viennacontemporary | Bildrecht SOLO Award

Winner: Galerie Hubert Winter with Davide Allieri

Statement of the Jury: “Galerie Hubert Winter impressed the jury with an immersive installation that Italian artist Davide Allieri developed especially for the exhibition booth In it, the artist deals with the unease of the present and at the same time visualizes ambivalent visions of the future through cultural-historical references. Through the specific material aesthetics that Allieri creates by using fiberglass as the connecting material, he awakens a variety of associations. The line of the drawing is reflected in the grain of the fiberglass and is also echoed in the technoid structures of the object works. These appear as relics of a repressed past or a possible post-humanist future.

Galerie Hubert Winter has been one of Vienna’s established galleries for decades, and its constant collaboration with established artistic positions of international standing as well as with young artists makes it a unique and sustainable source of inspiration for Vienna as an art location.”

With the aim of supporting artists and galleries alike, the viennacontemporary | Bildrecht SOLO Award recognizes a presentation that exhibits outstanding artistic potential. At the same time, the commitment of the respective gallery is honored. The award, which includes a total prize of 4,000 euros, will be shared equally between the artist and the exhibiting gallery, with each receiving 2,000 euros.

Jury 2024: Maximilian Geymüller (Kunsthalle Wien), Roman Grabner (BRUSEUM, Neue Galerie Graz), Paula Watzl (PARNASS & freelance art critic), Frederike Sperling (Kunstraum Niederösterreich), Tina Teufel (Museum der Moderne Salzburg), Chair: Günter Schönberger & Esther Hladik (née Mlenek) (Bildrecht, Vienna)

Queer Art Prize 2024

by viennacontemporary and Queer Art Spaces Vienna

Supported by Radatz, Almdudler, and Parship

Community Prize Winners: Frederik Marroquin, VIE, AT, Siggi Sekira, VIE, AT, and Megan Tatem, NEW YORK, US.

Galleries Prize Winners:
eastcontemporary with work of Anastasia Sosunova
Wonnerth Dejaco with work of Philipp Fleischmann

The Queer Art prize consists of two categories: the Community Prize is directed at queer artists / queer art, and the three winners will receive a cash prize and have their artworks showcased at this year’s viennacontemporary. The Gallery Prize is directed at participating galleries to promote more queer art at the fair.

After almost 400 applications, almost half of which were submitted by international artists, one of the community prizes was awarded to an international artist. The winners are exhibited at Booth B21 of the fair.

Due to the high quality of the submissions, not one but two galleries were able to convince the jury and will therefore both receive the Queer Art Prize Gallery 2024.

Jury: Francis Ruyter (Independent Space Index), Francesca Gavin (viennacontemporary), and Michael Kaufmann (Queer Art Spaces Vienna)

VCC x viennacontemporary Collectors Prize

For an emerging artist, powered by efko and VORmagazin

Winner: Noushin Redjaian (Galerie Ernst Hilger) from ZONE1

The Vienna Collectors’ Club, in cooperation with viennacontemporary and VORmagazin, will again present the „Collectors Prize“ for emerging artists.

This year’s jury, consisting of journalist Nicole Adler, marketing and art manager of Hotel Altstadt Saskia Wiesenthal, and curator Tatiana Maylunas, unanimously awarded the viennacontemporary x Collectors Club Prize to Noushin Redjaian for an outstanding stand presentation, a thoughtful and complex art practice and a moving and profound story behind the creation of her work.

A jury of curators, collectors, and key people from the art world will choose one emerging artist from ZONE1 to award the prize before the opening. The prize includes a monetary award of 1,000 euros for future projects for the winning artist, provided by efko, and an interview in the October issue of VORmagazin.

LUKOWA Acquisition Prize

Winner: Irene Fenara (Zero…)

Statement of the jury: “Irene Fenara hacks into the supposedly objective eye of the machine to find a mistake and render its gaze again subjective and poetic. In relation to the prize subject (‘Distribution of power’), the selected works (from the series: ‘Supervision’ and Self Portrait from Surveillance Camera’) speak of the fragility of the surveilling apparatus, the question of agency and where it is located.”

The LUKOWA Acquisition Prize is dedicated to an artwork presented at viennacontemporary 2024, thematically relating to the distribution of power. The idea is to explore ways in which this word and its meaning are present and analyzed in various artistic practices today, with an understanding that the interpretations of this subject can vary greatly. The context the collection is looking for is not limited to political, economic, or social issues, it rather encourages a much broader scope of iterations that can offer unique views on what “power” could mean. The collection allocates up to 5.000 CHF for the acquisition.

About the collection and initiative

LUKOWA Group supports emerging to mid-career artists to encourage outstanding ideas. The initiative considers contemporary culture and fosters a forward-looking worldview, engaging the art community and the public. They prioritize recognizing artistic quality before other factors, such as age, origin, or nationality, providing space for equal opportunities.

Jury:

Attilia Fattori Franchini (Independent Curator, Writer and Co-Founder of KUNSTVEREIN GARTENHAUS), Adomas Narkevičius (Curator, Cell Project Space, London, and Chief Curator, 15th Kaunas Biennial), Vlada Tanaskovic (Board Member, LUKOWA), Natalija Paunic (Curator and Advisor to LUKOWA’s art collection).