Future Generation Art Prize Offers $100,000 to an Artist Under 35

Applications are open for the 2023 Future Generation Art Prize.

The US $100,000 prize comprises $60,000 cash and an investment of $40,000 in their practice. An additional $20,000 special prize is given, at the jury’s discretion, to support up to five artists.

Finalists will create commissions for the PinchukArtCentre and the Venice Biennale next year.

The last edition of the prize received some 11,700 applications from over 200 countries. It was won by Afghan artist Aziz Hazara, who was chosen for his video installation Bow Echo (2019), which premiered at the 22nd Biennale of Sydney.

Other previous winners include: Cinthia Marcelle, who represented Brazil at the 2017 Venice Biennale; 2015 Turner Prize shortlister Lynette Yiadom Boakye; and Artes Mundi prize winner Dineo Seshee Bopape.

Mire Lee, Gabrielle Goliath, Cooking Sections, Rayyane Tabet, and Jonathas de Andrade have all been awarded special prizes in previous years.

Ocula Magazine is a partner platform for the prize this year, acting as a media ambassador and nominating 10 artists for selection.

Applications close on 30 April. The shortlist of 20 artists will be announced in early July followed by an October exhibition showcasing their work. Winners will be announced at an awards ceremony in December.

Notable figures on the prize’s board include Elton John, Fondazione Prada’s Miuccia Prada, and directors of the MoMA and the Solomon R. Guggenheim in New York. Its artist patrons include Damien Hirst, Andreas Gursky, Jeff Koons, and Takashi Murakami, who also serve as mentors to the finalists.

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation, which funds the prize, was established in 2006 by Ukrainian billionaire oligarch Victor Pinchuck, who made his wealth from steel pipe manufacturing.

It also funds: the PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv’s largest private contemporary art institution; training for Ukrainian military medics; neonatal care; Holocaust awareness; scholarships for Ukrainians; and political forums, think tanks, and lobby groups in Europe and the U.S.

Pinchuck conceived of the Future Generation Art Prize after the 2008 financial crisis.

He told finalists of the 2021 prize that ‘crisis is a fantastic source of inspiration.’

‘My belief is that contemporary art is one of the most revolutionary forces in the world,’ he said.

‘Nobody can tell us better about this world than great, especially young, emerging artists. You are able to express the future of this world much better than politicians can,’ he said. —[O]

Main image: Aziz Hazara, Rehearsal (2020). Single channel video installation, 1 minute 5 seconds. Courtesy Experimenter.