Over 1000 young Ukrainian artists aspire to win the PinchukArtCentre Prize

On 15 January 2009 the deadline for submission of applications for the PinchukArtCentre Prize was closed. PinchukArtCentre Prize is the first private nationwide art prize in Ukraine, which objective is to produce, support and develop a new generation of young Ukrainian artists working in contemporary art. During the last two months the applicants had been uploading their works to the dedicated web-site. The total number of submissions amounted to over 1000. After a primary revision of the works for their compliance with the Prize Rules, over 800 applicants were allowed to continue the competition.

Peter Doroshenko, Art Director of the PinchukArtCentre: «A very first and very important stage in the history of our new Prize has come to an end. We haven’t expected such an astonishing result: more than 1000 young artists from all over Ukraine submitted their works for the contest. First of all it proves that popularity of the contemporary art among the young generation becomes greater with each year. Now we are facing a very interesting and hard process of selecting 12 artists, whose works will be exhibited at the PinchukArtCentre in March 2009. And after this, it’ll be the International Jury’s turn to do their work and select the winners of the Prize.»

The next stage of the competition starts on 16 January 2009. The Expert Committee consisting of Eckhard Schneider, General Manager of the PinchukArtCentre, Peter Doroshenko, Art Director of the PinchukArtCentre and Alexander Solovyov, Curator of the PinchukArtCentre, will carry out the pre-selection of works to compose a short-list of 12 nominees. The works of the short-listed contenders will be showcased at the dedicated exhibition held from 7 March through to 29 March 2009.

Background:

PinchukArtCentre Prize (prize.pinchukartcentre.org) is the first private nationwide art prize in Ukraine, which objective is to produce, support and develop a new generation of young Ukrainian artists working in contemporary art.
The PinchukArtCentre Prize encompasses Main Prize, two Special Prizes and People’s Choice Prize:

• Main Prize of the PinchukArtCentre is UAH 100 thousand and internship in the workshops of the leading artists of the world
• two Special Prizes of PinchukArtCentre are UAH 25 thousand each and internship in the workshops of the leading artists of the world
• People’s Choice Prize is UAH 10 thousand. People’s Choice Prize winner is selected by voting of the visitors of the Prize exhibition project.

According to the Prize Rules, Ukrainian citizens aged 16-35 may apply for the competition. Within a set period of time, an artist or a group of artists may submit 3 to 7 works, suggesting the one that, in their opinion, might be short-listed for the exhibition.The PinchukArtCentre Prize is to be awarded to the best Ukrainian artists every odd year starting from 2009.

PinchukArtCentre, one of the largest centres for contemporary art in the Eastern Europe, opened in September 2006. The Art Centre is one of the projects of the Victor Pinchuk Foundation in the realm of culture. Among the key missions of the PinchukArtCentre is to present exhibitions by leading international and Ukrainian artists, support varied cultural projects and etc. To the date, the PinchukArtCentre has presented eight major exhibitions viewed by nearly 450 000 visitors. In the spring of 2008, the Art Centre introduced the concept of the Project Room — a special series of exhibitions by the young and emerging artists. In June-November 2007, the PinchukArtCentre officially presented Ukraine at the 52nd Venice Biennale with the art project: «Poem about an Inland Sea».

The Victor Pinchuk Foundation is the largest Ukrainian private philanthropic organization and was established in 2006 by businessman and philanthropist Victor Pinchuk. The Foundation develops and implements social projects aimed at modernising Ukraine and the bringing about of a new generation of Ukrainian leaders.

The Foundation’s top fields of activities are health care, education, culture, human rights, Ukraine’s global integration and local communities’ development.

Among the largest projects of the Foundation are: the «Cradles of Hope» Programme for opening neonatal health care centres all over Ukraine; student scholarship program «Zavtra.UA»; the PinchukArtCentre contemporary art museum and Yalta European Strategy (YES), an independent international network supporting Ukraine’s reforms and its eventual accession to the EU.

Victor Pinchuk Foundation is a member of European Fund Centre and Ukrainian Grant makers Forum, a partner of the Yalta European Strategy (YES); the Foundation cooperates with Clinton’s Global Initiative and other non-governmental organisations.

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