Artists Begin Registration to Compete for World's Largest Art Prize

ArtPrize 2010 artist registration begins today. The public to select the winner.

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Apr 19, 2010, 09:23 ET

GRAND RAPIDS, Mich., April 19 /PRNewswire/ -- The radically open experiment that drew 1,262 artists from around the world, 200,000 visitors treasure hunting for art and gave away the world's largest art prize, invites artists to register for ArtPrize 2010. The prizes include: first place, $250,000; second place, $100,000; third place, $50,000; and, fourth through 10th places, $7,000 each. The prize is decided by public vote.

Artist registration for ArtPrize 2010 begins today, Monday, April 19 and ends at 5 p.m. EDT, Thursday, May 27, 2010.

ArtPrize allows artists from around the world to register any type of art work at artprize.org. To exhibit, artists must secure space within ArtPrize venues in a three-square mile district of downtown Grand Rapids. Venues range from city parks to rooftops to museums to restaurants to the river. Each artist may only submit one entry. Artists do not need to be present during the ArtPrize competition.

This year, well over 200 venues have registered throughout the ArtPrize three-square-mile district. Seven exhibition centers -- hosted by regional institutions like the Grand Rapids Art Museum, Frederik Meijer Sculpture Park and The Urban Institute for Contemporary Art -- will be large venues offering visitors a beginning point where they can register to vote, visit an ArtPrize store and venture into the neighborhood's other venues.

During ArtPrize 2009, over 334,000 votes were cast for 1,262 artists in 159 different venues. After one week of public voting, an official list of the top 10 artists was announced. Then, the public voted for their top single-artist choices. All votes were cast using a mobile device or the web. New York artist Ran Ortner captured the top prize of $250,000. The top 10 finalists included artists from six different states.

"ArtPrize is about turning the city into an art gallery and inviting artists to think big," said Rick DeVos, ArtPrize founder. "We bring a massive, engaged audience. It's a totally new context for artists and we invite them to play with it."

To find out more about ArtPrize or how to register for the ArtPrize 2010 competition, visit artprize.org.