Welcome
Art happens in many places and is not confined to being shown in museum buildings. Art in the public space is something that dates back a long way and it takes on many different guises. Perhaps our most common experience of art in public spaces is with sculpture. Objects can be displayed on street sidewalks-like the chandelier on Main Street-or in parks and plazas-like the \"York\" statue on the Belvedere or the \"Gracehoper\" sculpture at Riverfront Park. Then there are murals and graffiti images that pop up in urban areas. These are all forms of art that decorate and engage the space and place we live in together and the artist who works with billboards is adding to the repertoire of artistic venues and media available to us.
So what distinguishes these billboard artworks by Flavia Da Rin from other art manifestations in our urban environment? Do they improve it? How do you feel about them? Join in this dialog with Speed Art Museum curator Julien Robson and let us know what you think!
From Tom and Jaime
I adore this scavenger hunt! The billboards are beautiful and we are enjoying hunting the streets of Louisville to find them all. Thank you for giving us something to do in our home town.
Susan Vandyke
I found my first billboard but don\'t have text messaging on my phone. Is there an alternate way to play?
Curator answer
Yes, Susan. You can call the Speed Museum 502 634 2700 and the switchboard will give you the code relating to the keyword you have found.
from Sally
I am just beginning to look for the billboards. Do they have words on them or pictures only?
Curator answer
Sally, the billboards have words on them as well. They tell you the number to text and a keyword. When you text you will get a reply that will give you a codeword. Register on Ispyspeed.com and enter the codeword. You will open the image you have just seen on the freeway. Open five of these images and you can enter your own images into the BYO Billboard contest.
from Lisa
Where are the billboards?
Curator answer
They are around the expressway in Louisville. Let me give you just a couple of tips so you can start. Check out the billboards at Bardstown and I-264 facing north or I-71 at Adams facing east!
from Bill
Are billboards Louisville\'s murals? Are murals and billboards Louisville\'s street art....graffiti included??
Curator answer
Well, let\'s see what others think! Anyone want to answer this question?
from Kevin C.
Can you buy Flavia\'s work? Would love for our research lab here at UofL.
Curator answer
Flavia Da Rin is represented by a number of art galleries in the US and South America. You can google her name and find out who sells her work.
from GoCards
Can you give me a hit as to my missing billboards, or the ones I have not found yet?
Curator answer
There are ten to find. Connect with friends who are also hunting them. Maybe they can text you the locations.
from Karen
How is it that UNREAL is able to generate hundreds of votes in such a short period of time?
Curator answer
We have been looking into this and found a glitch in the voting system that has now been ironed out. The numbers today reflect accurately how many have voted. Obviously UNREAL has a lot of friends and relatives voting for him/her. There are already over 800 people registered with the site.
from Carlos
\"Unreal\" is obviously cheating. Any thoughts about this pathetic display?
Curator answer
Well, we realized that last week, investigated where votes were coming from and set about correcting it.
from Kay Kay
and no I am not cheating! all of my friends and family are voting for me everyday. the website said you could vote once a day and a lot of people have been.
from Jesse
I would like to vouch for Kay Kay. Myself and numerous others have been logging on daily to vote for her work.
from Johnny
I\\\'ve seen Unreal\\\'s number fly up 100 points in a matter of minutes - late at night. There is no way that\\\'s legit.
from Ricky
Unreal is at it once again. One vote per person - not once a day. The winner shouldn\'t be based on the best spammer scammer. What a joke
Curator answer
OK, lets not get too freaked out. This is a project that should be fun and there are obviously some problems here and we want to try and get a legitimate vote so here\'s what we have done and this is why the votes seem to have changed. This project is a work in progress and we are learning its problems as we go along. So some changes need to be made. Each registered user will have a chance to vote once a day. However, you can only vote once on each billboard. That way we have a democratic one person one vote situation rather than one persons points being loaded and skewed by multiple votes. Yes, get your family and friends to vote for you but they can only do it once. Even as we have set this process in action it looks like UNREAL is still way ahead.
from Emma
What is your favorite piece of art
Curator answer
Its a personal response but simple. The work of art that gives me the most thought is a painting in the collection of St Louis Art Museum. Its called \\\"Betty\\\" and it was painted in 1988 by the German artist Gerhard Richter.
from Kay Kay
Thats cool, I\'m not a cheater though and i don\'t appreciate being called one. It said you could vote once a day and that is what i told my family and friends. So Ricky, Carlos and everyone else needs to stop getting hostile at me (thanks Jesse) I haven\'t done anything wrong. If its one vote per person thats fine, I\'ll let my friends know that\'s the case. Sorry for the mix up, but I\'m not cheating and I\'m sorry if any of my friends are. if they are, I was totally unaware of it. Ricky, I can ask whoever I want to look at my art, which is what I have been doing, if they like it they can vote for it . This is a competition, I can ask whoever I want.
Curator answer
Thanks Kay Kay. I think we can lay this issue to rest now. So, come on everybody lets get people participating by submitting images and voting. Encourage everyone you can to take part.
from Kevin
Has anyone found all ten yet?
from Suzanne
Is this art or an imaginative tourism promotion?
Curator answer
Your question begs another question, namely what you think constitutes art and why? Interestingly this project folds the art, its marketing, and educational element into one but I don\'t see how it can be read as tourism promotion. Maybe you can elaborate.
from Callanderz
Hi! I am excited about the Billboard Contest, but concerned because I heard a rumor that voting was going to end a week early, on Feb. 22. That\'s not true, is it? The posted end date is Feb. 28. I hope the dates haven\'t changed. Thanks!
Curator answer
You are right. We extended the date to the 28th so more people could vote. A couple of new and interesting images appeared today.
from the ispyspeed webmaster
Some people have been registering with multiple e-mail addresses in order to create a false voting pattern. We are now checking e-mail addresses and their URL sources and false and fictional addresses will be eliminated along with the votes associated with them. So expect to see some changes in the voting numbers over the next week as we clean this up. Its really not fair of people to do this and would be more honest if they accepted that you should only register once and that you then have to abide by the voting rules.
from Callanderz
Yesterday, I saw another of Flavia Da Rin\\\'s billboards - that makes 6 that I have found. Will you announce the locations of all 10 after the contest ends? The treasure hunt aspect of this event was great - any more planned for the future?
Curator answer
While I think one or two have changed location I hope to publish the locations by the end of the week. I am going to keep the website open to submissions even though the voting will have ended and we will rotate the best images on a screen inside the Speed Art Museum during March. So keep those images coming. As for doing this again...I hope that at some point we can do something similar but even better.
from Renee
How do I see your bill boards if I don\\\'t have a cell phone
Curator answer
By the beginning of next week they will all be freely available to view on the website without having to enter codes.
from Emily
I am really concerned about the validity of the voting at this point. Every time \'taste like chicken\' gets a few votes, \'unreal\' SERIOUSLY gets a few in a matter of seconds. i know \'unreal\' has been in the lead, but it strikes me as very strange that when 3 votes come in for \'taste like chicken\' 3 IMMEDIATELY come in for \'unreal.\' i think something very fishy is going on... it is very disappointing that the true \'best man\' may not win. can the emails be checked again???
Curator answer
We will not be announcing a winner until we have checked all the votes. However, there is only a limited amount of auditing that we can do at this point. When we have finished we will not only put up a billboard outside the museum we will also post the best images on the monitor in the museum. We want to actively encourage people to keep submitting images which we can display on the monitor as part of the project until its final closure at the end of March. Now that the project has changed gear I will give you the codes: Hotair, Smudge, Pegasus, Falls, Skydiver, Roam, Park, Hitch, Scraps, Color.
We have learned a lot from this process and in particular the fact that voting patterns have been heavily motivated by the ability to lobby friends and relatives rather than in aesthetic criteria. If we do this project again we will use this knowledge to tailor the structure of ISPYSPEED.