Kapwani Kiwanga: Inaugural Winner of the Frieze Artist Award, supported by Luma Foundation at Frieze New York 2018
Kapwani Kiwanga, 2016. Photo credit: Bertille Chérot. Courtesy Galerie Jérôme Poggi – Paris.
Kiwanga to Present Major New Commission at Frieze New York, May 4-6 2018
Frieze announces Kapwani Kiwanga as the winner of the Frieze Artist Award, a major opportunity for an emerging artist launching at Frieze New York 2018. The Paris-based artist will realize an open-air installation, exploring freedom of movement and architectures of exclusion, in Randall’s Island Park from May 4–6 2018. Curated by Adrienne Edwards (Performa, New York/Walker Art Center, Minneapolis), the Frieze Artist Award forms part of the fair’s non-profit program and is supported by the Luma Foundation.
Kiwanga’s proposal was selected from an international open call, resulting in hundreds of applications from more than 50 countries. The 2018 Frieze Artist Award jury included Liam Gillick (artist), Eungie Joo (San Francisco Museum of Modern Art), Pablo León de la Barra (Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York) and Edwards, chaired by Loring Randolph (Artis- tic Director, Frieze). Kiwanga receives a budget of up to 30,000 USD and will realize her artwork at Frieze New York.
Edwards said: “I’m thrilled to be launching the Artist Award at Frieze New York with such a strong, thought-provoking artist. Kapwani’s rigorous research and imaginative approach confront audiences with the raw materials and elemental structures of power. I’m looking forward to experiencing Kapwani’s ambitious artwork in Randall’s Island Park, which will ask poignant questions about our built environment and human histories of control.”
Kiwanga has explored subjects as far reaching as space travel, anti-colonial struggles, geology and disciplinary architectures, often rooted in her training in anthropology. Part documentary, partition, Kiwanga’s works span installation, sound, video and performance, unsettle established narratives and create spaces in which marginalised discourse can nourish.
Kiwanga’s winning commission, Shady (working title), will be a large-scale sculptural work made for the open air and installed outside the entrance to Frieze New York. Created with industrial metal and agricultural fabric and punctuated by holes and passageways, the imposing structure will both invite and obstruct movement. The artist’s political choice of Shade Cloth, used in large-scale farming on the African continent and beyond, will speak to the colonial appropriation of land from indigenous communities and the manipulation of the natural environment for economic gain. In these ways, the artist will build on her practice shining new light on the psychological power of design and histories of exclusion.
Kapwani Kiwanga (b. 1978, Hamilton, Canada) lives and works in Paris, France. Kiwanga studied Anthropology and Comparative Religion at McGill University in Montreal before taking part in the program La Seine at the École Nationale Supérieure des Beaux- Arts de Paris. Kiwanga’s work is currently on show as part of “Stories for Almost Everyone” at the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, 2018) and she has been selected for the 2018 edition of Glasgow International.
Kapwani Kiwanga, pink-blue, 2017. Baker-Miller pink paint, white fluorescent lights, blue florescent lights, Variable Dimensions. Courtesy the Artist, Galerie Jérôme Poggi – Paris, Galerie Tanja Wagner – Berlin. Photo Credit : Toni Hafkenscheid, installation view Power Plant, Toronto.
About the Frieze Artist Award, supported by the Luma Foundation
The launch of the Artist Award in New York follows an established program of Artist Award commissions at Frieze London. The 2017 Frieze Artist Award winner (London) was Kiluanji Kia Henda, whose two-part installation took the cult of Marxism-Leninism in Angola as its starting point. Previous award winners in London include Yuri Pattison (2016), Rachel Rose (2015) and Mélanie Matranga (2014). The Frieze Artist Award sits within a rich history of artist awards presented at Frieze Art Fairs, including the Emdash Award (2011–13) and the Cartier Award (2006–10). Explore all projects here.
Frieze New York 2018 takes place from May 4-6 in Randall’s Island Park and is supported by global lead partner Deutsche Bank for the seventh consecutive year.
For further information please visit frieze.com
Kapwani Kiwanga (b. 1978, Hamilton, Canada) lives and works in Paris, France. Kiwanga studied Anthropology and Comparative Religion at McGill University in Montreal before taking part in the program La Seine at the École nationale supérieure des Beaux- Arts de Paris. Kiwanga’s work is currently on show as part of ‘Stories for Almost Everyone’ at the Hammer Museum (Los Angeles, 2018) and she has been selected for the 2018 edition of the Glasgow International (2018). Other exhibitions include solo shows at Museé d’art de Joliette (2018), Esker Foundation Contemporary Art Gallery, Calgary (2018), The Power Plant, Toronto (2017) and South London Gallery (2015); and group exhibitions at the Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2018), Tate Liverpool (2017) and Portikus, Frankfurt (2017), among others. Kiwanga’s performances have been presented at Documenta 14, Athens (2017), Momentum 9, Oslo (2017); FRAC, Champagne-Ardenne (2015), Tate Modern, London (2014) and Centre Pompidou, Paris (2014), among others.
Luma Foundation: In 2004, Maja Hoffmann created the Luma Foundation to support the activities of artists, independent pioneers and organizations working in the visual arts, photography, publishing, documentary lamming, and other media. The Luma Foundation produces, supports, and enables challenging art projects committed to an expansive understanding of environmental issues, human rights, education and culture.
In 2014, Luma started the regeneration of the Parc des Ateliers, an expansive former industrial site located in Arles, France. Situated adjacent to the city’s UNESCO World Heritage sites, the Parc des Ateliers serves as the major programmatic and cultural centre for the Luma Foundation’s diverse activities.
The site includes a resource centre designed by architect Frank Gehry (to open in 2019); various industrial buildings rehabilitated by Selldorf Architects; and a public park designed by landscape architect Bas Smets. Hoffmann works closely with the Luma Arles Core Group (Tom Eccles, Liam Gillick, Hans Ulrich Obrist, Philippe Parreno, and Beatrix Ruf ) on a program of exhibitions and multidisciplinary projects presented each year in the site’s newly rehabilitated venues of the Grande Halle, Les Forges, and the Mécanique Générale. More info: www.luma-arles.org.
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