The Kassák Contemporary Art Prize was established in 2022 by Dr. István Argay, a physician and art collector, as founder, and the Petőfi Literary Museum – Kassák Museum as institutional partner, to encourage the creation of contemporary art works and projects. In 2023, the Rechnitzer Collection joined the initiative as a special patron. The project is coordinated by the Interart Foundation.
The Kassák Prize for Contemporary Art is open to projects that explore or reinterpret in a contemporary way the phenomena of twentieth-century avant-garde art and the issues raised by avant-garde movements. The competition is open to the creation of a new work of art or project embedded in an exhibition.
The value of the prize is HUF 1.5 million gross, which the winning applicant may use to create their work and which they may freely dispose of. The winning project is presented at the Kassák Museum as a temporary exhibition in the year following the award ceremony. The prize is open to artists over 18 years of age who have submitted a work for an exhibition. A jury of five experts decide on the applications received.
The Kassák Contemporary Art Prize was designed by Imre Lepsényi and created by glass artist Péter Botos.
KASSÁK CONTEMPORARY ART PRIZE 2022
KASSÁK CONTEMPORARY ART PRIZE 2023
- Call for proposals (Hungarian)
- Shortlist (Hungarian)
- Winning application
The founders of the prize
Dr. István Argay is an obstetrician-gynecologist, internationally renowned specialist, and art collector. He brings an interest in art from childhood. Growing up in a family of art collectors, art and culture are a natural and important part of his everyday life. He was introduced to contemporary art through training at the Contemporary Collecting Academy. He not only wants to collect art, but also to support it, which is why he approached the Kassák Museum with the idea for the Kassák Contemporary Art Prize.
The Interart Foundation aims to support the emergence, role and dissemination of contemporary Hungarian art in domestic, European and global social processes and structures. In this context, priority is given to the research and creation of sustainable models based on the socially relevant interrelationships of economic and cultural fields. In 2016, the Interart Foundation launched the Contemporary Collecting Academy (CCA) initiative in response to the educational needs linked to this process, and more than a thousand people have already completed its numerous live and online courses and free seminars. The Foundation's Board of Trustees is chaired by György Gajzágó, a branding expert who also holds the position of CCA Director. It was he who first thought of the Kassák Contemporary Art Prize when he was approached by a CCA student, Dr István Argay, who wanted to establish an arts scholarship. This is how the Interart Foundation became the coordinator of the Kassák Contemporary Art Prize.
Contact
- Kassák Contemporary Art Prize | Kassák Museum: kkmd@pim.hu
- Interart Foundation | György Gajzágó: art@artcenter.hu, +36 30 944-6633
Logo: Imre Lepsényi
The partner of the Kassák Contemporary Art Award is Takler Wine Estate, Szekszárd.