In terms of an art festival, this was the worst experience I have had in my life! I paid the entry fee of 55 Euro and have proof they did not bother to watch any of the films I entered. This experience is what pushed me to create this blog and start this project. I want this to be publicly known so that any artist who stumbles upon this festival will be aware of how badly they operate.
I had already submitted a couple of works in the 2016 event that were not selected despite being appropriate, but that is irrelevant now. Given my experience, I was nevertheless tempted to participate in the 2019 event of the Luxembourg art prize because they are offering a very large prize of 50,000 Euro, which would greatly help me create future work.
The festival has a list of the type of art that is acceptable when applying to the festival (video is accepted, even though they have only selected one video in 5 years), every year they select 10-12 finalists. If you are a video-artist, just work out your chances of being accepted!
Since it was possible to enter as many works as one wished, after paying the entry fee of 55 Euro I decided to give the festival another try. I entered 6 works of mine in two different categories (for a total of 12 submitted works). I entered every work as a film installation and also as a single print on a white aluminum edition. I did this because considering the number of videos they have selected in the history of the festival —just one!— I would have at least a better second chance with the print editions of my work.
What follows is a very important point:
on their website, https://www.luxembourgartprize.com, in the candidate
area they suggest using a sort number to provide the selection committee with the order in which to watch the works. The films in my projects are very important and if you don’t watch the films first, the single frame doesn’t make much sense. The first work I entered was a film with sort number = 1.
Since I am very protective of my work, I prefer to use my website to upload my work. On my website there is an area that has restricted access. In order for people to watch my work I create private credentials for each festival. In combination with the restricted area there are also two log files. One log file shows me all of the successful log-ins to the restricted area and the other shows all of the failed attempts.
When the festival announced the 10 finalists you can easily guess what I did and what I found out. I opened the two file logs on my website and found no attempts made with the credentials I had set up for the festival. Proof they did not watch either work with sort number = 1!
I contacted the festival and with my first email I didn’t say anything about the logs, I just asked if they were sure that all the submitted works by each artist were examined. Their answer was that they understood my frustration for not having been selected but assured me that the selection committee had examined all my submitted works carefully.
I replied that in my opinion the selection committee did their job without much care because I had proof that what they were stating was untrue. I explained the log system on my website in which there was no presence of the credentials I had created for them (I didn’t speak about the second log of the failed access).
They replied that it was possible that the links to the films I submitted in my application did not work well or were not accessible at the time of the consideration of my application and that the members of the Artistic Commission could not be responsible for any technical issues. They stated that in such a difficult situation, as there were other works in my application, the videos could not have been watched and only the photos had been studied.
To be certain of how I should reply to them, I contacted Bluehost (my web hosting provider) who confirmed there wasn’t any server maintenance during the selection period (giving proof that everything worked correctly during the selection period). I then replied explaining there were no technical issues on the server side and there was no trace of their credentials in either of the logs in the restricted area of my website. This proves they did not attempt to watch the films as they stated, since no attempts were found in the failed log-in portion of my website. I explained this to them in almost every reply (from that email on) in response to their groundless statements until I felt so worn out by it all I asked them to put me in touch with the director of the festival. They replied stating the museum understood I was not satisfied because I was not selected as a finalist and insisted on the fact that my application file had been studied very seriously.
I asked them again to put me in touch with the director and if I didn’t hear back from him I would start a campaign against their festival, making my experience with them public.
They replied to me by closing my ticket with the justification that there was nothing more to say and wished me “an excellent day”!
Obtaining money under false pretences is a criminal offence – have you reported them to the police?
I presume that the fees of the applicants cover the prize money. This is how this corrupted institution manages its budget.
yes indeed !!! la manifestazione e’ una buffonata e una presa in giro per chi realmente crede nell’arte e ha bisogno di farsi conoscere come creativo , sono rimasto molto deluso e no partecipero’ piu’ , quest’anno non mi hanno neanche comunicato chi sono i 24 finalisti per il 2023 , le opere selezionate sono terribile e robaccia . saluti
NON PARTICPATE E DIFFONDETE LA NOTIZIA CHE E’ UN IMBROGLIO COLOSSALE
English version:
yes indeed!!! the event is a tomfoolery and a mockery for those who really believe in art and need to be known as creative , I was very disappointed and I will no longer participate , this year I was not even told who are the 24 finalists for 2023 , the selected works are terrible and junk . greetings
DO NOT PARTICPATE AND SPREAD THE NEWS THAT IT IS A COLOSSAL HOAX
You are absolutely right but in my correspondence with them they said me they use the entry fee to pay the service used by the users to upload each submission. My lawyer told me I can’t denounce them for that. But that’s not a problem! I just hope my report will be useful to other artists in my same situatuion.
Wow! I really appreciate that you took the time to write and post this blog. It is clear now why they state that all monies received for submissions are used for IT only. They covered their bases with respect to legal ramifications. Sorry about your experience.
Olá. Recebi o certificado na minha primeira inscrição. Meu filho que me alertou para o fato de não ser um evento governamental. Inclusive me mandou um link deste endereço. Já tinha efetuado minha segunda inscrição. Agora é esperar para ver o que acontece. O estranho e não ter nenhuma notícia do evento em jornais de maior repercussão, nem na Europa, e nem no resto do Mundo.
ENGLISH TRANSLATION:
Hello, I received the certificate on my first registration. My son alerted me to the fact that it wasn’t a government event. He even sent me a link to this address. I had already registered for the second time. Now we have to wait and see what happens. The strange thing is that there’s no news of the event in any of the major newspapers, neither in Europe nor in the rest of the world.
To good to be true was my first impression. I saw one of my friends sent an application for this art contest and had a look at their website and there is no address or telephone number….a bit dodgy in my opinion.
Thank you for reporting it here Emil, please pass the word about this blog to your artist friends. I would like all the bad experiences with the art world could be reported here! Have a nice day!!!
This website was very helpful. I planned on entering the Luxembourg Art Prize but upon seeing this blog I am now reconsidering. Do you know of any other art competitions without entry fees that are worth checking out?
Hello Jenny, thank you for saying that. The only festival I know without entry fees is Rencontre internationales.
https://www.art-action.org/
I can’t say they are serious and they watch all the entries. In my case they just read the informations I’ve sent them but they didn’t watch the films. At least they are not stealing money to artists so I think this is a festival that is worth to try.
Please feel free to add any bad experiences or good suggestions here. I think we really need a place to get correct informations about art festivals! Have a nice week end!
Thank you for the suggestion! Though unfortunately, I do not think I can enter the festival you mentioned as I reside in the US. I usually participate in the art contests that offer monetary rewards so I do did not have much experience with other art festivals or exhibitions but I find that these events are generally fairer and more transparent when It is hosted by well-known organizations. I haven’t seen the Luxembourg art prize on many artist websites so I would say that this contest is more obscure.
Wow! Thank I you for sharing! I was considering entering the contest and paying the fee but it sounded too good to be true. I am grateful for you sharing this is a scam! Unbelievable they should have watched your video and probably they don’t even see all the art work… who know how many artists from around the world apply… I am definitely not entering this contest!
Thank you but please feel free to register and to publish your experience. This blog needs artist’s experience. We need a some place to find good advices driven by user experiences!!!
I participated this year edition and i honestly wished that i have seen this before wasting a 100$. I remark that they always pick the same type of art. There is no uniqueness, all the same. I said to myself that I would rather try then not try . Plus 70000$? *just try*
This will serve me as a lesson.
Interesting comments. Not to offend anyone, but I must say that even small art fairs have some sort of entry fee, and I pay them. Also, I don’t consider $75 US to be an expensive entry fee, considering the number of people who will potentially see your work, and possibly buy.
Hi Brian, the problem is not the fee!!!
I can pay even more if the festival is serious and honest. The problem is that they didn’t watch my work at all! Please take your time and read carefully what happened to me and then please write a new comment here.
Have a nice day,
Davide
P.S. BTW Your work is amazing!!!
Good to read this. i was just willing to apply. I applied already other years, but had always a strange feeling of the few artist they choose.
i dont think the entry fee is the issue, but releasing rights to your work for publication has to be carefully read. i was considering for the second year a national art costume show in maryland, but after reading the application and release form i was required to sign i gave it a pass for the following year. i discovered they would own the rights to the images, and all work created based on the original image, for perpetuity, worldwide. they made even the simple act of applying an agreement for them to have all rights to the images. when i said that was not acceptable,..they claimed ignorance, then said the agreeement had been changed, but when they sent it to me, it contained the same release. then to top it off, they had expected me to donate the piece to their “museum collection”…the first year… to get the costume out of there, i had to send my husband out to the car with the gown with instuctions to stop for no one!! lol, while i stalled the director in the lobby… enter regional and national shows at universities, art centers with long histories and well regarded at galleries. expect to pay a moderate fee for entry, avoid international art shows that promise large awards.
Hi there, I think you should report the name of the festival you are talking about and maybe create a new topics for this so to avoid confusion.
This blog need to be helpful to real artists that are facing with a very horrible Art world and your contribute could be helpful to a lot of other artists!!!
Have a nice week end!!!
I just received a sponsored ad for LAP in my Instagram and I checked online for scams and found this. I checked because I was suspicious of the amount they give and the fact they said it goes straight into your bank account and you can use it however you want? Why? Seems weird the amount they give and how you can use it. I have read a lot of entries and you have to either talk to experts in your field or just not enter. I am an artist photographer and it’s hard because my work is so painterly I need to find a competition that is art related between the two medium. Lensculture.com is very reputable or lenscratch but I don’t know if they take video.
Can you please suggest authentic Art – Photography contests that I could participate? I am a Fine Art Photographer.
I’m a video artist and unfortunately I have nothing to suggest you. I’ll tell you more I couldn’t suggest an authentic video art festival as well… I’ve always created works in between art and cinema and I’ve been selected twice at the berlinale and in several other important festivals. I could have suggestions for honest short film festival competition. I switched to the art side since more than 10 years now and I’ve only been selected when the work I presented had an important figure in it… And trust me the new art project of mine are very powerful and unique. They present a new way to observe reality and even a stupid and ordinary object observed from my point of view can still be interesting… I’m very disappointed and I wish I could have money to start a honest competition based only on my taste and not on the fame of the artist. I hope things will change the sooner or later but I think it will be very hard. I’ve started to create NFT to see if the crypto art world could give me any chance. I’ve been at a meeting with NFT curators and crypto artists in Milan and after the talk I’ve been introduced to a curator. I’ve talked to him about my project and he’s been able to say “Your project seems very powerful and interesting but in my real gallery I have artists like Fontana and fot the NFT gallery I want to expose only famous crypto artist”. So even this new world is already corrupt by the fucking art world. I think only the artists could change this situation avoiding to send their work to competition but trying only to get meeting with serious curators. The problem is that serious curators don’t read unsolicited emails so either you find a connection with a serious curator or you better keep doing your art just for your good health and hoping that one day you will find that connection. But I think this answer should be a new thread on this blog…
Thank you Davide for taking the time and having the guts to expose these guys. I was about to enter this year’s festival. I simply searced “FAKE”, FRAUD”, “STINKS”, and the such with the festival’s name. I found your post. I will thus NOT enter. If it’s any consolation, you at least prevented ONE eager participant from paying their admission fee.
Hi Carlos, your message had finished into spam! I’ve just seen it. I will never stop saying it, if you have any bad experience with other art world situation, please report it here and spred the words with your artists friend. The more we are the better it is.
The same here, I was very close to apply.
Hey there
Thank you for sharing your informations and bad experiences. I was thinking about luxembourg art prize since 2019 even it’s expensive to me. So after i saw this website of you i’m pretty sure i don’t sign in for this. So thank you a lot for your time and sharing.
Much Love from Zürich!
Thank you for your post! Please if you have any bad experience with Art festivals and curators I invite you to publish it here. We need to know who we can trust and we can’t. I wish you all my best!
Hi Davide, finally somebody got the guts to create a platform to express the opinion about art prize competitions. For sure they know already who will be the winner and they don’t bother to open to see your work. I am a painter and I’m thinking they will do the same with paintings, drawings, etc. They know from the beginning the winner. However, this is not the only one art competition with weird action/selection. In NZ it is Parkin Prize art competition and last year they choose a winer who use plagiarism. Actually was the same art work done before by somebody from US. What they said? Have a look “similarities are coincidental and the artists are each working in a different context with differing concerns”… Incredible such monstrosity explanation-” differing concerns!!”. The winner on 2020 used plagiarism. I told this to underline that the people involved with selection for winner in art competitions never -ever accept their mistakes or their options. And the last thing, yes, the money for participating are not in a significant amount, BUTwill addd enough for pocket of impostors.
Dear Gina, thank you for posting your experience! We can’t say for sure they already know who is the winner. What happened in my case is really outrageous and I can prove it.
I’m not saying what you say is not true but you can’t prove it. For this reason I really ask all the artists that will read my post to do the same as I did. In that way we’ll be able to prove it and to take back our space. The problem is that situations like mine happens every day even with important art festivals. A lot of works are not seen. I’m wondering how things would change if all the artists not yet famous would stop sending their works to those art prize…
Please keep posting your experience here and spread the voice to all of your artists friend!
I wish you a wonderful day!
Bad news dear collègues!!! I was put out of the inscription because I ask them to give me theyer identification as organisation, to show me the full address and telephone.. I was asked why the web name address I found out of Luxembourg it was one Islande free of taxes.. when I told them than I found that information about them trey just say sorry you’re out Bye! 😉 the issues I leave you to make it by your self dear collegues! Be careful with the fake art institutions!!! Please!!! 🙁
Wow! The fire to the smoke, I’d say.
I have also wondered about the Luxembourg prize. I googled a few of their past winners and found legitimate websites but still was not convinced. I did enter once a few years ago. Glad to know about your experience. NOW I am faced with another potential scam outfit but not entirely sure about them. Dab Arts. I have entered for the first time through CaFE but they are super late in notification and communication. Here is a website I found – https://www.scampulse.com/dab-art-co-reviews so just waiting to see how my experience with Dab ends. I will write another response when I have been “declined” or “invited”
My wife says I should thank you for this warning. So, Thank you!
You’re very welcome! I think we all should do what I’m doing here. Every bad experience should be reported here to help other artists avoiding our mistakes.
Have a nice day!
Hey David, thank you very much for all the things you wrote here. It’s a very important to have an information about such fake contests. Everybody makes his artwork as good as it is possible. For people. For fun. For people s pleasure. Yes, we want to earn some money, if it’s possible as everybody, who works hard. And yes, we must do all to save ourselves from cheaters and fake organisations, who wants just our money or our artworks.
Thank you very much for this site and for your position.
Good luck!
Hello Davide,
I was so stupid to almost fall into their trap. I didn’t read the rules just clicked on agree(silly me) but when I had to pay I thought now way this is a scam. What I found strange was I could nowhere find, how to delete your profile. The discussion and help center where really not a serious thing on the site. It didn’t feel ok, so I googled for reviews and found you! I changed my info and email on the site but can’t get my profile down. I didn’t fill in my address yet. Can they make me pay? With best regards, Elvira
I have the same impression since I had submitted my artwork a couple year ago.
Your experience is helping other artists for not falling for this dirty scheme.
I admitted I was feeling that way,l already thinking about submit more work and pieces again, but my level of uncertainty was high.
I researched on the internet, it didn’t take long to find your article.
You helped me a lot with this. Not falling for this LAP this time.
Warm regards from Brazil
Marcelo
Hi Marcelo, thank you for your kind words! I think all artists should use a way to check their works after they leave your website or the system used to share them. If you work with videos you don’t need to have a system like mine, even using vimeo could be a good way… just for example you could upload your work each time for each festival, that way only the festival or event you send your work to would know about that link and you could check the stats to see if they saw it at least once. We need a strong platform to report our experiences to create a line between honest opportunities and scammy situations. I encourage everyone to take the time to report their experiences here. The work I’m doing here will probably close off my chances of getting my work recognized in the art world but I’m so sick of situations like these and I think it’s only fair that we find a way to make our rights count.
I have at least two new horrible situations that happened to me recently but before I report them here I want to give them another opportunity. If they will fail well be prepared to read about them here in the near future! I wish you a wonderful day!
Its a ruse, no one in the actual Art World cares about this irrelevant Event. In my humble opinion, and I am making a good living in ART for 35 YEARS now , this is an utter waste of money alltogether. The judges are Nobodies. The website is an utter mess, confusing and miss-labeled wording, which can only originate form people who sold cars before, but have never looked, nor bought, nor sold any ART before.
Hello Davide! Thank you for this warrning. I was thinking to enter LAP, but after reading your Blog, I am deffinately not applaying to this competition.
Hey there,
Just wanted to pay the fee with my revolut card when it was declined and recieved a message from revolut saying that the card was frosen and asking me if I wanted to do this transaction. In the transaction details it was refferd to as a suspicious one for trying to prevent fraud. So if Revolut says this is not ok, it’s not! I stopped the transaction and learned my lesson.
Hi Romulus, I don’t think they need to do that to keep money from artists, that was probably an issue with your credit card…
Hello, Davide!
Thank you so much for sharing.
I saw their ad on Instagram just at the time when I wanted to take part in some worldwide contest. But fortunately, I decided to look for reviews cause this fee for me enough big. It’s so good of you to find time to make this post with clear explanations.
Thanks a bunch from Russian artist
Thank you so much for warning, I already made the candidate profile but the fact they don’t mention the registration fee before you make the profile(or at least I didn’t see it mentioned), made me suspicious. I don’t have experience of art contests and got the ad on my insta like some others. I am in a really bad financial spot and was considering but I don’t have money for registration fees. I guess I just dodged a bullet. I should have checked even before registering. I am usually very careful, but the page looks nice and it says Luxembourg. They got me fooled with fancy words. I will just delete the profile.
Thank you to Davide and everyone who shared their experience. I, too, was perplexed by the awkward wording. I value reading this conversation.
Hi, guys, its really great, that you warned other artists about this Luxembourg Art Prize. BUT, maybe you know, where can I send my paints. I mean, other, honest competitions?
This was the purpose of this blog… It’s great if every artist could report both good and bad experiences. I encourage everybody to register and to create their own topic about their experiences!!!
Hi above Davidу wrote about http://www.art-action.org/
Well guys, too bad I found this blog too late.
I’ve already paid the fee in June, as a present for my boyfriend who’s the artist participating. He told me about it, he heard from someone else, saw an ad online, anyway… He wanted to participate, and on the spur of the moment… I said ok, why not. I googled a bit about the prize, for some reason I did not find this blog back then, and it seemed decent at first.
As I started reading on the site about entering the competition things did start to look a bit off, but I said f* it, we made a decision, I’ll stick to it and take the risk.
Fast forward to September, and the mails start coming in… Last 30 days, last 20 days, last 10 days, last 7 days, 6,5,… last day to pay another fee to enter the last group so my chances to be selected as a finalist would increase. Anything to get me to pay another fee, and that was not a cheap one (94$ as I’ve checked again in Revolut – which btw, did not warn me in any way as someone mentioned above). At this point I was pretty sure it’s a scam and I’ve made a mistake. I’ve googled things again, but more thoroughly, and eventually found this blog… Read the article, the comments.. things were clear now.
Anyway… the deadline has passed (30.09.2021), I went to check the profile and… I could still make all the changes I wanted, add works, update my profile etc. So much for the ‘deadline’.
I’ve made a request to withdraw my application. Let’s see how things play out…
and that’s not the worst thing. In my opinion, they postponed generally to 2022.
I am an illustrator-artist. I also believed it. Found the blog too late.
how is it possible in general 19 hours before the announcement of the finalists, and if I do not want to participate in 2022. Maybe I’m wrong, but their official website says now 2022
today I received a response from the museum. They do not carry over to 2022. Well, let’s wait. Regarding other competitions. I liked the contest from Art Box. But they also collect registration fees. Nevertheless, all the works are then shown at the exhibition. And they sent me a certificate and, if desired, they sent me a photo of my work from the exhibition.
https://www.artboxprojects.com/?fbclid=IwAR042e_mgMmqA0XpqOH1Ul579lE3LRAPj8GQRXT8OpSVv4skXg4KI3OSV-s
Absolutely false competition, where nobody win! Luxembourg Art Price – cheaters who extort money from artists and deceive them! Do not be fooled by this and do not participate in this contest, it is 100% deception under the guise of a beautiful picture! It is fundraising with naive artists who want to become famous!
Thank you so much for doing this! I am with you I believe it is a scam and it’s not fair that they take advantage of us artists who are already starving for money and recognition as it is. Seriously you’re doing sacred service for us and I appreciate you very much. I’m sorry you had to go through it I had to go through the same thing this year myself
Looks legit to me. Here’s the winner/finalist list for 2021: https://www.luxembourgartprize.com/en/
I looked at most of these artists. Varied and interesting work with quite a lot of self-taught artists.
Here’s an Artsy article suggesting Luxembourg as a potential art prize recommendation: https://www.artsy.net/article/artsy-editorial-path-winning-art-prize
Hi Debra, it can look legit to you but did you ever read what I have written? Do you want to question my HORRIBLE experience? If you didn’t read my post please do me a favour and do it now and then tell me you still think is legit. It is mentioned as a valid festival on different platforms but if they don’t even look the submitted works please don’t come to me and say it’s legit. Once you get money from emerging artists you HAVE to watch everything you receive. And if the problem is the huge amount of received works then they would better change their rules deciding what is the maximum number of work they can watch and examine. In that way they could just say we will accept only the first XXX works instead of postponing their deadline to get more money from artist they will not examine. I’m sorry but I don’t think is legit at all and I should probably write to Artsy and report what happened to me. Thank you for posting here. Please let me know if you hadn’t read my post. Have a nice day.
Hi Davide,
So, Luxemburg Art Prize is at it again. I just received an unsolicited email from them & of course I looked at the offer, website, past winners, and entry fees. Yes, my alarm bells started to ring & thought it necessary to look for reviews on this art prize & thankfully I came across your blog…..Well Done!
One more thing that got my hackles up was the wild differences in “registration fees” depending on your country of origin. I am in Australia and the fees are considerably more than eurozone countries. If this is a
legitimate art prize then the fees should be the same no matter where you live!
It’s a very big NO to the LAP!
I am 67 years old and been an artist for almost 40 years. I think the whole art market ( contemporary art ) is totally corrupt and all these competition games are corrupt X 2. You want to know where you stand? read The Conspiracy
of Art by Jean Baudrillard. Contemporary art is political from it’s roots to make human look and eventually feel stupid and totally opposite of what art suppose to be for any society. they use the power of money and few old masters to fool the public saying that they are great when in reality they are nothing but null and void. Take it from here?
Hi there, thank you for your great post. I’m perfectly aware of what you are saying. This is the reason I started this blog. If we, all together, stopped sending our work then the entire art market should become unstable and maybe things could start changing. Anyway nowadays things are different than 30 years ago. Internet can have a lot of negative aspects but on the positive side there is the fact that it’s open to everybody and if any of us would do what I’m trying to do well then I really think things could really change!!! Have a nice day and please keep writing here!
Thank you and I agree we need to hold hands for a change. There are many great artists of our time that are out there that deserve to be knowing for their contribution to our world but they are being blocked and pushed back.
To believe, we can overpower any situation regardless like (Ukraine)
No attempt to publicise the work of winners or finalists – definitely not worth entering and beware other such scams
Thank you also, I was suspicious about the three entry tiers they list now. They even have a chart making it seem like you will have better chances if you enter in the first tier, but all tiers wait for the same deadline and are judged together. Just looked like a backhanded way to get three entry fees out of people, so I searched and found this blog.
I also wondered why it said to add the director’s Instagram and tag all your posts to “get a better chance of him seeing your entry”. Aren’t all the entries given equal opportunity to be viewed by the committee?
Thank you for confirming they are not, they probably already know the small pool that they will select from and their prestigious “internationally recognized participation certificate” is a joke.
Thanks again,
Fellow struggling artist
Hey, thank you very much for taking your time and patience on this. I was searching information to know if the competition was real. Helped me a lot.
Probably the competition is real just they don’t do their work as it should be done. I think if you ask money to artists you need to watch carefully each entry.
Thanks for info.
Few days ago, I was planning to find the information of the art competition offered by the National Portrait Gallery in London, I visited their website and found photos of their museum. I recognize the museum since I have visited this museum before. I visited LAP website again to look for the photos of how their museum look like, I found only 4 photos under the Pinacotheque page showing a bunch of people inside a room with bunch of artworks, and of course, including some prominent figures for easy recognition to deceive suckers like me. After reading your blog, I realize that these photos can be easily clipped from other news source. There is not even one photo showing the building or a better perspective of the gallery. I entered and paid for Group 2 this year. I guess my money is wasted. I wasn’t careful enough. If one look careful enough, the entire website, on every page, they try to lure you in signing up.
Hello,
I found this site that reflects on these art contest questions, if this can help:
https://makingartmakingmoney.com/blog/7-reasons-enter-art-contests/
Thank you for pointing out that website. There are great points there that are perfectly in line with the purpouse of this blog!!!
Auch ich war drauf und dran mich anzumelden, fand im Vorfeld diesen wertvollen Blog : Danke David !!!
Im Grunde genommen kann Jeder von uns ein Wettbewerb in die Welt setzen, unter sauberen Voraussetzungen natürlich
Aber, wer bestimmt eigentlich, was “gute Kunst” ist ? Wer hat das Recht Sachen abzulehnen, weil sie scheinbar nicht vollkommen sind…dem üblichen stylischen Ästhetikkodex widersprechen ?
Was firmiert heute überhaupt noch als “Kunst” ? Plagiieren wir nicht schon seit Jahrzehnten alte Ideen, produzieren wir nicht im Grunde edlen Kunstkitsch für vornehm leere Millionärshaushalte und machen uns damit mitschuldig am heutigen Geschehen ?
Wen möchte man noch aufrütteln in einem dumpfverblödeten Internetwerbesumpf ?
Ich möchte diesen Beitrag nicht als Klage, sondern mehr als Impuls verstanden wissen, nachzudenken
Wie viele in der Kunstkaste muß ich zwei Jobs nebenher machen, die nichts mit Kunst gemein haben, erlebe in weiten Kreisen geradezu eine Abneigung gegen alles, was mit Kunst zu tun hat…
Die wirklich allerbeste, ehrlichste “Kunst” produzieren Kinder, die mit frischen Sinnen ihre Umwelt vorurteilsfrei neu erkunden
Diese Phase endet meistens mit Schulbeginn, wo frisch geschlüpften “Schmetterlingen” die Flügel gestutzt werden…
Thank you for your wonderful post!!! I’m traslating it for those who don’t speak German.
—————
I too was about to sign up, but found this valuable blog beforehand: Thank you David !!!!
Basically, each of us can create a competition, under clean conditions of course.
But, who decides what is “good art” ? Who has the right to reject things because they are apparently not perfect…contradict the usual stylish aesthetic code ?
What is still considered “art” today? Haven’t we been plagiarising old ideas for decades, aren’t we basically producing noble art kitsch for posh empty millionaire households and thus making ourselves complicit in what is happening today ?
Who else would you like to wake up in a dull and stupid internet advertising swamp?
I don’t want this contribution to be understood as a complaint, but more as an impulse to reflect
Like many in the art caste, I have to do two jobs on the side that have nothing in common with art, and in wide circles I experience an aversion to everything that has to do with art…
The really best and most honest “art” is produced by children who explore their environment with fresh senses and without prejudice.
This phase usually ends with the start of school, when freshly hatched “butterflies” have their wings clipped…
Thanks!!!! Was at the point to pay 55. But somewhere I felt “hmmmm…. I found this contest by an advertisement on Instagram….. So I’ll forget about it!!!
I’m sure you are aware that a new round of entries and campaigns to enter have begun for the new year. Thank you very much for this. I usually do a decent amount of research for each event now since I learned about Artistonish magazine very early in my career. A “pay to play” publication that, while it genuinely does create a *purchasable* magazine and can be printed in languages and sent around the world, it is completely not recognized as an actual accolade. So now I check so see public documentation that usually is some people stating something is a scam but are genuinely just upset about not getting selected (as the emails from Lux implied to you)…. Since you had the security checks for viewing, I absolutely believe you!
Again, Thank you so much for putting this out there!
My pleasure Jennifer! Please I invite you to report any bad experience you had with art contests here. It’s important for the sake of the real artists!
Danke das Sie diese Webseite führen das hat mir geholfen.
I know personnally two artists who were finalist and winner…. I therefore think IT must be real! 😉 i am so sorry you were unlucky with tour vidéo work.
Josiane, I’ve never said it’s not real. If you are really smart as you seem to be you should have read correctly my post. THEY NEITHER TRIED TO WATCH MY WORKS, AND THIS IS A HUGE PROBLEM! So don’t be sorry for my videos I can assure you that they are very powerful and innovative, it’s just the art world that is so stupid and closed in on itself that if you don’t know someone who can introduce you to an intelligent curator, you might have done the Mona Lisa and it would be buried with you. An art prize should be what a new artist would really need to get his work known and if an art prize asks for money and doesn’t watch your work, well, it can be real, as you say, but in my case they have just stolen my money. There are no other words to say.
Was also tempted to “enter” LAP, but for simply not being in U.S. (therefore unaccountable to anyone here) AND prior experience with other “competitions” that you never hear from once they have your work, I decided to check for authenticity or complaints and am really glad I found your blog… Thanks for the ice water – will not be contributing to their sunny day fund…Have you confronted FACEBOOK about this? Or are they more interested in a profit from this ‘sponsor’ (LAP)?
Hello David, I read your post and also the comments very carefully. It was also an occasion for me to discover some great art 🙂 of the people who made comments on your blog post. I am a 63 years old artist, I started late as a full time artist and Luxembourg Art Prize is the only one I found that accepts “senior” emerging artists. I participated in 2021 and I am participating now once again, probably this would be my last attempt. The finalists of LAP’s editions are very interesting artists. I checked about 80% of the names from previous years, all of them from 2021. So this is what encouraged me to participate. It would be a great disappointment to find out that my submission wasn’t considered at all. Let’s hope it will be given a fair chance in an art competition that tries to be as inclusive as possible. All the best to you!
Hello Ludmila,
I wish you all my best and I really wish you to be selected. Please keep me updated.
Have a nice day!
The primary website won’t let me log in now that they’ve collected my information (email, password, etc) but I sure do receive their email list. It should be noted that I always opt out of email lists and yet… I still receive them. The parent company’s website also has some strange things going on: no clickable links for “collaborations” “directions” and “museum”. No address listed. The museum is perpetually closed because of covid. And the past exhibits include listing things they have nothing to do with at other galleries.
Hello!
Well, now I have something to tell. So. As I wrote above, I am an artist in Germany and participated in the Luxemburg Art Prize in 2021. I paid for 2 groups. Then they sent me a letter where to download the certificate. I have downloaded. On the certificate there is a Quarcode by which you can go to the site and make sure that the certificate is real. I checked in 2021 everything was ok. A month ago I decided to check my certificate. And she was amazed. result: the certificate was obtained fraudulently and was taken by the museum. How do you like this turn)? Naturally, I began to write to the museum. I was told that my certificate was a fake and no one gave it to me because I did not deserve it.
I can show the certificate itself and everyone can be sure that the museum gave it to me!!! The worst thing about this is that all my clients could go through the quar code and see this slander against me that I deceived someone.
That is: the Luxembourg Museum gave me a certificate (if anyone is interested, write to the soap, I will send you and you will make sure that it is real), then quietly took it away and also wrote that I deceived them.
Then I began to write to the Museum… can you imagine my condition? I wanted to understand how I deceived them. To this I was answered that I was not given a certificate because I did not deserve it. To my indignation and the certificate that I sent them so that they could see for themselves that it was genuine. They did not answer. Then I wrote to them that I would contact a lawyer who gave them the right to slander people.
To this they already wrote that they don’t like my threats and I behave badly, so I deserved to be forgotten forever. By their rules. What my deception was, no one explained to me.
But there was no deception. Then I wrote to them that I have all the screenshots of the correspondence and in the properties of the pdf file you can see that it was created by them and, according to the result of the quarcode, it says “returned”, which means it was issued. The museum also quietly took this and changed the result according to the qar code. And now it shows that such a certificate does not exist.
So. Who wants to look at the certificate and screenshots of their answers, please contact. I have already written to the Luxembourg police. No one has given this museum the right to behave like this.if I had not checked the code, I would still and then not know anything!
no need to bring money!
Best Regards!
So much time I waste to prepare this contest, I already paid but I hope I will be refund, I ask for it after reading your article.
I think I will take my time to know if I am competing or not.
I found this article about the owner of the museum (in fench) https://www.challenges.fr/economie/la-verite-sur-la-faillite-de-la-pinacotheque-de-paris_499171
I want to be an artist and I’m looking for REAL contest or anything that would get me noticed, if you have some things about that I take it !
Thanks for your article, I’m not in good financial conditions and I think I just saved some electricity for this winter
Hello, I got a reply from the Mayor of Luxembourg by email:
I was answered by email in German:
Dear Ms Wagner,
The organizer of the Luxembourg Art Prize, which incorrectly calls itself a museum or pinakothek, is not a public cultural institution but a private business company. As you can see from the attached letter, ICOM Luxembourg, the umbrella organization of Luxembourg’s museums, formally distanced itself from this organizer in 2019.
Since the city has no connection to the organizers, I can only advise you to file a complaint.
Greetings.
Christian Sietzen
I sent you the file via email. Each of you can ask the Lüxemburg Citizens’ Registration Office whether it’s really the way I write it. But I have a file from the mayor about it.
The selection system practiced by the jury of artistic prizes is the same for everyone. The first quick selection is determined by the photos depicting the works. If the work in the photo attracts their interest, they also look at the profile of the participating artist. The jury already knows the type of works of art they are looking for, therefore the works they do not consider interesting are immediately discarded, they do not waste time dwelling on art and artists who for various reasons are not interesting for them. They dedicate only a few seconds to the discarded artist, the time of a quick glance at the first photo of his works presented.
Last night I wrote to Hervé Lancelin.
When we decide to participate in an artistic prize and therefore to submit our works to the judgment of the selection jury, we must also accept their verdict. I hope that the reason why I was not selected again this year is not due to my criticism of the Luxembourg art prize in 2019 . However, it seems that something positive has served. Not for me of course but for those who participated in the award from 2020 onwards. No longer just one award-winning artist but three. And starting this year also a selection jury that will be different every year,and from 2023 an 80% discount for those who register now Thanks for the lesson. Sincerely
Hi Mario, thank you for your point of view.
A video that offers a new vision of reality couldn’t be judged by a single frame. I’m really presenting a new way to observe reality with a something I invented and created by myself, no plugins usage at all. So 1) they had to watch the links I reported in my application 2) they lied to me reporting me they had watched all the links I had submitted to them. I’m sorry they have no excuse and only WE artist have the power to change this unfair system. If nobody would have sent a work the festival couldn’t exist. If they can’t watch all the works they receive because there are a lot of submission then they can change the rules and they can just say they will accept no more than x entries and when the number x will be reached than they will close anticipating the deadline. Period. A serious festival need serious selectors that makes their job for pleasure and not just because that is a job that can brings money to them.
clicking on “see also” and then “stastitics” 2022, we read: “This year, the museum was pleased to welcome an entirely new selection committee, which was not always the case in previous years. Candidates now have the assurance of presenting their artistic work to new eyes each year, which are open to all types of artistic sensibilities. ” Why is it possible to know the names of the members of the final jury (always the same since the first edition of the “LAP”) and not the names of the members of the selection committee? Perhaps the first selection is made only by him, Mr. Hervé Lancelin? Important artistic prizes such as the “Loewe craft prize” and which do not ask for a cent from the participants (3-4 thousand every year). Publish names and photos of the members of the jury and of the members of the selection committee.
I don’t know why we can’t know the name of the selection committee, anyway I don’t trust this prize at all after my horrible experience. Apart LAP, in my opinion, the selection committee is more important than the final jury. If the selection committee is not serious and ignore what art really means the best work will be automaticallyt discarded. I know about a prize that the final jury, finding only mediocre artworks to judge, asked to the prize organizer to examine all the submitted works and the 80% of the final selection was picked up from the discarded works. So there is still the hope to find persons that really love art and their job…
Salue Davide,
I was sending last November some artworks. No election, but a “try again please next time” answer. The art for the winners seemed to me very boring and simple. How ever, yesterday i got this message in german: ”
Angebot zur erneuten Registrierung
Profitieren Sie von bis zu 80 % Rabatt, indem Sie sich jetzt erneut anmelden!
(Zeitlich begrenztes Angebot)
deepl.com translatet it for me:
Re-registration offer
Benefit from up to 80% discount by re-registering now!
(Limited time offer)
What? This is a blackfriday pinterest level. And the thing with the rights they own, mentioned above is scary enough to stay away.
Davide thank you for doing this backstage research an helping to explore them.
If someone has ideas to promote art on platforms outside the narrow artmarket and instagram Facebook etc. in reliable good quality, I would preciate it.
Best greetings
Christoph Lukas
…and thank you for this advice!
http://www.art-action.org
Hi Christoph,
thank you for reporting your experience and for your kind words! I don’t know any contest that I can say it’s fair and managed by serious people… If I will cross any in the future I promise I will create a kind of white list here.
Let’s stay in touch! Have a nice day!
I received their certificate of artistic achievement. I read the post and comments so I get it it’s a bit fishy. they write not everyone gets that. Is it true or do they give it to everyone so there’s more chances I subscribe for the next year? Thanks
Hi Talz, I don’t remember if I received the certificate. It was so long ago for my brain to rember that. Maybe someone else here can answer you? Have a nice day!
Hi, I am a visual artist from Costa Rica. A French friend recommended this Festival to me although I am actually a begginner artist, but she loved my work and said I should participate. I sent a total of 10 photos in the various selection periods and obviously won nothing (see the proportion of Latin American artists winning something, and of course no Central American). But soon enough I was receiving all the publicity to enroll again in the 2023 contest. I thought that I would not do it because I was not ready and it was a waste of time and money. But just today I got this certificate of artistic achievement you mention, stating that only certain people got it. This seemed weird since it was not announced at the same time than the winners, which would be the normal thing, but rather as a way of convincing someone who was maybe not going to re-enter this year. And the writing on the certificate is a kind of “pat on the shoulder” to a kindergarden kid, like “you´re doing fine, keep on working”. This is when I started to search a little more about this “Pinacoteque”, smelling something fishy… and found this thread. In Spanish we say, “cuando el río suena, piedras trae”… when the river roars, stones it brings”. I see we are too many with suspicions about this festival, and not only because we didn´t win… I don´t even dare to show my Certificate of Artistic Achievement from this contest to any one.
Got one too last week and with 70% discount on my Registration fee. Thanks.
Very useful and informative. Definitely not joining this entity. They are one of those scammers of the industry. I was one victim as well being a novice in the art world. Thank you for your information because I almost signed up. They sent me last week a certificate of artistic achievement like Talz. Just in time to detect their modus operendi and gave me a 70% discount on the Registration fees. Watch out also about the PAKS Gallery in Austria, being operated by husband-and-wife Heinz and Tanja Playner. After my exhibit with them in Oct 2015, they did not return my three oil painting entries. Check this out on my website at http://www.artsinmoncucco.com and you can go on my “Blog” page and see the history of my case. So , for all you guys looking to promote your form of art, we need to unite, fight and expose them with vigor and courage.
Hi Milo, thank you for posting here. I’ve read your experience on your blog and it’s really disgusting. I’m very sorry for you! If you want please register on this blog and open a new post with your story. I wish this blog could be a reference for artists to check the reputation of an art festival. I wish you a wonderful day!
though I did some research and other people from the 2021 receive a certificate of participation and not of achievement. But then maybe the achievement one is a new ploy.
I have also had bad experiences with the Luxembourg Art Prize. It’s a money-making machine that pulls money out of artists’ pockets and pretends they have a chance to be discovered or win money. Of course, I didn’t win anything … that was clear to me from the start. But then a mail came and I received a certificate (supposedly from the museum). In the certificate was always spoken of a man, but I am a woman and have also indicated so in my account. I complained and expressed doubts whether this was all serious. I received an email saying that they had fixed this error a few weeks ago and that I could now download the correct certificate. When I tried to do that, I couldn’t get into my account anymore and it said that my account would be deleted soon. I contacted them again. They replied that my account would be deleted because the museum did not like my last mail. A few minutes later my account was deleted. Since then they do not answer anymore.
I warn everyone about this “company”. It only wants your money and your data. This is criminal. Do not fall for them. I regret very much that I made an account with them and even paid them a participation fee. I will point out that this platform is unserious. Thank you, Davide, for your contribution.
Hi Alina,
thank you for posting your experience and please forgive me for my delay in getting back to you. I’ve been out for a week to perform in London and I’ve just got the chance to read all the emails I’ve received during the latest week.
I’m sorry for your experience and please if something similar would happen to you again with other situation start a new thread on this blog. We need to stop all this kind of situations. I wish you all my best!
I think of entering these contests but they can probably use your pictures and make them to NFTs or AIs and sell them .. mine are registered copyright but how would you know if they made an NFT and sold it
Actually I don’t know what they can do but I don’t think so. Creating a NFT is very easy without stealing anything to anybody..
HI TO EVERYONE . sarebbe possibile fermare tutto questo sporco traffico e questo imbroglio ??? si puo’ denunciare la manifestazione alla polizia internazionale perche’ intervenga e faccia gli opportuni controlli su quello che realmente fanno !!!???? ciao davide attendo una tua risposta anche in italiano se sei italiano anche tu !!!
English Translation:
HI TO EVERYONE . would it be possible to stop all this dirty trafficking and cheating ??? Is it possible to report the event to the international police so that they intervene and do the appropriate checks on what they really do !!!???? ciao davide I’m waiting for your answer also in Italian if you are Italian too !!!
Hi Andrea, of course you can go ahead and denounce the LAP if you have a good reason to do it. My lawyer told me it’s not worth and it would just be a waste of time and money. I also think it’s not so simple as it should be. Also I take the occasion to remind everybody that this blog is not just against the LAP I wish everybody that has find this page could contribute with their own topic about bad experiences with other situation related to the art world.
I wish you a nice week end!