UBS is awarding its first international prize for painting. Students from
twenty selected art colleges all over the world were invited to
compete for the UBS Art Award 2000. More than 300 works were
submitted from ten countries. With the Award, UBS highlights its
commitment to promoting up-and-coming talent and strengthening the
interaction between the arts, the world of banking and the general
public.
This December, the UBS Art Award 2000
will be presented in the Whitechapel Art Gallery in London. The prize is aimed
at final year students from twenty selected art colleges in Switzerland,
Germany, France, Italy, Spain, the UK, the US, South Africa, Australia and
Japan. This international award for contemporary painting highlights UBS's
commitment to promoting young artists all over the world.
A distinguished jury
The works submitted for the UBS Art Award 2000, which is offering prize
money of CHF 160,000, are selected in two stages. In the first stage, local
juries in the respective countries select three national winners for each
country, and these winners go on to compete in the final in London. On 7
December, 2000 an international jury consisting of directors of leading art
institutions and a representative of UBS will select an overall winner, who will
take home a prize of CHF 30,000. The jury will also choose a national winner
from every country, who will each be awarded CHF 10,000. The finalists' work
will then be exhibited in London's Whitechapel Art Gallery. Next year, the
same exhibition will be held at selected UBS locations worldwide.
The international jury will be presided over by Sir Nicholas Serota, the director
of the Tate Gallery in London. With him on the jury will be Professor
Jean-Christophe Ammann, director of the Museum of Modern Art in Frankfurt,
Peter Pakesch, director of the Kunsthalle Basel, Professor Serge Lemoine,
chief curator of the Grenoble Museum, New York gallery owner Betsy Miller,
director of the Robert Miller Gallery, the Turin-based art publisher Umberto
Allemandi and George Gagnebin, CEO UBS Private Banking.
A unique opportunity for young artists
What is so fascinating about this competition is primarily the exciting results
produced when the work of young, as yet unknown artists from different
countries is judged by recognized experts in contemporary art. The UBS Art
Award 2000 will be the first time that most of the participating artists have
taken part in an international competition. Peter Pakesch has this to say:
The UBS Art Award is a very bold undertaking. It is the first award of its kind
at such a high level that enables students from many different cultures to take
part. This makes the Award a fantastic and unique opportunity for the young
artists involved.
The sheer number of students who submitted their work by the cut-off date on
31 August - there are more than 300 young hopefuls - is promising in itself
and emphasizes the significance of UBS's Award for the leading art schools.
UBS is eagerly awaiting the outcome of the national heats.
A commitment to art
The UBS Art Award 2000 is being organized by the Art Banking section of
UBS Private Banking. Art Banking offers advice on art within the context of
wealth management services. Together with its support as main sponsor for
the ART international fair in Basel, the UBS Art Award 2000 is proof of the
bank's commitment to supporting contemporary art. This commitment also
signals the importance UBS attaches to strengthening the interaction
between the art world, its clients and the public in general.
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