Aesthetic Competition

March Madness has hit the arts, at least according to LeisureArts. They’ve drawn up an NCAA-style bracket that pits 64 art collectives in an imagined monthlong battle. Will the Center for Land-Use Interpretation end up drubbing The Yes Men? Or are you putting your money on Atlas Group, the Critical Art Ensemble, Superflex, n55, or COBRA? (And how does an art collective nail a three-pointer?)

Just like the NCAA, LeisureArts is looking for corporate sponsorship, but their only likely candidate – Bernadette Corporation – hasn’t responded yet. As the comments suggest, we art types take our aesthetic competitions seriously: one anonymous person called it “elitist crap,” while others challenged the exclusion of collectives based outside the US (although there are some). I, too, wonder why my favorite collectives aren’t included: Futurefarmers, the Bureau of Inverse Technology, Mejor Vida Corp., or the ever-weird but demonstratedly scrappy Atelier van Lieshout.

[Cross-posted at Off-Center.]