MTV and the Smithsonian Channel announced the premiere of their new docu-competition series The Exhibit: Finding The Next Great Artist. The series will showcase seven diverse artists as they compete for a $100,000 cash prize and an exhibit at the Smithsonian’s Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden in Washington, DC.
The six-episode docu-competition series will see its contestants participate in weekly competitions that will lead up to the series finale at the Hirshhorn Ball, the museum’s annual gala, where the winning artist will be crowned.
The Exhibit: Finding The Next Great Artist will be hosted by MTV News’ Dometi Pongo and will feature Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden director Melissa Chiu as lead judge alongside guest judges Abigail DeVille, JiaJia Fei, Samuel Hoi, Adam Pendleton, Keith Rivers, Kenny Schachter and Sarah Thornton
The competition series is executive produced by Todd Radnitz, Nadim Amiry, Rachel Watson-Pass and Tim Evans for MTV Entertainment Studios. Patty Ivins Specht and Lisa Fletcher also executive produce under PB&J TV + Docs, while Azon Juan and Mikell Ivey co-executive produce.
The Exhibit: Finding The Next Great Artist premieres March 3 at 9 p.m. ET/PT on MTV and will air on Smithsonian Channel on March 7 at 9 p.m. ET/PT and every week thereafter. The series will move to its regular time slot at 10 p.m. ET/PT on MTV beginning on March 10.
Learn more about the artists below:
- Jamaal Barber | Atlanta, GA
An artist, printmaker, and educator whose mixed media practice examines the ways in which social issues, culture, and identity can overlap with Blackness. Barber is currently a visiting lecturer at the Ernest G. Welch School of Art & Design in Atlanta, GA.
- Frank Buffalo Hyde | Minneapolis, MN
An Onondaga/Niimíipuu (Nez Perce) artist whose paintings examine and elevate an image of contemporary Indigenous life through a vibrant pop-sensibility and uncompromising satirical eye. Hyde lives and works in Northfield, MN.
- Baseera Khan | Brooklyn, NY
A New York-based performance, sculpture, and installation artist whose work explores materials and their economies, and the effects of these relationships upon labor, family structures, religion, and spiritual well-being.
- Misha Kahn | New York, NY
A New York-based artist and designer who works at the intersection of design and sculpture and is best known for creating whimsical and playful objects made through a variety of materials and array of processes.
- Clare Kambhu | Queens, NY
An artist and arts educator in New York City that creates paintings that draw attention to everyday, often overlooked objects, with a recent focus on how these items might reveal the potential for humanity to break the constraints of educational institutions.
- Jillian Mayer | Miami, FL
Working across video, sculpture, photography, performance, web-based experiences, and installation, Mayer is a Miami-based artist whose practice explores the intersection of technology and human existence, particularly how our participation in a digital landscape reshapes our physical experiences.
- Jennifer Warren | Chicago, IL
A Chicago-based oil painter whose work explores themes around nature, beauty, and the Black body. Largely self-taught, Warren’s practice reflects her passion for incorporating new ideas and techniques that aim to convey the lived Black experience through everyday intimate and meditative moments.
