collections from the last place

Bruno B. Dicolla's Return as an Animal

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tinygrants, an experiment in microfunding for the arts, is seeking submissions for short term relational works by artists at any stage in their career, including students. Grants up to $300 will be distributed to successful applicants, whose projects will be executed in the Toronto area between December 2, 2009 and February 22, 2010. Applications are due November 22, 2009. Please see tinygrants.ca/how-to-apply for details.

Mission Statement
An experiment in microfunding for the arts, tinygrants facilitates short term, relational art projects through the distribution of small grants to artists at any stage in their career. tinygrants promotes collaboration, participation, curiosity and awareness amongst a broad range of artists and audiences.

Impetus
The general aim of tinygrants is to enable artists’ relational projects through the distribution of small, non-renewable grants. Because student-artists, artists with small-budget projects, and non-artists are not eligible to apply for project funding from formal granting bodies available to Toronto individuals, tinygrants enables these groups to realize their short-term and low-cost projects. Students are ineligible to apply for funding through established channels because it is assumed that their practice is given sufficient support by their academic institutions. However, relational practice is never designated as a formal area of study at the post-secondary level at any Toronto-area college or university. Additionally, material costs for relational projects are often low – it is typically labour, promotion and documentation that requires funding, and not the project itself. tinygrants hopes to address funding in this area in theoretical and practical ways.

Donate to tinygrants
If you are compelled by the idea of a microgranting system for the arts in Canada, please consider donating to tinygrants.

In exchange for a small contribution, you will enable the realization of short-term collaborative, participatory or educational interventions, and receive grateful acknowledgement on the tinygrants website and in the tinygrants catalogue (published April 2010). A copy of the tinygrants catalogue will be mailed to those who donate $100 or more.

Donations of any and every size are welcome and needed to make this project a success.

Please visit www.tinygrants.ca/donate to contribute by cheque, cash, credit card or debit.

www.tinygrants.ca
hello@tinygrants.ca

The following quote sums up how I feel about art, and the blurring of art's lines, especially in my critical defense of relational practice for my thesis project.

Andrea Fraser, "From the Critique of Institutions to an Institution of Critique," Artforum, September 2005.

Installation by Erika Hock.

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It looks like there is still something extremely mesmerizing and magical about painting. Ran Ortner just won the $250,000 ArtPrize, the results of which were determined by public vote. Check out the other submissions that made it to the top ten: they are, for the most part, some kind of public installation or sculpture. Interesting that Ortner's ultra-realistic, large-scale painting of an ocean wave, Open Water no. 24 still captivated the attention of voters more than the other works that use more contemporary, nontraditional media. Is this a testament to the power of painting? Does it indicate the value still invested into the skill of painting by the public? Do people just like water? Is public installation or sculpture not understood as art and therefore, unworthy of an art prize? Who was targeted to vote?

Image: Lori Niedenfuer Cool | The Grand Rapids Press | Ran Ortner's "Open Water, no.24," at the Old Federal Building.

http://www.newscientist.com/gallery/its-a-small-world-after-all

Image: Winner

I've changed my mind about the Iain Baxter& piece. The separation between the players and the spectators was necessary to emulate the relationship between consumers (audience) and investment bankers (players) in the real estate market (game of Monopoly). So in retrospect, the execution was amazing.

Perched on a flatbed truck.

Good concept, less-than-amazing execution by Iain Baxter&. It's too bad the spectators can't get close. The video feed of the board is overexposed so you can't tell what's happening.

Meh. The catalogue image of this was misleading and thus, the installation is disappointing. I was hoping it would be slick and smooth like his balloon sculptures. But it's wrinkly and full of seams as I suppose a giant inflated bunny would be.