Jillian Mayer Wins Guggenheim Video Biennale YouTube Play

Jillian Mayer at the Gug last night.

​We thought it was pretty freaking great news when we heard that Miami artist Jillian Mayer and Borscht filmmakers were shortlisted for the first ever biennale of creative video, the Guggenheim's YouTube Play. As we told you a few weeks back, their video "Scenic Jogging" was one of 125 picked from a submission pool of 23,000 (yes, all those zeros are correct). Judges, which included members of Animal Collective and filmmaker Darren Aronofsky, picked Mayer's fun romp through Wynwood - the same video that was selected but did not win MOCa's video festival Optic Nerve.  

But the news gets better. Last night, Mayer was honored at the Guggenheim as one of the 25 winning video artists! (See footage from last night after the jump.) In addition to the screening inside, her video could be seen on the exterior of the famously round museum that faces New York's Fifth Avenue. Hosted by comedian Michael Showalter, last night's event included performances by OK Go, video artist Kutiman, dance troupe LXD, musician Megan Washington, and the San Francisco mash-up artist Mike Relm.

You can see all the top 25 videos, including Mayer's, on this outside projection tonight as well from sundown to 10 p.m., and in a viewing gallery on the second floor of the museum until Sunday, as well as in Guggenheims in Bilbao, Berlin, and Venice. For those of us in Miami, we'll have to be content with the online gallery over on YouTube.

Here's footage from last night's win that includes a video bio of Mayer, complete with aerial silk performances and cameos of her dog Shivers. Makes one proud to be a Miamian.