Nástio Mosquito and Carlos Motta share the main prize of the Future Generation Art Prize
futuregenerationartprize.org
Carlos Motta (Colombia) and Nástio Mosquito (Angola)shared the main prize of the third edition of the Future Generation Art Prize, which was announced by the international jury at the award ceremony in the PinchukArtCentre, Kyiv, Ukraine on December 6, 2014. Artists will share the award of 100,000 USD (60,000 USD in cash and 40,000 USD to be invested in the production of new works).Itisthe first global art prize for artists up to 35 founded by the Victor Pinchuk Foundation with the aim of acknowledging and long-term support to a future generation of artists.
The winners were chosen by the international jury consisting of Francesco Bonami, curator, Director of the 50th Biennale di Venezia (Italy); Jan Fabre, artist (Belgium); Doris Salcedo, artist (Colombia); Eckhard Schneider, General Director of the PinchukArtCentre (Ukraine); Bisi Silva, independent curator, Director for the Centre for Contemporary Art, Lagos (Nigeria); Adam Szymczyk, Artistic Director of dOCUMENTA 14 (Poland); and Philip Tinari, Director of the Ullens Center for Contemporary Art in Beijing (China).
Carlos Motta and Nástio Mosquito, both will present their solo shows in the PinchukArtCentre in Kyiv in autumn 2015.
Introducing Nástio Mosquito the jury stated: “Combining text, performance, video and installation in a distinctly original manner, Mosquito re-invents storytelling for our current moment. In complex vignettes that evoke a long tradition of spoken word poetry and musical improvisation, he brings an alternative dimension to the way in which we experience art, as well as the fraught realities of our global society.
His seemingly playful performativity becomes a framework for addressing themes that range from colonial history to changing geopolitical dynamics to human relationships. To achieve this, technology as well as popular culture plays an important role through his integration of the tools of DJ’s, VJ’s, TV-shows, YouTube, and other devices characteristic of our media-saturated age. Mosquito’s powerful personal presence, adept sense of spatial dynamics, and sharp humor combine to challenge our perceptions of what we consider comfortably familiar.”
In their comments about Carlos Motta the jury stated: “The presentation of Carlos Motta was consistent, complex and with well articulated ideas. In addition to that it displayed imagination and poetry in using narratives, fictional and otherwise, to structure a meditation on a set of urgent themes. Using the language of a historical museum display and fabricating cultural material, Motta constructs a context that allows him to take the pre-colonial heritage and colonial history of Latin America as a starting point for a deeply personal exploration.
This discourse has been extended to the local Ukrainian context, through the work Brief history of homosexual repression in Ukraine, a broadsheet that continues a project of the artist’s local researches in different countries into the history of LGBT rights. The jury was profoundly impressed by his ability to parlay formal precision, historical research and social commitment into work that offers new insights into how art can address fragile marginalized histories and advocate their importance.”
Addressing the young artists Victor Pinchuk, founder of the Future Generation Art Prize said: “I believe contemporary art is linked to freedom and openness. With all you here, I see Kyiv again become a strong center of this positive change energy. And there is nothing more dissident, more different, than contemporary art and contemporary artists. We have invested into Ukrainian art scene, and into international young artists. To create a network connecting the best of those who create openness, freedom, change. I am proud of our investment. I hope it will prove useful for my country in difficult times.”
According to the decision of the jury, an additional 20,000 USD will be allotted by the PinchukArtCentre to fund artist-in-residency program to the Special Prize winners—Aslan Gaisumov (Russia), Nikita Kadan (Ukraine) and Zhanna Kadyrova (Ukraine).
