When the 20 Things project started, nearly two years ago, there were only about 40 people interested in participating in the project and making art. Now there are 2500, and the logistics become a bit more complicated. We've experimented with signing up the first 20 responses, not signing up anyone till the work was finished, randomly selecting responses, etc.
Part of the goal of the project is to have a sort of egalitarianism - a notion that submissions aren't juried or selected through any sort of valuation process. This has been both exhilarating and frustrating to me - exhilarating because most of the art world is so difficult to break into, and that even at the most open interstices of that institutional art world, there are still more barriers to entry than at 20 Things, and I'm glad that 20 Things can serve as a different sort of gallery/project.
But it's frustrating in that, as with any curator, there's work that really excites me and work that doesn't really excite me. I want to find ways to encourage the exciting work rather than the work that I don't care for without discouraging the people who are submitting, all of whom I am really thankful to for participating in the project. And I'm not sure how to do that while still maintaining the egalitarianism and accessibility of the project as a whole.
I've been tempted to dodge the question a bit by selecting a guest curator, and putting the burden on that person rather than doing the dirty work of rejection myself, but that doesn't seem fair either.
It's also really important to me that the really talented people who are sitting at their computers now thinking "my work isn't really good enough" realize that it is. And that might be even more important to me than having only work I think is really exciting.
Which brings me back to this upcoming swap. I'd like to try something new for this swap, and if it doesn't work, we'll try something else next time.
To participate in this swap, send me an email and tell me something about your work (e.g. what you'll be making, why, what you imagine people might do with it when they get it, how it fits in the 20 Things project, etc.)
Though I recognize that this runs the risk of selecting people who talk about their work well, not necessarily people who make good work, I'll take that risk this time & see what we get. Silly and creative answers are fine.
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This part of the project is a work-in-progress. Sign up for the mailing list to see how it evolves.
join the mailing list to be notified of upcoming swaps:
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