White House Historical Association, “This Art Is Your Art” Competition

The Robert Rauschenberg Foundation partnered with Artsy and the White House Historical Association to organize the “This Art Is Your Art” competition, which was an unprecedented opportunity for university students in the United States to engage with artwork in the White House. Students chose an artwork from the White House collection, selected from a gallery of images on Artsy, and created a short video in response to specific prompts about the historical and artistic context. 
 
The five winning videos, which made unexpected connections and pondered new lines of reflection, were on view at the White House Visitor Center in a special installation “This Art Is Your Art,” organized by the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation and the White House Historical Association from July 15 to Sept. 30, 2016.
 
The five winners were Blair Katherine Betik, Southern Methodist University, Dallas; Lauren Blankenship, Portland State University, Oregon; Mekia Machine, Columbia University, New York; Natalia Gabrielsen, University of Arizona, Tucson; and Qiong “Voyo” Wu, Sotheby’s Institute of Art, New York. The jury for the competition was comprised of eight renowned artists, educators, museum professionals, and public figures: Caroline Baumann, director of Cooper Hewitt, Smithsonian Design Museum, New York; Melissa Chiu, director of Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington, D.C.; JiaJia Fei, director of Digital, Jewish Museum, New York; Agnes Gund, chair of the Board, MoMA PS1, New York, and president emerita of Museum of Modern Art, New York; William Kloss, art historian and author of Art in the White House; Jan Krawitz, professor of Documentary Film and Video Department, Stanford University, California; Earl A. Powell III, director of National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.; and Kehinde Wiley, artist.

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