Joan Fontcuberta – 2013 Hasselblad Award Winner
The Hasselblad Foundation is pleased to announce that Catalan photographer Joan Fontcuberta (b. 1955, Barcelona) is the recipient of the 2013 Hasselblad Foundation International Award in Photography for the sum of SEK 1,000,000 (approximately EUR 110,000). The award ceremony will take place in Barcelona on 7th March, 2013. An exhibition of his work, Joan Fontcuberta – 2013 Hasselblad Award Winner will open on 25th October, 2013 at the Hasselblad Center, Gothenburg, Sweden. That day, the Hasselblad Foundation will host a symposium with the award winner, and a book on the work of Joan Fontcuberta, published by Mack, will be launched.
The Foundation’s citation regarding the decision to award the 2013 prize to Joan Fontcuberta reads as follows:
“Joan Fontcuberta is one of the most inventive contemporary photographers, with an over 30-year achievement of constantly investigating and questioning the photographic medium. His work is distinguished by original and playful conceptual approaches that particularly explore photographic conventions, means of representation and claims to truth. He challenges concepts of science and fiction in interdisciplinary projects that extend far beyond the gallery space. In addition to his photographic practice, Joan Fontcuberta’s capacities as a writer, teacher and curator have been greatly inspirational to the younger generation.”
This year’s award committee, which submitted its proposal to the Foundation’s board of directors, consisted of:
Ute Eskildsen (chair) Professor – Head of the Department of Photography, Museum Folkwang, Essen, Germany until 2012
Thomas Joshua Cooper Professor, Photography Department, Glasgow School of Art, Glasgow, Great Britain
Marcel Feil Deputy-Director, Artistic Affairs, Foam Amsterdam, the Netherlands
Agnès Sire Director, Foundation Henri Cartier-Bresson, Paris, France
The Hasselblad Foundation
The Hasselblad Foundation was established in 1979 under the terms of the last will and testament of Dr. Victor Hasselblad and his wife Erna. The purpose of the Foundation is to promote scientific education and research in the natural sciences and photography. One of the Foundation’s awards, the annual international award for outstanding achievement in photography, awarded in 2013 to Joan Fontcuberta, is considered the most important photography prize worldwide.
In the exhibition hall of the Hasselblad Foundation, the Hasselblad Center, situated in the Gothenburg Museum of Art, five exhibitions are presented annually, one of which displays works by that year’s Hasselblad Award winner. One of the other annual exhibitions, New Nordic Photography, promotes younger photographers. Some of the exhibitions tour in Sweden and abroad. The Foundation also has a photo collection focusing on Hasselblad Award Winners and Nordic photographers.
The exhibition of Joan Fontcuberta’s works will be opened at the Hasselblad Center on 25th October, 2013 and will be curated by Dragana Vujanovic and Louise Wolthers.
Hasselblad Foundation
Ekmansgatan 8
SE-412 56 Gothenburg, Sweden
For further information and for press material: www.hasselbladfoundation.org
Contact: Jenny Blixt, T +46 31 778 21 54 / jenny.blixt [at] hasselbladfoundation.org.
