Henkel Art Award 2009

Vienna, Austria – For the eighth time, Vienna-based Henkel Central Eastern Europe (Henkel CEE) announces its annual Henkel Art.Award. 2009, the only comprehensive art promotion prize for Central and Eastern Europe and Central Asia. The Henkel Art.Award., endowed to the sum of EUR 7,000--, invites fine artists from 31 countries to participate in the prize competition. For the first time, the prize winner will be invited to display his or her works of art within the framework of an individual exhibition in the Museum der Modernen Kunst Stiftung Ludwig (MUMOK) in Vienna, thus making the art accessible to the general public. Without prescribing pre-defined topics, the Henkel Art.Award. bestows prizes for outstanding and innovative entries from fine artists in the fields of painting, drawing, photography, video and installation. In a multi-phased selection process, a prominent, top-class international jury consisting of curators and museum experts will choose the winner from the submitted entries. KulturKontakt Austria is the longstanding, tried and tested partner for this project. This association has been involved for 20 years in promoting and initiating art projects in Central, Eastern and South East Europe. This year Henkel CEE attracted the Museum der Modernen Kunst Stiftung Ludwig as a further partner. In addition to the prize money, this year’s winner will be given the opportunity to display his or her works of art in a separate exhibition hosted by the Museum der Modernen Kunst Stiftung Ludwig in the following year. Numerous Henkel Art.Award. participants or winners in recent years have been invited to international exhibitions or exploited the prize as the starting point for an international career. For example, the 2008 award winner Miha Strukelj will take part in this year’s Biennale di Venezia.
Henkel Art.Award. 2009 – Application materials: - Curriculum vitae and artistic career (in English or in German, age limit: 40) - 5 – 10 works of art submitted in the form of photos, folders and/or art catalogues (maximum size A3), slides and DVDs. No original works of art are to be sent to Henkel! - All works of art must have originated after the year 2006 - Only artists from the following countries are eligible to participate: Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine, and Uzbekistan. Only for countries which have a local jury: This competition will be carried out in a two-step selection process. A local group of experts will convene to name three artists whose works will be presented to an international jury in Vienna choosing the finalists. Each of the three locally nominated artists will then also be asked to send three original examples of their work for evaluation by the international jury meeting in the beginning of September. The international jury will select the five best artists as the finalists to win the Henkel Art.Award., choosing among the works of art sent by the three nominated artists from the individual countries as well as artists applying directly to Henkel in Vienna in those countries which do not have their own local jury. The art works of the five finalists will be exhibited in Vienna for several days in November 2009. Within the context of this exhibition, the Henkel Art.Award. 2009 of EUR 7,000—will be bestowed on one of the five artists designated as finalists. The winner of the Henkel Art.Award. 2009 will also have the privilege of participating in a separate exhibition of his or her works of art, accompanied by an exhibition catalogue, to be held in the Museum Moderner Kunst Stiftung Ludwig in Vienna in 2009. In addition, Henkel will finance an exhibition of the prize winner in his or her homeland. Artists will not be paid a fee for taking part in the exhibition in Vienna (or the exhibition in the home country). The submitted works of art will be returned to the respective artists after the jury session or after the presentation of the five nominated finalists in Vienna.
No fees will be paid to the artists for participating in the competition! No liability can be assumed for any loss or damage to the works of art. Artists will be reimbursed for transport costs of up to EUR 150,---. Entries for the Henkel Art.Award.2009 are to be submitted by June 8, 2009 at the latest (date of postmark) to Henkel CEE – local Henkel office. About Henkel CEE – Corporate social responsibility as a guiding theme “Promoting art is a top priority for Henkel. Art contributes to international understanding and to a greater appreciation of other cultures. With the Henkel Art.Award., we are making a valuable contribution to this process“, says Mr. Günter Thumser, President of Henkel Central Eastern Europe, in justifying the company’s involvement. Henkel CEE based in Vienna has established itself as the regional headquarters for Central and Eastern Europe within the worldwide Henkel Group. Henkel products have been sold on the Austrian market for 120 years, and manufactured in Vienna since 1927. Today Henkel CEE has management responsibility for coordinating business operations in 32 countries with close to 500 million inhabitants: Austria, Albania, Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Croatia, Czech Republic, Estonia, Georgia, Hungary, Kazakhstan, Kosovo, Kyrgyzstan, Latvia, Lithuania, Macedonia, Moldova, Mongolia, Montenegro, Poland, Romania, Russia, Serbia, Slovakia, Slovenia, Tajikistan, Turkey, Turkmenistan, Ukraine and Uzbekistan. Henkel CEE employs a work force of more than 10,000 employees, generating revenues of 2.5 billion euros in 2008. Loctite, Pattex, Ceresit, Schwarzkopf, Poly, Fa, Silan and Persil are among the well-known Henkel brands.
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