ArtPrize Nine reveals large-scale entries for Grand River and downtown parks

GRAND RAPIDS, MI – Nine large scale public projects – including orange mannequins floating in Grand River and a voice-activated laser light show over the river will be placed around the downtown area during ArtPrize Nine.

The entries are being funded in part by $85,000 in grants from ArtPrize and its sponsors for the artists and collaboratives from around the country. The projects will be installed at Calder Plaza, Ah-Nab-Awen Park, Gillett Bridge and the Grand River.

Don't Edit

Rendering Courtesy of ArtPrize

'Superlative Circus Wagon Sideshow Extravaganza'

Kansas-based artist and educator Erika Nelson will install "Superlative Circus Wagon Sideshow Extravaganza" on the Gillett Bridge.

Nelson will install three circus wagons along the bridge, each featuring miniature hand-made versions of iconic local monuments -- like Alexander Calder’s “La Grand Vitesse” and Nina Akamu’s “American Horse.”

Don't Edit

Rendering Courtesy of ArtPrize

"Everything is Happening Right Here'

LED lights will illuminate the words “Everything is Happening Right Here,” with laser-cut letters installed on a temporary aluminum support structure on Calder Plaza. The display will be installed by Justin Langlois and Hiba Abdullah, lead artists for the Toronto, Ontario-based collective, Broken City Lab, .

“We believe this project captures the spirit of ArtPrize, responding to the local realities of Grand Rapids while also creating a larger narrative for the hundreds of thousands of visitors to the event,” according to the artists statement.

Don't Edit

Rendering Courtesy of ArtPrize

'Safety Orange Swimmers'

Artists Ann Hirsch and Jeremy Angier will install "SOS (Safety Orange Swimmers)" in the Grand River.

“SOS” will feature 22 larger-than-life size figures, each cast from a single mold, swimming with the help of what appear to be salvaged black inner tubes re-purposed as personal flotation devices.

Painted safety orange, the figures’ coloring refers to the life jackets found strewn near migrants’ landing sights on beaches and landfills along the northern coast of the Mediterranean.

Each of the 22 figures represents one million involved in the global refugee crisis.

Don't Edit

Rendering Courtesy of ArtPrize

'Starfall'

Grand Rapids-based artist AJ Paschka will create "Starfall," a laser-art installation along the Grand River that is sponsored by JW Marriott Grand Rapids, as part of the hotel's 10th anniversary celebration, and XS Energy.

Visitors at the JW Marriott will be invited to speak into a microphone, activating colorful lasers that will modulate and dance from the tops of buildings along the river’s edge and onto the water.

“The city and the river are the stage, and you become the art director,” says Paschka.

Don't Edit
Don't Edit

Rendering Courtesy of ArtPrize

'Land Chimes'

Ah-Nab-Awen Park will feature "Land Chimes,"  a sonic installation by Chicago-based artists, Joshua Lantzy and Jamie Topper.

Visitors will be invited to walk among the chimes, striking them with mallets, translating the changing slope of the park into sound. Each chime will host an LED light shining upward, creating a suspended field of lights above the installation plane.

“This piece is an invitation to play, to experiment with sound, and to peacefully collaborate with others through public art,” according to the artists' statement.

Don't Edit

A past work by Tanner Wilson, whose "Tiger" will be displayed on a corrugated steel shipping container on the Blue Bridge.

Photo courtesy of ArtPrize

'Dancing Tigers'

Atlanta-based artist, Tanner Wilson will turn a corrugated steel shipping container into a  work of art with his mural, "Dancing Tigers."

Wilson will paint a dancing tiger on each side of a shipping container on the Blue Bridge -- one side depicting a daytime scene with grasses and flowers, the other a nightscape set underneath the moon and stars.

Don't Edit

Rendering Courtesy of ArtPrize

'Universal Translator'

Chicago-based artist CJ Hungerman will apply his unique style of patterned kinetic color to a shipping container at North Monroe Park.  "Universal Translator" uses a multitude of layers, shapes, and colors which explode into moving, electrified, surrealistic landscapes, engaging the viewer with new optic riddles each time the art is explored.

Don't Edit

Photo Courtesy of ArtPrize

'Surreality'

Visual artist, producer, DJ and musician Tashif "Sheefy McFly " Turner's mural, "Surreality," seeks to spread an energetic sense of subconscious wonder at Calder Plaza.

The Detroit-based artist creates each of his murals spontaneously. Though he carries over a few recurring images, he draws on the energy of his surroundings to execute each mural he creates.

Don't Edit

Photo Courtesy of ArtPrize

'Relative Realities'

Burt "Tyke Witnes' Nguyen's style is inspired by comic books, graffiti and pop surrealism. Through his mural "Relative Realities" the artist will create two images that represent two different perspectives of the same reality.

Through this piece located on the Blue Bridge, the artist asks viewers to explore their personal beliefs of reality and the relationships they experience over the course of a lifetime.

Don't Edit
Don't Edit