Supporting contemporary creation is one of the ambitions of the Bordeaux Art and Design Fair, which is launching the first art and design prize co-founded by both a fair and an institution, the BAD+ebabx Prize. With a financial endowment of 5,000 euros, it is open to all art and design graduates from the Bordeaux School of Fine Arts over the past six years.
"Young artists have taken the call for projects very seriously," notes Marie Maertens, the artistic director of BAD+. "The four pre-selected artists - Camille Benbournane, Jules Cartier, Cristiano Codeço de Amorim, and Viktoria Oreshko - will be exhibited on a dedicated stand, and the winner will be announced during the fair on Friday, May 31st, by a jury chaired by Benoît Maire, an artist living in Bordeaux."
Given the quality of the submissions received, three other artists - Hugo Gomez, Benoit Barsacq, Jessica Guez - will be presented with special mentions. "Overall, these works focus on a way of thinking about creation based on their own experience with an emphasis on the relationship to the body, which is a way of questioning the relationship to the other," analyzes Audry Liseron-Monfils, director of the ebabx.
The Château Kirwan Prize, on the other hand, illustrates both the fair's desire to be rooted in the local territory and the ambition of this 3rd growth of the Margaux appellation to acquire a work of art from one of the galleries to enrich its collection.
While the owner, Daniel Thierry, is a collector of ancient art and president of the Cabinet des Amateurs de Dessins des Beaux-Arts de Paris, the project for the estate is quite different: "Today, visitors expect from us a more contemporary cultural expression compared to a château with classical architecture from the late 18th century. The first artistic intervention was to call upon a Belgian artist of Russian origin, Anatoly Stolnikoff, in 2016 to remake the door of the cellar."
Since then, other works have followed, including those of Felicity Aylieff, Kate Malone, Chen Xuefei, and Hervé van der Straeten. The Château Kirwan Prize will be announced during the gala dinner of the fair on May 29th. "In Bordeaux, there is a permanent presence of art in life, in the city, and in the vineyards," concludes Jean-Daniel Compain, the founder of the fair.
