WIGA 2012
How much truth can art bear? This enigmatic quotation from French philosopher Alain Badiou was the springboard for the third annual What Is Good Art? Competition and Exhibition.
Read a profile of the competition and exhibition in the Duke Chronicle here.
The distinguished panel of judges for the 2012 competition included a mix of people new to the project and a number of returning experts:
Christopher Bass, Vice President at Oak Hill Capital Partners, L.P.
William Fick, Visiting Assistant Professor of the Practice of Visual Arts
Noah Pickus, Director, Kenan Institute for Ethics
Kimerly Rorschach, Director, Nasher Museum of Art
Raquel Salvatella de Prada, Assistant Professor of the Practice of Visual and Media Arts
Walter Sinnott-Armstrong, Professor in Practical Ethics in the Department of Philosophy and the Kenan Institute for Ethics
Charles Thompson, Director of Undergraduate Studies, Duke Center for Documentary Studies
With a strong field, the judges chose to award two additional Honorable Mention Prizes in addition to First, Second, and Third Prizes.
Competitions winners were:
First Prize: Pinar Yoldas, Speculative Biologies
Second Prize: Nikita Yogeshwarun, Flaw
Third Prize: Rebecca Kuzemchak, Any Given Day
Honorable Mention: Yumian Deng, Musician Underground
Honorable Mention: Hannah Metaferia, Accademia
During the Opening Gala on April 13th, attendees voted for Gallery Choice prize, producing the the first-ever tie. This year’s Gallery Choice Prize co-winners are:
Carrie Arndt, Gollum
Colin Heasley, Gilt
View the Team Kenan’s curation companion guide to the exhibition here:
The full gallery is online below.
Carrie Arndt, Blue
The melancholy blue tones and ruddy yellow low ceilings not only tell a tale of austerity and of burdens heavy but shouldered, but they also tell a tale of harshness hidden away as rage and rising fight when the option of flight has dissolved. Therein lies misery: the misery of a young woman, immigrated to the United States in the late 19th century, torn from her culture, challenged to rise above the hardships of prejudice and penury; the misery of Anne Frank, trapped in an attic, living yet dying in the suppression of her youth and sexuality; the misery of the hard-worn, the women sold on the streets, left alone in empty rooms of crushing thoughts only when the men have gone. Yet see the spark in the eye! A wily flash of iron will, sharpened by the hunger, the frustration, and the loneliness that have brought her here. This hellish sulfured girl—awaiting the kiss of a match, a tear in the fabric, a chance to rise and escape—if she is not careful, will explode because while she will not give in, nor break under the pressure, her stoic soul sinks from heroism to militancy as the hardships grow greater. The truth of beauty is that the outside world can destroy what’s within. Does she have a chance?