Project Propagate

Interview with Adam Weinberg regarding ArtPrize

2009-10-06T09:36:00.000-07:00

Guest Speaker, Adam Weinberg, Alice Pratt Brown Director of the Whitney Museum of American Art, interviewed by Nicole Caruth. An excerpt:

Adam Weinberg. Courtesy Artinfo.com. Photo: Patrick McMullan Photography.

Nicole Caruth: When you first heard about ArtPrize, what were your initial thoughts?

Adam Weinberg: I wasn’t sure that the world needed necessarily another art prize, per se, because there are a lot of prizes out there that are given, whether it’s the Whitney’s Bucksbaum Award, the Wexner Prize, the Tate, the Guggenheim or MacArthur. There are so many different kinds. And then there are hundreds of other competitions not on this scale. The question for me was what does this prize do that other prizes don’t? That was my initial reaction.

NC: So what do you think this prize does?

AW: Well I have to say, you’d have to have come to Grand Rapids, Michigan, to actually see what it’s done. I had an interesting conversation with Rick DeVos about this last night, and I said, “You know, to me, the prize is beside the point. It really isn’t the money or the prize, because, in fact, you have 1,200 plus artists here, and almost nobody is going to get a prize.” The point is you have hundreds and hundreds of artists who have given up their lives for a period of time, who have spent huge amounts of money going to incredible energy, expense, and time to create these projects. I think very few of them really believe that they actually have a chance at really winning much of anything, just based on numbers. It’s like a lottery. But they’re here giving their hearts to it. And Rick completely agreed. For him the prize is sort of besides the money. So what I think that the prize has done is that it has become a magnet and an excuse, in a way, to encourage artists to come from all over to create works of art throughout the city: inside, outside, on the river, on tops of buildings, on top of bridges, in fountains. Everywhere you look there are objects, and projections, and performances and the panicle of things. And the scale, I have to say I’m really quite astonished. There is just so much.

When one considers they only started this in April, and they had three months of summer intervening in the middle of this, and it’s now the end of September, just the sheer fact of organizational [achievement], not to mention the number of artists, and venues, and sponsors, and everything — it’s absolutely astonishing.

…When I first got here and I went to the Old Federal Building, and to the Urban Institute for Contemporary Art. You see the kind of discreet venues and you say, “It’s very nice and there are some beautiful things and nice exhibitions.” But it’s not until you actually start wondering around the city that you realize this is enormous. It has the scale in terms of the numbers and types of things of a Documenta that takes five years [to organize]. Now, does it have that quality level? I wouldn’t agree that it does. But on the other hand, does it have the sense of scale, scope and ambition in a funny way? Yes.

Documenta came out of a postwar situation, etc. But you have these two towns that are basically not known for very much, in a way, in the middle of the country, where art totally transforms a rather sleepy mid-country city. It’s fascinating.

NC: Yes, I was saying to Paul Moore at ArtPrize that I could write a whole thesis about this event. But I’m just trying to tackle one little piece at a time. Let’s talk more about scale, I think, it is so important in this setting.

AW: As we all know size isn’t everything, [but] you need presence in an urban environment.

…One piece that I found [so far] that had, I thought, some presence and was more successful in terms of its scale was Project Propagate, where they had recovered all these flowers from cemeteries.

NC: Right, and the flowers kind of cascade down to building?

AW: Yes. There was something both charming and kind of poignant about it, and I like that. It had scale and I think it was, for me, a bit more successful than some of the other large-scale pieces, which I find enjoyable, and there is nothing the matter with enjoyable. I wish I had had my 11-year-old daughter here when I walked around last night, because she would have loved a lot of this. But I don’t know that a lot of the pieces I would necessarily remember — and remember doesn’t just mean that you enjoy, but remember it because it was troubling, disturbing, or questioning, or something profound. So far, at least of the very large scale pieces, [Project Propagate] had that kind of memory for me.

To continue reading the interview visit http://blog.artprize.org/2009/10/05/an-interview-with-adam-weinberg/

Just sittin here spreading some sunshine.

2009-09-30T11:36:00.000-07:00

Project Propagate is Flourishing...

2009-09-24T12:00:00.000-07:00

Here we are in the 2nd official day of ArtPrize. We didnt think we were going to make it for awhile, after many long and exhausting late nights and days of being completely filthy from the dust and dirt inside 2 East. We realized that we are two people trying to tackle a ten person project (thank you so much Saul and Jake for helping when we needed it most!!) All of the hard work has been completely worth it, and we are trying to enjoy our success and digest all the wonderful artwork and buzz all around town. Grand Rapids is really starting to feel like a city!!!
Last night we were feeling the city-vibe when we went to the UICA and we didnt recognize half the people who were there. It was a really nice crowd and the artwork was fantastic.

Project Propagate is up and still growing, it seems that it is starting to grow on its own..?

On The Streets...

2009-09-23T09:33:00.000-07:00

As we’ve been installing Propagate these past four days we’ve been taking in the different types of feedback from the community and those passing by. There has been cars honking, people yelling encouragement out of car windows, taking photos from inside of their cars, and most importantly questions and comments from all sorts of folks right on the streets.

Our favorite was an African American man in his 50’s, who asked what we were up to as Nick and I were standing on the sidewalk looking and pointing up to the building. We explained our project and that it was for ArtPrize and that we wanted to see the building come to life and promote growth in the community. He said,

“I’ve been living in Grand Rapids for fifty-five years, you shoulda seen this place (the Junior Achievement building) in it’s heyday. I used to come here all the time as a kid and I had all sorts of good times here. This is great.”

THIS is why we are doing this project. THIS is what makes it so great. Sure it would be nice to win some prize money, and its not a bad piece of work for the portfolio, but to have the ability to bring back memories like in this instance, and to interact with the community in such a way is such a wonderful power to hold.

This building is like a sleeping giant. Change is in the air and is all around us, and it is this change that will wake the giant as it is cleared of years of dirt and dust and the people will pass through its doors once more.

2 East Fulton, corner of Fulton and Division

2009-09-21T18:19:00.001-07:00

The 2 East Fulton building was constructed in 1945 for Davenport College and was originally slated to be a six-story tall structure. The Art-Deco style building was later used for many years as the headquarters for Junior Achievement, an educational non-profit. Once a thriving center of learning and development, it now stands dormant with well over a decade of vacancy.

Fulton Side
Division Side
Interior Shots...
Love the JA.
Upper Floor
Lower Level
Stairs to Upper Level
Many layers of paint..
The windows on the backside of the building were covered by brick.
The building was once divided into three levels. You can see a strip of old ivy wallpaper on what would have been a second level wall.

Coming Right Along...

2009-09-11T11:56:00.000-07:00

Everything is coming along as planned. We have constructed many 'blobs' and 'hangers' as we have come to call them, and are anticipating how everything is going to come together. It will be interesting to see the response, and how people in the community will interact with the installation.

Dang! It's all so exciting!

Production Mode.

2009-09-06T11:52:00.000-07:00

Groovy. Headed to the warehouse to work on the installation as we have now entered into full-on work mode. Cutting, wiring, glue-ing, rivit-ing, hanging, (drinking), discussing. It's all good because although it is a TON of work, we are surrounded by flowers and like Nick's mom said (when she saw all of our materials) so plainly and poetically "It just makes me happy."

Random Thoughts...

2009-09-06T11:13:00.001-07:00

Our method of obtaining materials for our installation has brought up a lot of interesting discussions with friends. Why do people have the almost inherent need to have a place to go to visit and talk to their loved ones who have passed? Why not talk to and feel them everywhere? Why do we feel so sorry for the grave sites that have no flowers or American Flags and gold Jesus with flock of lambs statuettes? Should we feel obligated to visit our loved ones at their grave sites years and years after their passing? What happens when everyone they once knew have long passed away, when no one is left to visit them?

Depressing questions aside, I enjoy going to cemeteries and find them to be very peaceful places to walk and contemplate nature and our lives. When you are surrounded by death you feel a sense of urgency of life--to live it while you can, and with an appreciation of all the possibility of all the life you have yet to live.

Chapel Hill

2009-09-04T15:29:00.000-07:00

Of all the cemeteries and memorial gardens we have contacted Chapel Hill was the most kind and responsive. On the phone they said to come by sometime and they would show us where they had some flowers. They never led on to just how many they had. When we got there we couldn't believe how many there were. It was as if we had died and gone to artificial flower heaven. We filled up the whole van with flowers! Thank you Chapel Hill!

Who would have thought?

2009-09-02T14:17:00.000-07:00

We knew that we wanted to use recycled materials in our project, but we struggled in the beginning on how to incorporate this aspect. We had a light bulb moment when we visited my Grandmother's grave in a small cemetery in Ypsilanti, and noticed a brush pile behind an old shed. We wandered back to investigate and were surprised to find within the brush dozens of bouquets of artificial flowers that were tossed out by the maintenance workers. I jumped right in and started throwing them towards Nick as we discussed the potential of what we had discovered. We made plans to call around to all of the local Grand Rapids cemeteries and memorial gardens as soon as we got back into town, and marveled at the idea of using flowers that were once used to commemorate death in a magnificent portrayal of life and growth. Thus began our days of cemeteries and garbage digging.