10/01/02

Profiles of HUGO BOSS PRIZE: 2002 Shortlisted Artists: Anri Sala, Koo Jeong-a, Pierre Huyghe, Hachiya Kazuhiko, Olafur Eliasson, Francis Alÿs

HUGO BOSS PRIZE 2002 Shortlisted Artists

Thomas Krens, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and Werner Baldessarini, Chairman and CEO, HUGO BOSS AG, today announced the shortlist for the HUGO BOSS PRIZE: 2002. The finalists include: Francis Alÿs (Belgium), Olafur Eliasson (Denmark), Hachiya Kazuhiko (Japan), Pierre Huyghe (France), Koo Jeong-a (Korea), and Anri Sala (Albania). A publication featuring the work of all six finalists with accompanying essays will be published in May 2002. The winner of the HUGO BOSS PRIZE 2002 will be selected and announced this fall, followed by an exhibition of the prize-winning artist's work to be presented in early 2003 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.
"On behalf of the jury, I'm delighted to announce the shortlist for the HUGO BOSS PRIZE: 2002," said Thomas Krens. "The biennial prize has become an integral component of the Guggenheim Museum's contemporary art programming since its inception in 1996. It has given us the opportunity to identify, exhibit, collect, and honor the work of extraordinarily talented artists who are actively redefining the parameters of today's cultural production. Through this prize, the Guggenheim hopes to promote the spirit of exploration and ingenuity so critical to the museum's mission and to the vitality of contemporary art. I believe that the work of the short-listed artists—Francis Alÿs, Olafur Eliasson, Hachiya Kazuhiko, Pierre Huyghe, Koo Jeong-a, and Anri Sala—embodies this spirit, and it is our privilege to honor them in this fashion."

"The continuity of our cultural engagement and our belief in contemporary art are more important than ever in today's world, where people are attaching far greater importance to things that possess a certain profundity and credibility," said Werner Baldessarini, Chairman and CEO of HUGO BOSS. "That's why we are so proud to have created an art prize—together with the Guggenheim Museum—that has achieved worldwide recognition."
The biennial HUGO BOSS PRIZE is administered by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and is juried by a distinguished international panel of museum directors, curators, and critics. According to the HUGO BOSS PRIZE criteria, the award is given to an artist whose work represents a significant development in contemporary art. The prize sets no restrictions in terms of age, gender, race, nationality, or media, and the nominations may include young, emerging artists as well as established individuals whose public recognition may be long overdue. The prize carries with it an award of $50,000.

The jurors of the HUGO BOSS PRIZE: 2002 are: Sandra Antelo-Suarez, independent curator and founder and Editorial Director, TRANS <arts.cultures.media; Lisa Dennison, Deputy Director and Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Yuko Hasegawa, Chief Curator, 21st Century Museum of Contemporary Art, Kanazawa, Japan, and Curator of the 7th International Istanbul Biennial (2001); Thomas Krens, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; Suzanne Pagé, Director, ARC - Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris; and Nancy Spector, Curator of Contemporary Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

This year marks the fourth presentation of the HUGO BOSS PRIZE at the Guggenheim Museum. Since its inception in 1996, the prize has been awarded to American artist Matthew Barney (1996); Scottish artist Douglas Gordon (1998); and Slovenian artist Marjetica Potrc (2000). The list of finalists in previous years includes: Laurie Anderson, Janine Antoni, Stan Douglas, Cai Guo Qiang, and Yasumasa Morimura in 1996; Huang Yong Ping, William Kentridge, Lee Bul, Pipilotti Rist, and Lorna Simpson in 1998; Vito Acconci, Maurizio Cattelan, Michael Elmgreen & Ingar Dragset, Tom Friedman, Barry Le Va, and Tunga in 2000. HUGO BOSS AG has provided critical support to many of the Guggenheim Museum's programs since 1995. In addition to the HUGO BOSS PRIZE, the company has helped to make possible retrospectives of the work of Georg Baselitz, Ross Bleckner, Francesco Clemente, Ellsworth Kelly, and Robert Rauschenberg, and special projects with Jeff Koons and James Rosenquist.

Profiles of HUGO BOSS PRIZE: 2002 Shortlisted Artists

Francis Alÿs was born in Antwerp, Belgium in 1959. After studying architecture and engineering at the Institut d'Architecture de Tournai, Belgium, and the Instituto di Architettura di Venezia, Alÿs began exhibiting as an artist in 1991. He currently lives and works in Mexico City. The artist has performed his "walks" and presented paintings, videos, and photographs that chart the terrain of everyday urban life in numerous solo exhibitions at international venues including the Museo de Arte Contemporáneo de Oaxaca (1996), Museo de Arte Moderno, Mexico City (1997); Sala Moncada, Fundacion La Caixa, Barcelona (1999); the Galérie d'Art de l'Université du Québec, Montreal (2000); and the Wadsworth Atheneum, Hartford, Connecticut (2001). Group exhibitions featuring his work include the Havana Biennial (1994); SITE Santa Fe (1995); NowHere at the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark (1996); Loose Threads, Serpentine Gallery, London (1998); Mirror's Edge, Bild Museet, Umeå, Sweden (1999); the Istanbul Biennial (1999 and 2001) the Venice Biennale (1999 and 2001); and Painting at the Edge of the World, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis (2001).

Olafur Eliasson was born in Copenhagen in 1967 and divided his childhood between Denmark and Iceland. He graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in Copenhagen in 1995, and currently lives and works in Berlin. His sculptures, installations, and photographs, which emphasize sensory experience while challenging definitions of the natural versus the artificial, have been the subject of solo exhibitions in international venues including the Kunsthalle, Basel (1997); Arhus Kunstmuseum, Denmark (1998); De Appel, Amsterdam (1999); Kunstverein, Wolfsburg (1999); the Art Institute of Chicago (2000); and the Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2001). Eliasson has also participated in numerous prominent group exhibitions, such as Manifesta 1, Rotterdam, (1996); the second Johannesburg Biennial, (1997); the Istanbul Biennial (1997), Nuit Blanche, La jeune scène nordique, Musée d' Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1998); São Paulo Bienal (1998); the Venice Biennale (1999); The Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (1999); Vision and Reality, Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark (2000); and the Yokohama Triennial of Contemporary Art (2001). Currently, a project by the artist can be seen at The Museum of Modern Art, New York (through May 21, 2002).

Hachiya Kazuhiko was born in Saga, Japan in 1966 and graduated from the Kyushu Institute of Design in 1989. He describes his interactive, media-based work as communication tools and machines, which respond to new technologies. Since 1993, the artist has been featured in solo exhibitions throughout Japan at such venues as the Spiral Garden, Tokyo (1993); the Hiroshima City Museum of Contemporary Art (1996); and Gallery Art Soko, Tokyo (1999). Kazuhiko's work has been seen internationally in group exhibitions such as First Steps: Emerging Artists from Japan, Grey Art Gallery, New York (1999); ZeitWenden, Kunstmuseum Bonn (1999); Fancy Dance, Sonje Museum of Contemporary Art, Sonje, Korea (1999); The Gift of Hope, Museum of Contemporary Art, Tokyo (2000); and the Istanbul Biennial (2001). The artist has received numerous awards including a Phillip Morris Art Award (1998), and an Award of Distinction at the Prix Ars Electronica (1998) for "PostPet," an E-mail software.

Pierre Huyghe was born in 1962 in Paris, where he currently lives and works. The artist graduated form the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, in 1985. In 2000 he was a DAAD Artist in Residence in Berlin. Huyghe's videos and installations, which often use film as a departure for investigating a contemporary society saturated with representation, have been presented in numerous solo exhibitions including shows at Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (1998); Aarhus Kunstmueum, Denmark (1999); Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris; and the Museum of Contemporary Art, Chicago, and the Renaissance Society, University of Chicago (2000); Musée d' Art Contemporain, Montreal (2000-2001); Musée d' Art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva (2001); and the Stedelijk Van Abbemuseum, Amsterdam (2001). His work has been represented in notable group exhibitions such as the second Johannesburg Biennial (1997); Premises, Guggenheim Museum SoHo, New York (1998); the Instanbul Biennial (1999); the Carnegie International, Pittsburgh (1999); the Venice Biennale (1999); Regarding Beauty: A View of the Late Twentieth Century, Hirshhorn Museum and Sculpture Garden, Washington D.C., and Haus der Kunst, Munich (1999-2000); and Animations, P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York (2001). Huyghe recently represented France at the Venice Biennale (2001).

Koo Jeong-a was born in Seoul in 1967 and currently lives and works in Paris. Her subtle, landscape-like installations that incorporate accumulations of commonplace materials such as aspirin, pencils, coins, and even garbage, have been shown at the Musée d'Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (Migrateurs series, 1994, and 1997), and the Moderna Museet, Stockholm, (Projekt series, 1998). Koo Jeong-a has also participated in numerous group exhibitions, including Manifesta 1, Rotterdam (1996); Cities on the Move, Secession, Vienna (1997), Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Helsinki, Hayward Gallery, London, and the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, Humlebaek, Denmark (1998); and Unfinished History, Walker Art Center, Minneapolis, Minnesota (1998). Recent group exhibitions include From a Distance: Approaching Landscape, Institute of Contemporary Art, Boston (2000); Manifesta 3, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2000); Snapshot, The Baltimore Museum of Art, Baltimore, Maryland (2000); and the Yokohama Triennial of Contemporary Art, Yokohoma, Japan (2001).

Anri Sala was born in 1974 in Tirana, Albania, where he studied painting at the Académie National des Arts. Subsequently, in 1998, he earned a degree in video art from the École Nationale Supérieure des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, before studying at the Studio National des Arts Contemporains at Le Fresnoy, Tourcoing. The artist currently lives and works in Paris. His short films have been featured in recent solo exhibitions at Musée d'art Moderne et Contemporain, Geneva (2000), and De Appel, Amsterdam (2000). Sala's work has been exhibited internationally in a variety of group exhibitions including the Venice Biennale (1999 and 2001); Manifesta 3, Ljubljana, Slovenia (2000); Voilà- Le Monde dans la Tête, Musée d' Art Moderne de la Ville de Paris (2000); Uniform: Order and Disorder at P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York (2001); the Berlin Biennial (2001); and the Yokohama International Triennial of Contemporary Art, Yokohama, Japan (2001). The artist has received numerous awards, including Best Documentary at the Williamsburg Brooklyn Film Festival, New York (2000) and one of four special prizes for young artists at the 49th Venice Biennale (2001).

SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM MUSEUM

HUGO BOSS PRIZE