Cornelia Parker says
“I’m delighted to be presenting this year’s Contemporary Art Society Award. In my early career the Society bought a number of my works that are now in collections in this country and gave me the support I needed at the right time. As an artist I know how important it is that museums commission new works for the public to enjoy. The award is particularly significant in the current financial climate..”
The Contemporary Art Society exists to develop public collections of contemporary art across the UK and has done so since 1910. The Annual Award continues this important work and exists as the most generous opportunity alongside other Acquisitions Schemes.
Public collections held within regional museums in this country have a wonderful history and hold fantastic works of art. The Annual Award enables one museum each year to work with an artist, through a creative process, an opportunity to produce new work makes it possible for museums to make inspiring links between the artist, their work and the very large audiences that visit and participate in museums in this country.
The Contemporary Art Society believes that to ensure that the most interesting art of the day finds its way in to public collections is vital for audiences now and in the future.
“Our Annual Award of £60,000 aims to encourage leading contemporary artists and museums to work together to realise inspirational new works of contemporary art for their local audiences. We have been delighted by the volume and the quality of applications to our Annual Award in this, its third year. Once again, we are excited by such a strong selection of museums proposing internationally acclaimed artists of this calibre to create major new works for their collections. The selection panel has a particularly difficult decision to make this year and we all look forward to their announcement in November.”
– Paul Hobson, Director, Contemporary Art Society
Previous winners include The Hepworth Wakefield and Wolverhampton Art Gallery for their proposal with Luke Fowler and Museums Sheffield, the Graves Art Gallery with Katerina Šedá.
Read an interview with Cornelia Parker OBE here:
http://www.independent.co.uk/arts-entertainment/art/features/cornelia-parker-on-arts-philanthropy-in-britain-6259272.html