Next Thursday evening, the international art community will assemble at the Guggenheim in New York City for a ceremony announcing the winner of the prestigious Hugo Boss Prize. An international panel of curators, critics, and museum directors will make the selection. The winner will receive a prize of $100,000 and a solo exhibition at the Guggenheim.
The Hugo Boss Prize is given to an artist whose work represents a significant development in contemporary art. The award sets no restrictions in terms of age, gender, nationality, or medium, and the nominations may include emerging artists as well as more established individuals whose public recognition may be long overdue. Previous winners include Matthew Barney (1996), Douglas Gordon (1998), Marjetica Potrč (2000), Pierre Huyghe (2002), Rirkrit Tiravanija (2004), Tacita Dean (2006), Emily Jacir (2008), and Hans-Peter Feldmann (2010). The 2012 prize carries an award of $100,000.
Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum and Foundation, and Claus-Dietrich Lahrs, Chairman and CEO, HUGO BOSS AG, have announced the finalists for the Hugo Boss Prize 2012, the biennial award established in 1996 to recognize significant achievement in contemporary art. The finalists for the Hugo Boss Prize 2012 are: Trisha Donnelly (b. 1974, San Francisco), Rashid Johnson (b. 1977, Chicago), Qiu Zhijie (b. 1969, Zhangzhou, China), Monika Sosnowska (b. 1972, Ryki, Poland), Danh Vo (b. 1975, Bà Rịa, Vietnam), and Tris Vonna-Michell (b. 1982, Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom).
Regarding the short list, Armstrong said, “On behalf of the jury, we are delighted to announce the ninth biennial Hugo Boss Prize finalists. Since its inception in 1996, the Hugo Boss Prize has become one of the world’s most noted juried prizes. The selection of these six exceptional artists for the 2012 short list offers insight into some of today’s most dynamic practices.” The winner will be selected and announced in fall 2012, followed by an exhibition of the artist’s work to be presented in 2013 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.
The 2012 jury is chaired by Nancy Spector, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and the jurors are Magali Arriola, Curator, Colección Jumex, Ecatepec de Morelos, Mexico; Suzanne Cotter, Curator, Abu Dhabi Project, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Kate Fowle, Executive Director, Independent Curators International, New York; Nat Trotman, Associate Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; and Theodora Vischer, Senior Curator at Large, Fondation Beyeler, Basel.
The Hugo Boss Prize 2012 Short List
Trisha Donnelly (b. 1974, San Francisco) lives and works in San Francisco and New York. Donnelly engages the mediums of photography, drawing, sound, video, carving, and demonstration. Her spare, enigmatic gestures evoke shifting perceptions and associations, challenging the confines of time, language, and conventional narrative.
Solo exhibitions of Donnelly’s work have been presented at Portikus, Frankfurt, Germany (2010); MAMbo Museo d’arte moderna di Bologna, Italy (2009); Institute of Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania, Philadelphia (2008); Renaissance Society, University of Chicago (2008); and Modern Art Oxford (2007). Donnelly’s work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, includingVideoSpace, Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, Oslo (2011); Venice Biennale: ILLUMInazioni (ILLUMInations) (2011); I Am Still Alive: Politics and Everyday Life in Contemporary Drawing, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2011); Off the Wall Part 1: Thirty Performative Acts, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2010), and Museu de arte contemporãnea de Serralves, Porto, Portugal (2011); Yokohama Triennial, Japan (2008); The World as a Stage, Tate Modern, London (2007–08), and Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2008); Il Tempo del Postino, Manchester International Festival (2007, organized with Théâtre du Châtelet, Paris), and Theater Basel (2009, organized with Art Basel and Fondation Beyeler, Basel); Whitney Museum of American Art, Whitney Biennial: Day for Night (2006); Strange Powers, Creative Time, New York (2006); Berlin Biennial: Of Mice + Men (2006); A Brief History of Invisible Art, Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, California College of the Arts, San Francisco (2005–06); and Carnegie International, Carnegie Museum of Art, Pittsburgh (2004–05).
Rashid Johnson (b. 1977, Chicago) lives and works in Brooklyn. Johnson’s conceptual photographs, sculptures, and videos draw on personal memories and pop culture, as well as myriad literary and arthistorical sources, to explore and complicate notions of racial and cultural identity.
Solo exhibitions of Johnson’s work have been held at Power House Memphis (2009); Kunstmuseum Kloster Unser Lieben Frauen, Magdeburg, Germany (2008); and Indianapolis Museum of Contemporary Art (2005). Johnson’s work has been included in group exhibitions such as the Venice Biennale: ILLUMInazioni (ILLUMInations) (2011); 30 Americans, North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh (2011), Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2011–12), and Chrysler Museum of Art, Norfolk, Virginia (2012); Seeing Is a Kind of Thinking: A Jim Nutt Companion, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2011); Secret Societies. To Know, To Dare, To Will, To Keep Silence, Schirn Kunsthalle, Frankfurt, Germany (2011), and CAPC Musée d’art contemporain de Bordeaux, France (2011–12); From Then to Now: Masterworks of African American Art, Museum of Contemporary Art Cleveland (2010); 30 Seconds off an Inch, Studio Museum, New York (2009–10); Across the Divide: Reconsidering the Other, Illinois State Museum, Chicago Gallery (2008–09); MCA Exposed: Defining Moments in Photography, 1967–2007, Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago (2007); American Identities, Brooklyn Museum of Art (2006); Prague Biennial: In Search of a Continuous Present (2005); Common Ground: Discovering Community in 150 Years of Art, Selections from the Collection of Julia J. Norrell, Corcoran Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. (2004–05); Inside Out: Portrait Photographs from the Permanent Collection, Whitney Museum of American Art, New York (2004); Only Skin Deep: Changing Visions of the American Self, International Center of Photography, New York (2003–04), Seattle Art Museum (2004), and Museum of Photographic Arts, San Diego (2005); The Squared Circle: Boxing in Contemporary Art, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2003–04); and Freestyle, Studio Museum (2001).
Qiu Zhijie (b. 1969, Zhangzhou, China) lives and works in Beijing and Hangzhou, China. Qiu’s diverse practice embraces sculpture, painting, printmaking, video, photography, and performance. His work, which frequently translates traditional techniques into conceptual forms, examines the intersection between political history and current social realities in China.
Qiu has had solo exhibitions at such institutions as Guangdong Museum of Art, Guangzhou, China (2010); Haus der Kulturen del Welt, Berlin (2010); Ullens Center for Contemporary Art, Beijing (2009); Zendai Museum of Modern Art, Shanghai (2008); Long March Space, Beijing (2007); Fundação Oriente, Macau, China (2000); and Gallery of the Central Academy of Fine Arts, Beijing (1999). Group shows featuring Qiu’s work include Community of Tastes: Chinese Contemporary Art Since 2000, Museu de arte contemporânea da universidade de São Paulo (2011); Photography from the New China, Getty Center, Los Angeles (2010–11); Shanghai Biennial (2010); Thirty Years of Chinese Contemporary Art, Minsheng Art Museum, Shanghai (2010); Contemplating the Void: Interventions in the Guggenheim Museum, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York (2010); Breaking Forecast: Eight Key Figures of China’s New Generation of Artists, Ullens Center for Contemporary Art (2009– 10); Media Art China 2009: Timelapse, A Swiss-China Media Art Exhibition, National Art Museum of China, Beijing (2009), and Centre PasquArt, Biel, Switzerland (2010); Fukuoka Triennial, Japan (2009); Venice Biennale (2009); Guangzhou Triennial, China (2008); Poetic Realism: A Reinterpretation of Jiangnan, Centro de arte Tomás y Valiente, Madrid (2008); The Real Thing: Contemporary Art from China, Tate Liverpool (2007); Moscow Biennial: We are your future (2007); Trading Place, Museum of Contemporary Art, Taipei (2005); Yokohama Triennial, Japan (2005); Alors la Chine?, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2003); Transience: Chinese Experimental Art at the End of the Twentieth Century, Smart Museum of Art, University of Chicago (1999); and Inside Out, PS1 Contemporary Art Center, New York (1998).
Monika Sosnowska (b. 1972, Ryki, Poland) lives and works in Warsaw. Replicating the forms and vocabulary of architecture, Sosnowska’s sculptures and immersive installations express the psychology of the built environment and amplify the particular social or historical concerns that relate to the sites of her work.
Solo exhibitions by Sosnowska have been presented at the Museo Rufino Tamayo, Mexico City (2011); Artpace, San Antonio (2010); K21 Ständehaus, Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, Düsseldorf, Germany (2010); Primrose Hill (public art project), London (2008); Polish Pavilion, Venice Biennale (2007); Museum of Modern Art, New York (2006); Sprengel Museum Hannover, Germany (2006); Serpentine Gallery, London (2004–05); and Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2004). Selected group exhibitions include We Will Live, We Will See, Zabludowicz Collection, London (2011); The Power of Fantasy: Imagination at Work, BOZAR, Palais des beaux-arts, Brussels (2011); Venice Biennale: ILLUMInazioni (ILLUMInations) (2011); elles@centrepompidou, Centre Pompidou, Paris (2009–11); XXS: Extra Extra Small, Sommer Contemporary Art, Tel Aviv (2007); Stay forever and ever and ever, South London Gallery (2007); START!, Grieder Contemporary, Küsnacht, Switzerland (2006); Satellite of Love, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2006); ARS 06 – Sense of the Real, Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki (2006); Bewitched, Bothered and Bewildered: Spatial Emotion in Art and Architecture, Migros Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Zurich (2003); Architectures of Gender: Contemporary Women’s Art in Poland, Sculpture Center, New York (2003); Polish Pavilion, Venice Biennale: Clandestine (2003); Istanbul Biennial: Poetic Justice (2003); Re:Location 6: re(framed)locations, dis(covered)desires, Villa Arson, Nice (2003), and Laznia Center for Contemporary Art, Gdansk, Poland (2004); Manifesta 4, Frankfurt, Germany (2002); and Gwangju Biennial, South Korea: Project 1 (2002).
Danh Vo (b. 1975, Bà Rịa, Vietnam) lives and works in Berlin. Vo’s installations deftly intermingle autobiography with larger cultural narratives of migration, history, and identity. He allows poetic new connotations to emerge through the staging of meticulously selected images, objects, and documents.
Vo’s work has been featured in solo exhibitions at Kunsthalle Fridericianum, Kassel, Germany (2011); Statens Museum for Kunst, Copenhagen (2010–11); Artists Space, New York (2010); Kunsthalle Basel (2009); Kadist Art Foundation, Paris (2009); Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam (2008); and Brandenburgischer Kunstverein, Potsdam, Germany (2007). Vo’s work has been featured in such group exhibitions as That’s the way we do it: The Techniques and Aesthetic of Appropriation, From Ei Arakawa to Andy Warhol, Kunsthaus Bregenz, Austria (2011); I Am Still Alive: Politics and Everyday Life in Contemporary Drawing, Museum of Modern Art, New York (2011); To the Arts, Citizens!, Museu de arte contemporânea Serralves, Porto, Portugal (2010–11); Gwangju Biennial, South Korea: 10,000 Lives (2010); Strange Comfort (Afforded by the Profession), Kunsthalle Basel (2010); Berlin Biennial (2010);Morality ACT VII: Of Facts and Fables, Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2009–10); GAGARIN The Artists in their Own Words, SMAK Stedelijk Museum voor actuele Kunst, Ghent, Belgium (2009–10); Preis der Nationalgalerie für junge Kunst 2009, Hamburger Bahnhof, Berlin (2009); Jahresgaben 2008, Kunstverein München, Munich (2008); Yokohama Triennial, Japan: Time Crevasse (2008); Manifesta 7: Comitato, Bolzano, Italy (2008); Where the lions are, Para/Site Art Space, Hong Kong (2008); The California Files: Re-Viewing Side Effects of Cultural Memory, Wattis Institute for Contemporary Arts, California College of the Arts, San Francisco (2007); Not a Drop but the Fall, Künstlerhaus Bremen, Germany (2005–06); Pilot:2, Pilot, London (2005); and EXIT 2004, Kunstforeningen GL Strand, Copenhagen (2004).
Tris Vonna-Michell (b. 1982, Southend-on-Sea, United Kingdom) lives and works in Stockholm. Vonna-Michell’s spoken-word performances and multimedia installations, which are constructed from audio recordings, slide projections, and related artifacts, probe the operations of storytelling and memory.
Solo exhibitions of Vonna-Michell’s work have been held at such institutions as Jeu de Paume, Paris (2009–10); X Initiative, New York (2009); Kunsthalle Zürich, Zurich (2009); GAMeC – Galleria d’arte moderna e contemporanea di Bergamo, Italy (2009); Kunstverein Braunschweig Cuboid, Brunswick, Germany (2007); Witte de With Center for Contemporary Art, Rotterdam, Netherlands (2007); and BOZAR, Palais des beaux-arts, Brussels (2006). Vonna-Michell’s work has been featured in numerous group exhibitions, including The Other Tradition, WIELS, Brussels (2011); New Frankfurt Internationals: Stories and Stages, Frankfurter Kunstverein, Frankfurt, Germany (2010–11); British Art Show 7: In the Days of the Comet, Nottingham Contemporary, United Kingdom (2010–11), Hayward Gallery, London (2011), Centre for Contemporary Arts, Glasgow (2011), and Peninsula Arts Gallery, Plymouth, United Kingdom (2011); Manifesta 8, Murcia, Spain (2010–11); Exhibition, Exhibition, Castello di Rivoli, Museo d’arte contemporanea, Italy (2010–11); This World & Nearer Ones, Creative Time, New York (2009);Finding Chopin, Hamburger Kunsthalle, Hamburg, Germany (2009); The Generational: Younger than Jesus, New Museum, New York (2009); I Repeat Myself When Under Stress, Museum of Contemporary Art Detroit (2009); Tate Britain, London, Tate Triennial: Altermodern (2009); Fia Backström: That Social Space Between Speaking and Meaning, White Columns, New York (2008); Tate Britain, Tate Triennial: Prologue 1, (2008); Of this Tale, I cannot guarantee a single word, Royal College of Art, London (2008); KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin, Berlin Biennial (2008); Floating Territories, Evens Foundation, Trans Biennial Project, Istanbul, Athens, and Venice (2007); and KölnShow2, European Kunsthalle, Cologne, Germany (2007).