SEPTEMBER 14, 2020

See Artist-Created Images Encouraging People to 'Plan Your Vote'

With the 2020 U.S. presidential election just under two months away, a nonpartisan group has launched a new initiative partnering with contemporary artists and museums to get out the vote on Tuesday, November 3.

Vote.org has launched the Plan Your Vote campaign, which includes the artwork of numerous artists. Its name refers to PlanYourVote.org, a website that allows for people to make sure they are registered to vote, verify their registration, and request absentee ballots for early voting. The Plan Your Vote images can also be downloaded, shared, and printed to increase further visibility for the campaign.

The campaign has drawn contributions from some of today’s leading contemporary artists, including Candida Alvarez, Kamrooz Aram, American Artist, Sanford Biggers, Matthew Brannon, Tom Burr, Luis Camnitzer, Leidy Churchman, Marcel Dzama, Guerrilla Girls, Barbara Kasten, Muna Malik, Julie Mehretu, Marylin Minter, Monument Lab (Paul Farber and Ken Lum), Wangechi Mutu, Paul Ramirez Jones, Jessica Rankin, Laurie Simmons, Patti Smith, Michael Stipe, and Christine Sun Kim.

In an interview with ARTnews, Christine Messineo, Plan Your Vote’s executive director,  who worked with art strategist Kristen Becker on the campaign, said, “Plan Your Vote is essentially about harnessing the creative community to create a visual library to encourage voter registration and voter engagement and to convey to people that, in this year particular, that you really have to plan your vote. It’s not just about showing up on Election Day and going to your polling location—there are real barriers to voting.”

Among the over 50 participating institutions are MOCA Tucson, the Hammer Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art Los Angeles, the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Underground Museum, the Institute of Contemporary Art Miami, the Institute of Contemporary Art Boston, MIT List Visual Arts Center, the Walker Art Center, CAM St. Louis, the Brooklyn Museum, the Dia Art Foundation, the Laundromat Project, MoMA PS1, the Queens Museum, SculptureCenter, MOCA Cleveland, the Wexner Center for the Arts, the Portland Art Museum, the ICA Philadelphia, Ballroom Marfa, the Blanton Museum of Art, the Contemporary Austin, the Nasher Sculpture Center, and the Chrysler Museum of Art.

In a statement, Vote.org CEO Andrea Hailey said, “The universal power of art to spread a message can prove vital to educating and mobilizing voters across the country this election year. Through Plan Your Vote we aim to engage the arts community and its passionate following to ensure they are registered, understand the voting options available to them, and can navigate important deadlines.”