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.
Nikita Yogeshwarun, Flaw
Second Prize
Still from video. Watch the full video here.
As an art history major, as well as a general aficionado of art, I have come to realize that it can be a highly controversial subject. I went to a public high school in Texas that was generally conservative. I had an inspirational and challenging art teacher who motivated me to take on all sorts of obstacles through my art. I became obsessed with the bare truth of the human body. It was unlike the social constructs that were fed to me through my culture's media and fashion. This art did not seek to create something beautiful or idealistic. In fact, it emulated and exalted the human flaw. I found this to be quite refreshing, and found solace in the works of artists like Da Vinci who exposed these seemingly ugly truths. I started to question the ethics of censorship during this process. One of my works had won an award, yet it could not be displayed along with the other pieces because it showed nudity. Then, when the district officials came to visit the art department, my teacher had to cover an image of Michelangelo's "David" due to the same reason. I felt that this made the artwork seem almost shameful or pornographic. With these questions on my mind, I created a short video that exposed what I thought to be art's flaws. The subject goes from displaying intense emotion through color to a blank, beautiful canvas that was flawless, yet also meaningless. I did not have the proper equipment to film this video, but I thought the grainy quality added to the effect. Should art serve truth, or should it be a means to glorify it?