responsible for picking the best venue, and before he launched into his top five he explained to the viewers how impressed he is by the city being “repurposed” by becoming a venue on a larger scale.
The discussion wrapped up with a brief re-cap and a moment discussing the so-called
“tension” between the public and the juror votes.
“I think tension is the key to living a full and interesting life,” Freiman says. “And I don’t think it’s problematic at all. I think it generates interesting conversation and dialogue, and so many of the things everyone have talked about tonight are issues that all of us deal with in our lives in different capacities.”
Round one of voting will continue until this Saturday, September 29 at 11:59p.m., giving viewers just under one more week to go out, see everything they can, and cast their votes for their favorite pieces. The Top Ten will be announced Sunday, September 30 at 1p.m. at Rosa Parks Circle.
The Rapidian, a program of the 501(c)3 nonprofit Community Media Center, relies on the community’s support to help cover the cost of training reporters and publishing content.
We need your help.
If each of our readers and content creators who values this community platform help support its creation and maintenance, The Rapidian can continue to educate and facilitate a conversation around issues for years to come.
Please support The Rapidian and make a contribution today.
