With over 1,200 pieces of amazing art gracing downtown Grand Rapids, ArtPrize is absolutely blowing me away. So far, I have seen only one tenth of what I want to experience. Even spending a few hours downtown throws me into a sensual stupor.
It's not just the art pieces that send me into a transcendent state. Certainly, much of the art itself is amazing; a wonder to behold.
But it's more than the art.
It's the whole ArtPrize vibe.
It's the community and conversations that are building around the art, the artists, and the experience.
It's how the entire city of Grand Rapids has been transformed into a uniquely fabulous art gallery.
Walking through downtown, exploring creativity with both friends and strangers, I feel the lines blur between art and reality. I look at a piece of art, then turn to look at a commonplace downtown item -- say a parking meter or a sidewalk -- and I feel incapable of understanding the difference between art and community.
At moments like these, I understand -- at once -- that art is community. That by experiencing ArtPrize, you become a piece of art. You become a part of the scene, the vibe, the community. That art is everywhere, that art is accessible to everyone.
I'm not alone in this wonderful feeling. You can feel it yourself -- when you experience it yourself.
But if you're the disbelieving sort that needs empirical evidence of the evolution of the community art experience, watch how ArtPrize is being discussed online.
So, with all this buzz and community-building, social media bon vivant Paul Jendrasiak writes to ask me a very good question:
I am surprised ArtPrize has not trended on Twitter. What numbers do you think it needs to hit to do so?
Great question, Paul.
I suspect that Twitter Trends look for more than a high volume of mentions over weeks -- it looks for volume over hours. At the time of this writing, #ArtPrize has appeared about 30 times on Twitter, from about 24 different people.
I could be wrong, but that's not nearly enough to make #ArtPrize a trending international topic.
But thirty posts per minute for a few days from a few hundred people, why, that could put ArtPrize into the trending topic zone.
I hope ArtPrize gets the international attention it so richly deserves. More than a local event -- it's arriving at a pivotal time where community, technology, and creativity are changing the way we experience art and reality.
If I could vote the entire city of Grand Rapids as winner of ArtPrize, I would.
Instead, I will continue to "vote" for ArtPrize with a hashtag at Twitter, and encourage you to do the same.
Please do continue to tweet about your ArtPrize experience. Mark it with a # . I'd love to hear about your art experience!
And at the same time, let the international art community know that something special indeed is happening in Grand Rapids, Michigan.
