ArtPrize 2010 dates announced at sponsors meeting

Sat, Nov 21, 2009    to del.icio.us

GRAND RAPIDS — ArtPrize 2010 will be held Sept. 22 through Oct. 10, founder Rick DeVos announced Wednesday.

ArtPrize is a radically open art competition giving away the world's largest art prize.

DeVos shared the new dates during a meeting with 2009 sponsors and potential 2010 sponsors.

The announcement of the dates comes just a little more than one month after the completion of ArtPrize 2009; and follows several weeks of meetings among ArtPrize organizers, volunteers, artists, venues and sponsors, DeVos said.

"ArtPrize 2010 planning is under way and designed to build on the incredible success of ArtPrize 2009," he said in the announcement. "We want to continue to push the boundaries of this great experiment and to reboot the conversation about art by creating more opportunities to engage more people in the ArtPrize experience."

DeVos said they are reviewing ways to better help visitors spend time in individual ArtPrize neighborhoods in the 3-square-mile zone in downtown Grand Rapids, and considering increasing the number of exhibition sites that are professionally curated. DeVos also said ArtPrize has begun sending a save-the-date invitation to thousands of artists worldwide.

Ran Ortner of Brooklyn, N.Y., captured the top prize of $250,000 in this year's ArtPrize for his work "Open Water No. 24." More than 1,260 artists participated in the 16-day event.

On the Net: www.artprize.org/home