Yesterday, The Goss-Michael Foundation announced the details of MTV RE:DEFINE 2019, its eighth annual charity art exhibition and auction in partnership with the MTV Staying Alive Foundation.
Since its beginning in 2011, the event has established itself as a major hit on Dallas’ social calendar by raising more than $12.5 million to benefit HIV prevention and education. This March, MTV RE:DEFINE continues its legacy with an auction and exhibition at The Statler, featuring art selected by Unit London’s Jonny Burt and Joe Kennedy, and honoring British artist Marc Quinn.
Quinn is no stranger to MTV RE:DEFINE.
In 2016, one of his sought-after iris paintings fetched $300,000 at the event – a donation the artist matched. Here’s where it gets weird: He’s best known for sculptures made out of frozen blood. He found fame in the early ‘90s with a cast of his head made from his own blood, stored in a sub-zero box. Now he’s working on a massive installation for the New York Public Library that is essentially two giant blocks of frozen blood donated by 5,000 people, each weighing one metric ton. One of the cubes is made from blood donated by refugees, and one is from non-refugees. The point is that they’re indistinguishable, which is a nice message, but I can’t help but wonder if this blood could’ve had a more meaningful humanitarian impact elsewhere – like, you know, in a body.
The piece, titled Odyssey, will be installed in late 2019. Whether you find it gross or inspiring, you can’t deny Quinn’s work is conversation-starting.
Along with naming Quinn the honored guest of the evening, The Goss-Michael Foundation also announced the inaugural MTV RE:DEFINE Award, which has been created to recognize excellence in contemporary art by a postgraduate fine arts student. The annual award comes with a $15,000 cash prize, a solo exhibition at The Goss-Michael Foundation, and the opportunity to participate in an annual MTV RE:DEFINE art auction. Submissions for the 2019 award are now open to students in their final year at the world’s top 25 MFA programs. You can find all the details here.
The MTV RE:DEFINE 2019 benefit will take place on Friday, March 29. Tickets for this year’s party haven’t gone on sale yet, but last year’s started at $1,500.
