The ArtPrize attempts to connect three very different audiences. A global audience of artists, a local audience of venues and an interested community of art lovers. Three audiences with different ambitions.

The logo we created for the ArtPrize strives to reach all these audiences. Calder’s La Grande Vitesse is a familiar symbol of Grand Rapids, a city that values public sculpture as an important part of its civic identity. Turned on its side and coupled with the letter form of a large A, the two create a symbolic equivalence. The abstract shape is a communicative form equivalent to the letter. To the Grand Rapids audience, this symbolizes not just the Calder, but the city turned on its side. A new perspective. To a global audience unfamiliar with La Grande Vitesse, the logo may represents a desire to transcend language. A code. A cipher. A key.

Barack Obama speaking in Calder Plaza, October 2008

A public vote is a core component of the ArtPrize. This attempts to couple the power of the internet to disseminate information with the cultural value of the artwork. An internet-enabled art must survive the cultural filter of such rapid communications. The work must market its value to an ongoing discussion or spark a new one. Controversy is one means to accomplish this. Cultural relevance is another.

The strength of internet communication is the ability of the audience to redistribute content. Linking, Digg-ing, Facebook-ing, etc. allows a message to disseminate fluidly. Each access point re-distributes a subtle interpretation of the narrative event. Each online venue exposes a new audience. A community quickly formulates dominant interpretations and reforms itself around the narrative. When we speak though this medium, we engage in a dialogue.

The problem with internet communications is that they are short lived. As long as a narrative has presence within the stream of information, it stays relevant to our cultural awareness. We form a communal memory that is very short. A Twitter post is good for a couple hours before it passes out of twitter consciousness. A Facebook post can stay relevant for a few days depending on the reach of the communicant’s network. The narrative must be continually reinforced to stay relevant. It happens over time. The ArtPrize is busily juggling the many streams of internet-enabled attention to keep focus on the project as it evolves.

The careful staging of a narrative online depends upon timing. When and where is the receptive audience interested in paying attention? What etiquette is appropriate to provoke the desired response? These considerations give the narrative the best chance to reach the desired audience intact. This is true for any online marketing, but should these become considerations for the artist?

The ArtPrize is very buzz-worthy. But what about the artist? Can the internet serve as the medium to bring art to the foreground in our culture? Can a local audience find a voice on the world stage? Does the public vote create a Lowest Common Denominator art?

Would the city of Grand Rapids have voted for La Grande Vitesse as its symbol? Perhaps. That Alexander Calder chose this form a public sculpture in Grand Rapids was his prerogative as an artist. Within his aesthetic, this form seemed most appropriate to its venue. Subjected to a public vote, would he have crafted a different form, one more appropriate to the broader aesthetic judgement of the public? It seems unlikely. Alexander Calder was an artist. He made his art to his own standards. The city entrusted aesthetic considerations to him alone. The public vote should have no impact on the character of the work.

Calder was already an international success when he was commissioned to create the first public sculpture to be funded by the National Endowment for the Arts through their Works of Art in Public Places Program. Before he began his design, Calder studied the architectural plans, scale, and materials of the buildings that were adjacent to the site. He designed a sculpture that responded precisely to the color, size, and shape of the plaza and the city and county buildings. That work, La Grande Vitesse, was dedicated to the City of Grand Rapids on June 14, 1969.
from www.sculpturesitesgr.org

To transform the city of Grand Rapids into a gallery for the world’s artists to express themselves is an exciting proposition. I suspect the works that resonate the most with me will not be the ones that the city’s population will choose to award the prizes to. That’s cool with me. As in the national election, the determination of the prize will depend as much on the charisma of the artist in presenting herself as on the character of her work. I hope to be shocked, surprised, awed and inspired by the result.

As an artist and writer myself, I am most interested in being inspired by the works. I hope to see political controversy. I hope to be subjected to bizarre aesthetics. And I hope the enduring result is to foster a flourishing local art scene enriched by such inspiration. I hope that the artists who come to present their works find Grand Rapids to be a receptive audience. I hope they stay to teach and continue to inspire local artists through exhibitions in local galleries. I hope to see local artists among those awarded national recognition and much needed encouragement. I hope that Grand Rapids can prove itself a worthy stage for the world’s expression while not losing sight of the many talented local artists whose work has been here all along.

Regardless of the merits of a public vote, regardless of the size of the prize, I hope to see art, in all its glory, telling its story in my city.

There are AIGA chapters in Detroit and Chicago and student groups at local schools (GVSU, FSU and Kendall), but there is no professional group in Grand Rapids. As a way to encourage a maturation of the local design community, we have long planned to start a local AIGA chapter in West Michigan. In December, without any fanfare, I started LinkedIn and Facebook groups to gauge interest, thinking I could collect at least the 20 names required by AIGA National to get the ball rolling. I was amazed that we found more than 70 interested people almost immediately. So I quickly put together a smaller group of the vocal members and we organized an event last week. Two hundred people attended. Here are the photos.

We’re so pleased to have started, and we’re looking forward to the next steps, which include conducting a survey of potential members and organizing a launch committee. If you’re reading this and would like to participate, please comment below to let us know!

At the event, I made a few remarks to share my views on all this. And here they are…

AIGA West Michigan First Meeting
January 20, 2009

I’ve been in and around the professional practice of design for the better part of 20 years. As I look out on this audience, I see two things. One, I can safely say that I’m no longer the youngest person in the room! Two, there is significant interest in design in this region?. I’m inspired by the creative energy and potential of the people here.

Over 20 years, things have changed, starting with the emergence of desktop computers as the primary tool (Show of hands: who has used a stat camera?) This lowered barrier for entry into the profession, which has created more competition. It has lowered the cost of production, which has devalued some of our services. The emergence of the Internet and its intersection with graphic design? has led to an overlap of existing disciplines — product design, environmental design, research, strategy? — and has led to new and growing disciplines: interaction design, experience design, service design, and beyond.

One thing is certain: We can expect to see even more changes in the next 20 years?. More people in the design profession and more press about it have increased client awareness of the value that design strategy and design thinking can bring to their endeavors.

Design has become mainstream — more and more people participate in the process of design who didn’t go to school for “design” per se. Design has never had greater awareness. Yet, in many ways, it has never been less understood?. We, in this room, have an opportunity to change that, at least in this region.

Here are two thoughts I’ve had about regionalism. On one hand, regions are becoming less important. In this profession, it used to be that you’re either in New York City, or you’re not. ?Now, it doesn’t matter as much. Travel and technology have diminished the significance of geography as a factor in business and professional expertise. On the other hand, regions are becoming more important. Because of technology, people don’t have to travel as much. Coupled with environmental concerns, valuing a higher qualify of life, building communities, city revitalization, regions have new interests in developing a local identity.

I’ve spent much of of my professional career in this region — West Michigan — and have seen a lot of change right here. In that time, downtown Grand Rapids has been completely transformed, from the Van Andel Arena, DeVos Performance Hall, and the new Grand Rapids Art Museum, to the Van Andel Institute and the emergence of the Medical Mile. There is actually a variety of places to eat dinner! Another trend I’ve witnessed: Rather than fleeing to bigger cities after school, young people are staying in West Michigan. Our region is developing its own identity. What role can we as designers play in shaping it?

My hopes for design in the region

As I’ve stated elsewhere, I believe design is less about itself, more about society, business, and people – recipients of good design. Which is to say: Sorting out design versus decoration, meaning vs style alone. For us here in West Michigan, I would hope for a less provincial attitude, and at the same time, developing a strong local presence. I would challenge this group to consider:

How can we as a region be design leaders?

How can we set a new precedents for AIGA chapters?

How can we find new ways to add value for members, educators, suppliers, and buyers?

How can we use new tools, methods, and technologies to better ourselves and our businesses?

How can we best leverage the talents and potential of this group?

Don’t get me wrong, this is not altruism! Each of us – including me – have self-serving goals for our professional and personal lives. But make no mistake, we are competing in a global marketplace. There are competitors in the room, but the larger question is: How can we we lean on each other for mutual benefit? How can we do our part to help shape this region, leveraging what we know – and want to know – about design, elevate our profession, and help West Michigan live up to its potential?

Our opportunity with a local AIGA chapter is to work together to answer these questions.

Focused on exploring “design as an economic building block for the region” the DWM was seeded by a federally-funded DOL WIRED grant, working with The Right Place and Lakeshore Advantage, and part of the Innovation Works initiatives. We’re connected to these efforts in several ways including the development of the Innovation Works identity and Idea Portal. DWM is sponsoring a Business Academy, coming in July, to be held at Kendall College of Art & Design, which aims at exposing business people to design concepts. People Design and other design professionals will be presenting case studies to help with the learning.

I’ve been serving on advisory committee, and I’m thrilled to see this come to fruition. Upon Chris‘s suggestion, Yang and I gave Daniel Pink’s “A Whole New Mind” to the staff for Christmas last year, so we were pleased when he came to West Michigan for a lecture. Upon learning about the group, Pink offered the following:

“West Michigan is doing what other regions no doubt will be doing soon: Developing design education for business people who aren’t designers. The piloting of a Business Academy is a wise and savvy move to support economic development.”

This prompted Julie to ask: What do business people need to know to be better consumers and purchasers of design and design services? Good question. Here are some thought starters, literally straight out of the People Design Playbook:

Who designs and who we consider designers are not limited to who went to design school or who have “designer” on their business card. Designers are those who participate in the process of design.
The designer is a problem solver, with keen skills in perception and intuition. Designers — creative people — tend to have special skills for facilitating, describing, deciding, visualizing, creating meaning, creating context, creating value. Designers believe they can solve a problem. This is partly why they can. A designer’s unique strength is in managing the design process to produce innovation — the process of creating something.

Bedrock skills for designers

• Conceive and make stuff
• Make things, places, and messages distinctive
• Empathize with people
• Imagine ideal usage experiences
• Sense and value what is new
• Simplify and clarify information
• Dramatically affect preference and value
• Display mental flexibility, openness
• Focus on the idea, not whose idea
• See relationships, make connections
• Seek problems
• See problems as market opportunities

DWM is just a start, but it seems like a really good start. I think it capitalizes on two important trends: design thinking and localization. The pair can not only help spur economic growth in West Michigan, but make it a better place to live.