A museum ‘smile’ contest

Louis Armstrong once sang, “When you’re smiling, the whole world smiles with you.” Now the Queens Museum wants to know “What’s Behind Your Smile?”
To find out, the museum is running a What’s Behind Your Smile contest that looks at the meaning of smiles. The contest asks participants to select two pictures of smiles, and decide if they are real or fake by writing the appropriate word on the front. Participants may submit photographs, drawings, paintings or pictures from printed material. Submissions should be two dimensional and no larger than 8.5 x 11.
The project was inspired by Chinese Contemporary artist Yue Minjun’s exhibit Yue Minjun and the Symbolic Smile. The figures featured in the exhibit are all wearing strange smiles and appear among well-known backgrounds.
The pictures are intended to have observers question what happiness is. The exhibit is intended to represent the people of China’s attempt to cope with the changing political climate. The show will mark Minjun’s first show in the United States.
The exhibit and contest will run until January 6, 2008. The Museum is open Tuesday through Saturday from 11 a.m. to 6 p.m. and from 11 a.m. to 9 p.m. on Friday. General Admission is $10, $7 for seniors, $5 for students and free for members or people under 16 years-of-age.
To submit photos, send entries to Queens Museum of Art, NYC Building, Flushing Meadows-Corona Park, New York. 11368-3398. For more information email smile@queensmuseum.com