Nathan Coley, There Will Be No Miracles Here, 2006, Mount Stuart, Isle of Bute
What will Bravo’s new reality show The Untitled Art Project look like? Not even the actress Sarah Jessica Parker’s Pretty Matches Productions and the Emmy-nominated Magical Elves know all the details yet, but the basics have been released. Thirteen aspiring artists compete for a gallery exhibition, cash prize and a national tour. I spoke to the Director of Casting for Magical Elves Nick Gilhool yesterday in an attempt to get a better sense of who they’re looking to cast in the show. Sadly no decisions about who would judge the competitions or information about specific marketing partnerships with galleries and museums were released. We did however discuss the goals of the production (most of which seem to lie in putting together a competition with integrity), and the characteristics he typically looks for when casting shows. Those finding the 22 page application form available on their website a little daunting may find this conversation a good primer.
Art Fag City: Can you talk about the criteria that will be used to evaluate the artists?
Nick Gilhool: Sure. One reason Project Runway was really successful was that the first contact people had with the production was an assessment of their design talent. That’s what we’re doing here. The first contact people will have is these open calls vetted by people who know better than we do what it is to be talented as an artist. There’s going to be art professionals and art luminaries who are acting as consultants and giving us a sense of who would be exciting to watch from the art world perspective. This is going to be a very exciting show, especially if it is something that people from the art world would love to tune in to see and be impressed by. So there has to be a backbone of legitimacy to the work and to what people are seeing. And then the rest of the audience kind of gets that sense too. [Interview continues after the jump] MORE »
