(Alma Thomas, Resurrection. Image courtesy the White House Collection/White House Historical Association.)

A pale green circle glows in the center of the canvas. Bright rings of color radiate outward like the layers of a Gobstopper. Alma Thomas’s Resurrection is one of the several historic American pieces at play in an exciting summer competition.

The comprehensive online art database Artsy, the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, and the White House Historical Association (WHHA) are joining forces this summer to present the “This Art is Your Art” contest. They invite young people from around the country (including Yalies!) to submit three-minute videos responding to pieces in the WHHA’s collection. Does this portrait remind you of a funny memory? How does this Georgia O’Keefe landscape painting relate to your favorite song? In what ways does an impressionist painting of American flags challenge conventions? The list of video prompts is here, and the the collection can be viewed in this gallery on Artsy. Video submission are due June 1.

Five winners will be selected by a panel of art-world celebrity judges—among them scholars, curators, and the artist Kehinde Wiley—and flown to DC to screen their films at the White House Historical Association.

“This artwork represents the cultural history of America,” Christy MacLear, Chief Executive Officer of the Robert Rauschenberg Foundation, says about the White House Historical Association’s collection. The art objects on display reveal national anxieties, victories, and trends. So she and her colleagues felt motivated to encourage young people to engage with this art.

The Rauschenberg Foundation generally works to promote and commemorate the legacy of Robert Rauschenberg, whose 1998 piece Early Bloomers [Anagram (A Pun)] is included in the WHHA’s collection. But MacLear expects not only that students will be exposed to a Rauschenberg piece in this competition, but also that they will engage with understanding what’s in the White House collection more broadly. MacLear explains that the digital nature of this competition was designed with millennials, who have easy access to iPhones and cameras, in mind.

Artsy, too, hopes that this competition will allow students to discover art that they may not have otherwise experienced. Artsy’s core mission, according to Communications Manager Graham Newhall, is to increase public access to art. He explains that Artsy tries “to speak to as broad an audience as possible” through offering online images and resources. That’s why, he says, Artsy likes to partner with groups like WHHA and Rauschenberg, which also seek to “create interesting inroads” for art engagement.

“Art is for humans to engage with and enjoy. It shouldn’t be about political perspective, per se,” Newhall reflects. In a political climate as contentious as our current one, it’s refreshing to explore American politics and history through nonpartisan art. Even though the collection in this competition is affiliated with the White House, it transcends party divides to tell a broader American narrative.

So whether you visit the White House digitally through Artsy or end up winning a trip to DC, take a few minutes to check out the gallery and consider what Robert Rauschenberg, a spoon, and a landscape painting of Princeton tell us (or don’t!) about you, your ideas, and America today.