Grand Rapids Makes Bold Stance About AI Art In ArtPrize

Since it started in 2009, ArtPrize has completely changed the landscape of Grand Rapids. The city has become a living mural in many ways and it has become a fixture in the city's economy.

When it was announced that the founders of ArtPrize would be shutting down and the art competition would be hosted by The City of Grand Rapids, Downtown Grand Rapids Inc., and Kendall College of Art and Design going forward, there were many lingering questions.

However, we've seen the first major change since the new leadership has taken over, and it involves the categories for entry.

ArtPrize 2.0

2023 was the first year that the new ownership ran the competition and it was largely business as usual. The committee treated that year as a transitionary period, however this year we've seen the first details about the event coming up in September.

The six major categories have been announced, including 2D, 3D, Time-Based Entries, Installation, New Media, and +Design. +Design is new this year.

New Category + AI Warning

The New Media category has been changed from its previous category of Digital and attached to it is a very 2024 warning about the use of AI in creating art. The new ArtPrize committee has made it clear that prizes will only be awarded to human artists.

This could be in response to an artist who, in 2022, won the Colorado State Fair's annual art competition with a piece of art that was created with Midjourney, an AI text-to-image generation program. The decision generated backlash both among artists and online.

The ArtPrize committee's choice to solidly rule against AI-generated art is a bold stance that is becoming increasingly popular among the art community as more and more artists see their art stolen by AI programs, and artists overall are apprehensive about how AI art will impact their art going forward.

ArtPrize starts September 13th.