The idea is, visitors “check-in” to each artist studio using a smart phone app. After you have checked into 5 studios, you can nominate your favorite three artists. Artists who are the most popular will be visited by museum curators for a chance to participate in a show at the museum.
We visited a few studios to give you a sneak peak before you venture out so stay tuned.
It will be interesting to see how this pans out, considering that a majority of Brooklyn’s artists, the very people who attend open studios, are going to be waiting in their own studios for you to stop in and vote for them.
This puts a lot of pressure on the artists, not only to clean up their work spaces, but to get their butts marketing themselves.
Also, there are large concentrations of artists in certain areas like Greenpoint and Bushwick but very few artists in Coney Island and Brighton Beach for example, so location may affect artist nomination.
And the voting bit. Each studio has a unique number. On a basic level, this is an artist popularity contest, with the power in the hands, literally, of the visitors who are the most text and smart phone savvy. But don’t worry, “if you don’t have a phone, you can write this number down and enter it later on the website.” I imagine if you don’t have a phone, you don’t understand the concept of a website.
Either way, this is a great opportunity to walk around the neighborhood and meet the artists who live and work here. Go Greenpoint!
Will you be visiting your artist friend’s studios? Have any great recommendations for artists to visit? Are you a participating artist? Please use the comments below to promote your butts off!