Re: Syndicate: Prix Ars .Net Judging Article

[Dan Arenzon <dan_arenzon@ciudad.com.ar>]

melinda jørgensen wrote:

> there is a concept in commitees called peer assesment, where ones work
> is
> judged by ones peers, which of course brings into play the political
> aspect
> as to whether winning art work is the "best" art , or the artwork done
> by
> the person with the most allys amongst the peers - ie the totally
> human
> factor that we view things done by thoes we like in a more favouravble
> way
> than things done by ones we dont like.. and then of course to be
> recognised
> as a person capable of judging artwork, one must already be involved
> and
> established, and by necessity away from where unknown experimental
> work is
> being done by unknown people outside established networks.

The first time i became a juror (one in three jury members) i arrived an
hour in advance, walked through rooms packed with more than 300
paintings, we had to make a decision in 3 or 4 hours, so i picked every
painting i thought deserved to be considered and took it to an empty
room, waiting for the other jurors to come, while i decided WHICH and
WHY. By the time the others members arrived I had already selected 4 or
5 who to ME were the best, and had walked through the other rooms giving
a quick look, just in case.
The other two members came, one of them a friend of mine, the other an
old artist I only knew by his work (which i didnt like ,or respect in
the least)
My friend agreed with my decision in less than ten minutes, if it had
been left to us, we would have been set, and done in half an hour- The
other guy didnt-
This old artist, whose work i consider simply poor, forced us, to take a
look at each individual piece, separated from the rest, consider every
possibility, TAKE TIME ON EACH WORK, because, as he explained, all this
people had put lots of love, care, attention, time, effort in their work
and they deserved RESPECT.
I felt ashamed, but i learned, he was right.(still i dislike his work)
Of course it took more than half an hour, and though my quick selection
hadnt been that bad, my attitude had.
dan