The winners of the Chanel Next Award, which honors ten artists working in the disciplines of art, film, performance and music, have been announced. Each will receive 100,000 euros to help deepen their practice and realize their most ambitious work. They will also be offered a two-year mentorship and will be given access to an international networking program created in collaboration with the French fashion house’s partners.
The biennial award was launched in 2021 as part of Chanel’s Culture Fund, a funding initiative that aims to support and promote figures at the forefront of contemporary culture. The award’s jury includes some of the industry’s most notable names, including actress Tilda Swinton and artist Cao Fei—both returning for a second time—and curators Legacy Russell and Hans Ulrich Obrist.
This year’s award winners include Georgian artist Tolia Astakhishvili, whose multidisciplinary practice includes installations that explore the relationship between people and architectural space, and Singaporean artist Ho Tzu Nyen, whose films and performances often combine images from mythological, art-historical and documentary sources. which has to offer new ways of looking at the past.
Installation view by Tolia Astakhishvili, the owner who reflected the space Iin the exhibition First Finger Bonner Kunstvereinen, 2023.
Photo: Mareike Tocha
Talking Art Newspaper Ho says: “I hope so [the prize money] I will go a long way in developing my studio and infrastructure to expand my ability to continue practicing long term. Recently, I have been concerned with various understandings of the notion of power. I am particularly interested in how we can move away from exercising power over others to the notion of power as the power to influence, opening our senses and increasing our potential for empathy.’
Installation view of Ho Tzu Nyen, The cloud of ignorance (2011) at the Singapore Art Museum, 2013.
Photo by Singapore Art Museum. By the artist and Kiang Malingue
“There can never be too much support for artists who are not commercially oriented,” he continues. “We seem to be living in an interregnum of sorts, but that means new worlds are waiting to be born.”
Other honorees include Sam Eng, a self-taught video game developer who has previously collaborated with digital art pioneer Ian Cheng. Among others, Dalton Paula, whose painted and photographic portraits bring to light the forgotten figures of Brazilian history, and the choreographer Oona Doherty. Filmmaker Maxy Fox, musician and poet Moor Mother and composer Anna Thorvaldsdottir also won.
Sam Eng, Skate Story (2024)
Courtesy of Sam Eng (by Sam Eng)
Paula says: “The prize will give way to bigger dreams, which includes building a forest school. Like the Sertão Negro Ateliê and Art School that I am already developing, a space guided by the knowledge of the ancestors, so that young artists and researchers can continue to develop their work and potential, sharing the codes of the artistic system and taking care of the earth. “.
Paula Dalton Luiza Mahin (2020). Mahin was believed to be an important figure in organizing the slave uprisings that took place in Bahia, Brazil, in the first half of the 20th century.
Courtesy of the artist. Joerg Lohse’s photo
Asked about his hopes for the award as a judge, Cao said Art Newspaper: “The Chanel Next Prize promotes the creativity of artists, especially those who challenge conventional definitions of the visual arts, contemporary culture, dance, music, games and others. I hope these 10 winners continue to thrive in their respective fields. I also hope to further increase the impact of the Chanel Next Prize on the global art scene.”
Yana Peel, Chanel’s global head of arts and culture, says: “Our work at the Chanel Culture Fund is long-term, collaborative and multidisciplinary, as is the case for the NEXT Prize. Ideas that advance change for a better future at an individual and institutional level we try to speed it up. Today’s visual artists are part of a global conversation, and we’re here to amplify their voices.”
