Nominations now open for 2009 Ateneo Art Awards

MANILA, Philippines - The Ateneo Art Gallery announces that it is accepting nominations for the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards from May 1 until June 1, 5 p.m. The award is presented by the Ateneo Art Gallery in association with Shangri-La Plaza, Unionbank, Metro Society, YStyle of Philippine STAR, and is sponsored by Smart Communications and the Lifestyle Network.

Recognized internationally, and known locally as one of the most coveted contemporary art prizes in the country, it is given to three outstanding Filipino artists aged 35 and below who have made a significant mark on contemporary Philippine Art.

Last year’s awardees Poklong Anading, Kawayan De Guia, and Marina Cruz-Garcia were likewise the recipients of the Ateneo Art Gallery International Studio Residency Grants. Poklong Anading, a three time Ateneo Art Awards nominee and previous winner received the Common Room Foundation Bandung Residency Grant. Kawayan De Guia was awarded the New York Art Project, and Marina Cruz-Garcia bagged the La Trobe University Visual Arts Centre Bendigo Australia Residency Grant.

Artists may be nominated for works in a solo or group exhibitions held in any public venue from May 2, 2008 to May 1, 2009.

The nominator must be a current or former member of the jury, public gallery director or curator (commercial and non-commercial), independent curator, professional visual artist (must have participated in at least one solo or group exhibition in a public venue), art administrator, art journalist, or an art educator residing in the Philippines.

All nomination forms must be accompanied by visual documentation in either of the following formats: JPEG, AVI, WMV, MPEG, MOV, SWF and other PC-compatible formats in CD, 35-mm slide transparencies or 5R photographs.

Aptly titled, “The Next Wave,” the 2009 Ateneo Art Awards promises to be yet another milestone in Philippine art history as it hurdles towards the future clad in five years of success. This year, in addition to eight local jurors composed of Ramon Lerma, director and chief curator, Ateneo Art Gallery; Fr. Rene Javellana, professor, Fine Arts Program, Ateneo de Manila University; Florentina P. Colayco, dean, College of Fine Arts, UP Diliman; architect Lorelei DC de Viana, acting dean, Institute of Architecture and Fine Arts, Far Eastern University; Marcel Crespo, art patron; Karen Ocampo Flores, OIC, Museum and Visual Arts Division, CCP; Claro Ramirez, Jr., visual artist and consultant for exhibitions and artistic direction, Lopez Memorial Museum; and Luis Yee, Jr. (Junyee), visual artist, the jury shall include the director of the acclaimed Mori Art Museum, Fumio Nanjo, Tokyo jury member of the Turner Prize at the Tate Gallery, London (1998); co-curator of the third Asia-Pacific Triennial of Contemporary Art, Brisbane (1999); artistic co-director of the Yokohama Triennale (2001); jury member of the Golden Lion Prize, Venice Biennale (2005); and artistic director, Singapore Biennale(2006). The annual inclusion of a foreign juror truly underscores the Awards’ international reputation as “the most important art prize for an emerging artist in the Philippines.”

The winners will be announced in a grand ceremony to be held on 13 Aug.13 at the Shangri-La Plaza Mall, subsequent to an exhibition of their works with the other short-listed artists.

For information, visit http://gallery.ateneo.edu, or call Amanda Legasto, 2009 Ateneo Art Awards project coordinator, at 426-6488 or e-mail alegasto@ateneo.edu.