1-54 New York 2020 will celebrate the inaugural Ritzau Art Prize, an award supporting extraordinary artists from the African continent for three-month career-enhancing residencies at ISCP in New York City in 2020, 2021, and 2022. This new residency award, developed by ISCP in collaboration with 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair and supported by Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy, will afford global visibility and invaluable professional development opportunities to three talented visual artists from Africa.
The first Ritzau Art Prize winner will be announced at the 1-54 New York 2020 Preview Day on Thursday, May 7, 2020. The Prize will be open to late emerging to mid-career artists whose work is being exhibited at the fair, and who have expressed interest in being considered and meet the selection criteria. The selection criteria include excellence of work, and potential for impact on the artist and their greater community.
An annually rotating jury will be comprised of distinguished contemporary African artists and specialists. The 2020 inaugural cycle includes Omar Berrada, writer, curator, and Director of Dar al-Ma’mûn; Adrienne Edwards, Engell Speyer Family Curator and Curator of Performance at the Whitney Museum; and Olu Oguibe, artist.
About the Ritzau Art Prize, a commitment to artists working in Africa
The Ritzau Art Prize is funded by Colleen Ritzau Leth, a vice president at Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy, a private family foundation that since 2017 has supported residencies for young, promising African artists at the Brooklyn, New York program. The Ritzau Art Prize builds on her shared the foundation’s commitment to provide artists from the continent with dynamic, immersive residencies that create visibility and advance their careers. In the past, Tauck Ritzau Innovative Philanthropy supported ISCP residencies for artists from the African continent including Younes Baba-Ali (2019), whose wry, subversive art often unfolds in the public streets of North Africa; Nigerian artist Modupeola Fadugba (2018), whose affecting paintings and works on paper explore issues of identity representation and access; and Kiluanji Kia Henda (2017), a self-taught Angolan artist and recipient of a sculptural commission on view during the 2019 edition of 1-54 Contemporary African Art Fair in London.
About ISCP
The International Studio & Curatorial Program (ISCP) supports the creative development of artists and curators, and promotes exchange through residencies and public programs. Housed in a former factory in Brooklyn, with 35 light-filled work studios and two galleries, ISCP is New York’s most comprehensive international visual arts residency program, founded in 1994. ISCP organizes exhibitions, events and offsite projects, which are free and open to all, sustaining a vibrant community of contemporary art practitioners and diverse audiences. Over 1,400 artists and curators from more than 85 countries, including the United States have undertaken residencies at ISCP.
