The art world takes notice!

It’s that time again: the world renowned HUGO BOSS PRIZE for Contemporary Art will be awarded in 2010.

The prize, which comes with a $100,000 cash bonus, is presented every two years in cooperation with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation. It recognizes artists whose complete works have made a significant contribution to the development of contemporary fine art, irrespective of age, gender, nationality or art form. For HUGO BOSS, promoting innovative art is an integral part of its corporate culture. This is the eighth time since 1996 that the HUGO BOSS PRIZE will be awarded, underscoring its recognition in the world of contemporary art as well as the fashion and lifestyle company`s commitment to culture.

A jury composed of independent curators, art critics and museum directors has announced the nominees for the 2010 HUGO BOSS PRIZE, including some positive surprises:

The films of Thai artist Apichatpong Weerasethakul (*1970) are both profound and lyrical, making them easily accessible to the spectator. In contrast, Walid Raad (*1967) tackles the civil wars of his native Lebanon through performance, photography and video. Using the same media as Raad, Chinese artist Cao Fei (*1978) examines her country’s culture trends in her own artistic, sociological fashion. In playful performances, Slovak artist Roman Ondák (*1966) deals with deeply entrenched socio-cultural structures. German artist Hans-Peter Feldmann (*1941) brings the seemingly incoherent into harmony in his image collages. Artist Natascha Sadr Haghighian, on the other hand, presents a riddle. In her work, she examines representative structures while not revealing any personal information about herself – all for the sake of her art. Instead, she refers us to the website www.bioswop.net, where biographies can be “borrowed” as desired.

The work of each of these six artists is both conceptual and characteristically critical. Deeply rooted in their individual backgrounds, they seek not to entertain but to stimulate, to question, to not be content with superficialities. While we won’t know the jury`s decision until November 2010, one thing is certain: the competition will be gripping!

For more information about the artists as well as the 2010 HUGO BOSS PRIZE, visit www.hugoboss-prize.com.

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