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.
Rebecca Kuzemchak, Birth Control
Teenage pregnancy: it is undeniably a serious issue, one with marked ramifications for the children and mothers involved. Though the media hints at these ramifications from time to time, its warnings are sporadic; and while birth rates have decreased somewhat in recent years, popular television shows such as Teen Mom and Gossip Girl arguably condone teenage pregnancy as a given part of society. To say they glorify the situation would be false, but even the hardest hitting of scenes fails to properly drive home the consequences.
This piece attempts to do that, presenting the alarming statistics behind the matter as spelled out upon one thousand one hundred thirty six hand-stippled paper “baby blocks”—one block for each child born to an American teen on a given day. It is meant to be intimidating, eye opening, and overwhelming, as its 11-foot expanse forces the viewer to confront the quantitative magnitude of the uncomfortable truth. The last sentence invokes a polarizing issue and leaves final judgment up to the individual: is there a point at which we ought not bring a human being into living?