BelgianArtPrize - A New Strategy and International Ambitions
The Young Belgian Art Prize, originally established in 1950 as the Young Painters Award, has had a complete makeover and will henceforth be known as the BelgianArtPrize. The selection procedure and criteria have changed. Beginning with this 2017 edition, all Belgian artists or non-Belgian artists who have lived in Belgium for one year or more, irrespective of their age, can be nominated by a committee of experts made up of art professionals and collectors.
The BelgianArtPrize will focus on supporting talented leading artists in order to develop their career with international visibility boost. The non-profit organisation La Jeune Peinture Belge will take on the role of facilitator and concentrate on strengthening the international character of the BelgianArtPrize and its winners. To this end it intends to create a platform that will facilitate meetings and exchanges between the finalists, collectors as well as national and international art experts. The non-profit organisation is also working to forge links with other major European art prizes. Finally, it wants to increase the visibility of candidates through the organisation of artist talks, conferences, interviews and communication campaigns.
The Crowet family, who first launched the Prize and still is its invaluable patron, continues to maintain close links through the Crowet Prize (€ 25,000). ING, a structural partner since 2009, will award the ING Public Prize (€ 10,000).
BelgianArtPrize 2017
The non-profit organisation La Jeune Peinture Belge has called upon its members as well as Belgian contemporary art experts to each nominate 5 artists. The national jury, which consists of 4 professional art experts and 3 art collectors from Belgium, then selects the 4 finalists from this longlist.
For the 2017 edition the national jury consists of museum directors Denis Gielen (MAC’s), Dirk Snauwaert (WIELS), Phillip Van den Bossche (Mu.ZEE) and Philippe Van Cauteren (S.M.A.K.) alongside art collectors Gaël Van Lierde-Diercxsens, Frédéric de Goldschmidt and Tanguy Van Quickenborne.
On October 10 of this year the national jury came together in the Centre for Fine Arts and identified the four finalists who received the highest number of votes for the BelgianArtPrize 2017: Edith Dekyndt, Simona Denicolai & Ivo Provoost, Otobong Nkanga and Maarten Vanden Eynde.
These artists will be invited to exhibit recent work at the Centre for Fine Arts between 17 March and 28 May 2017. An international jury will choose the winner of the BelgianArtPrize from amongst the four finalists. This jury consists of 3 professional art experts and two art collectors. The members of the jury for the 2017 edition are Beatrix Ruf (Director of the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam), Hans Ulrich Obrist (Artistic Director of the Serpentine Galleries in London) and Dieter Roelstraete (Co-curator of Documenta 14). The art collectors are Mimi Dusselier (who has been involved with and committed to visual arts for the past 30 years) and Estelle Francès Lasserre (Fondation d’Entreprise Francès).
The international jury is chaired by Sophie Lauwers (Head of exhibitions BOZAR) and Roland Gillion Crowet (President of the non-profit organisation La Jeune Peinture Belge).
The Award Ceremony for the BelgianArtPrize will be held on April 19 in the Centre for Fine Arts’ Horta Hall. The winner will be awarded the sum of € 25,000, funded by the financial provision of the Crowet Prize. The winner of the ING Public Prize, selected by popular vote, will receive € 10,000.
Winner Belgian Art Prize 2017: Otobong Nkanga
Winner Public Prize 2017: Maarten Vanden Eynde