Nominees for the International Contemporary Art Prize of the Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation

The Prince Pierre of Monaco Foundation presents the two works selected by the Arts Council for the International Contemporary Art Prize (PIAC) 2022. Awarded for the first time in 1965, every three years the PIAC rewards a recent work put forward by the Arts Council, which is chaired by H.R.H. the Princess of Hanover. The winner of the Prize will be awarded €75,000.

The following have been shortlisted for the International Contemporary Art Prize 2022:

• Nguyen Trinh Thi for How to Improve the World (2020), nominated by Zoe Butt;

• Christine Sun Kim for her performance of The Star-Spangled Banner (2020), nominated by David Horvitz.

Set in the central highlands of Vietnam, home to a large concentration of indigenous groups, How to Improve the World is a film about listening. The film reflects on the differences in the way that memory is processed between eye culture and ear culture, while also noting the loss of land, forests and a way of life experienced by the indigenous peoples in this part of the world. Discussing the cultural domination of images at the expense of other senses, Nguyen Trinh Thi said: “As our globalised and Westernised cultures have come to be dominated by visual media, I feel the need and the responsibility as a filmmaker to resist this narrative power of visual imagery and look for a more balanced and sensitive approach to perceiving the world by paying more attention to aural landscapes, in line with my interests in the unknown, the invisible, the inaccessible and potentialities.”

The Star-Spangled Banner is a work by Christine Sun Kim which began when she performed the US national anthem in American Sign Language (ASL) at the Superbowl in February 2020, to an audience of millions of television viewers. Accepting the invitation to give a performance like this was not an easy decision for the artist, since American football embodies values that she does not share. However, she felt that it was vital to maintain the visibility of the deaf community in America. Unfortunately, Christine Sun Kim’s performance received only a few seconds of airtime, a clear sign of the work that remains to be done to ensure more equitable visibility in the media. The following day, she published an article in the New York Times to share her experience of the systemic racism at the Super Bowl, something which she believes permeates American culture and has become a norm that often goes unnoticed.

For the 2022 PIAC, each member of the Arts Council suggested “patrons”, who were consulted and nominated the work which, in their view, was the most accomplished and representative of the two years preceding the award of the Prize. The shortlist announced today includes two works selected from the 27 presented by the PIAC “patrons”.

The work of the winner will be exhibited at the Casa Encendida in Madrid from 10 November 2022 until the ARCO Madrid International Contemporary Art Fair, which will be held from 22 to 26 February 2023. The Fair one of the most important events on the contemporary art calendar.

For the first time this year, the award of a Research Grant was launched. The aim of this grant is to support an artist, an institution, a collective or an art historian with a current or forthcoming research project connected to the Mediterranean Basin. Proposed by the Arts Council, this triennial prize does not require any application to be made and offers funding of 10,000 euros.

The following were shortlisted for the Research Grant:

• DAAR (Sandi Hilal and Alessandro Petti);

• Dominique Koch;

• Pierre Leguillon.

 The winners of both these prizes will be announced during the Prince Pierre Foundation award ceremony in Monaco on Tuesday 11 October.

The latest news from the Prince Pierre Foundation is available from: www.fondationprincepierre.mc

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