The Smithsonian Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden‘s next big launch is…a reality show? The Exhibit: Finding the Next Great American Artist, a six-episode competition, will air on MTV and the Smithsonian Channel starting in March. The prize is pretty sweet: the winner will get to display their work in an exhibit at the modern art museum—home to works by Barbara Kruger, Ai Weiwei, and Yayoi Kusama—plus earn $100,000.
The show follows seven modern artists from around the United States as they compete to create “commissions” for the Hirshhorn. Each week, they’ll make a piece of art inspired by something in the museum’s collection. The competitors include Jamaal Barber, an Atlanta-based artist and printmaker; Frank Buffalo Hyde, a painter from Santa Fe; Jillian Mayer, a Miami native performance artist; and Jennifer Warren, a Chicago-based painter. Three participants are from New York: sculptor Misha Kahn, sculptor/performance artist Baseera Khan, and painter Clare Kambhu. Hirshhorn director Melissa Chiu will serve as a judge, and MTV News’s Dometi Pongo will host.
The Exhibit airs Friday, March 3 at 9 PM on MTV, and will be released on Tuesday, March 7 on the Smithsonian channel.
