What is Surprise?

SURPRISE is an art festival, a physical and digital art exhibition, and a participatory project at the same time that employs the power of contemporary art for social innovation purposes. SURPRISE is an international campaign that counts on the participatory and collaborative efforts of the artistic community, the private as well as non-profit organisations, and engages the public and art as a way of solving serious social problems. In this case, the social innovation efforts target the support of the homeless of Greece and KLIMAKA NGO’s relevant programs for the homeless.

Every year, around 300 small format artworks are collected by the organisers of SURPRISE and then made available to the public for the amount of 50 € per piece. The price is deliberately set at an affordable range to allow everyone to support the effort. Participant-artists cover the entire spectrum of artistic practice: from discovery artists to globally established, as well as a significant number of international artists. There is, however, a catch: the artist’s identity remains secret. The artworks are signed on the back, thus encouraging the audience to decide solely upon instinct and personal taste. While contributing to the cause, online and on site visitors of the SURPRISE exhibition of art have the opportunity to acquire an already valuable artwork or one that will increase in value over time. Either way, they will walk away with an artwork of their choice.

The SURPRISE project takes place every year and the earnings from the artworks’ sales are donated to the Homeless Support Program of KLIMAKA NGO. The participatory project was first realized in 2009, and since then, more than 2,000 artists from around the world have joined the campaign, contributing their artworks to support our fellow humans.

How does it work?

The citizen interested in supporting this effort can visit www.artaz.gr/surprise which hosts the online exhibition every year to study the artworks online and note down the code numbers of their choice. New artworks are added on a daily basis up to the physical exhibition’s opening.

For instance, in 2018, the physical exhibition of SURPRISE IX took place between 23-25 November at the «EARTH K44» space in Athens, Greece for the live viewing and sale of the artworks. The artworks are sold on a first come – first served basis. Several parallel events also take place during the physical exhibition, such as a silent auction of larger scale artworks that feature in the exhibition list, art games making available artworks, book sales and more.

Surprise X, 2019 – How can I participate?

SURPRISE X physical exhibition will take place in Athens, Greece, on Friday 18 October 2019.

There is currently an open call to artists interested in using their talent to bring positive change for donations of artwork to support the cause (help the homeless of Greece). Prior to the exhibition at the physical space, the artworks will be exhibited online. The online version of the exhibition starts the 15th September 2019.

Samples of artwork can be sent at info@artaz.gr, while more information about this can be found at http://www.artaz.gr/surprise/item/463-surprise-x-call-for-artists.

Each edition of SURPRISE features around 300 artists but the 10^th (2019) anniversary edition is going to be even bigger by establishing artwork collection stations internationally and inviting artists from across the world to join the cause.

What can CultureLabs learn from Surprise?

SURPRISE is exactly the kind of participatory project that CultureLabs aims at enabling, facilitating and promoting. It is inspiring for the CultureLabs team because:

• it provides an excellent best practice example of a participatory approach and a collective effort that is realized thanks to the involvement of a number of stakeholders (NGOs, private supporters, contemporary art community, citizens); this is the kind of “recipes” that CultureLabs aims at collecting, featuring and promoting;
• just like CultureLabs, it is using cultural heritage (in this case contemporary art) to fight adversity and support social innovation and inclusion; this is exactly the kind of “marriage” between cultural heritage and societal causes that our project is supporting;
• just like CultureLabs, it is using a digital cross-cultural platform and digital tools (i.e., the online exhibition of the project) to enable participation of all involved artists and make their artwork widely available to a broader audience, while creating bridges between art scenes around the world.

In CultureLabs, we are exploring approaches, methodologies and we are implementing digital tools to facilitate the organization and implementation of projects like SURPRISE and enable new similar participatory projects to be carried out even by non-experienced but willing organisations. We welcome all your feedback, ideas and involvement in any aspect of our project.

You can contact us at info@culture-labs.eu!