OSLO.- Aurora Aspen has been appointed the new Director of the HM Queen Sonja Art Foundation - Queen Sonja Print Award, the world’s leading prize for graphic art, the Board has announced.

She has been Director of the leading Oslo gallery, OSL contemporary since 2016 and she previously held roles at Norway’s Office for Contemporary Art (OCA) and the Haunch of Venison Gallery in London.

This year, the winner of The Queen Sonja Print Award will be announced in Oslo on

2 June 2022 in the run up to the opening of Norway’s new National Museum, which together with the recently opened MUNCH museum makes the Norwegian capital one of the world’s leading centres for art.

The Queen Sonja Print Award is presented every other year to a leading artist who has excelled in the field of print making, alongside two other awards, The QSPA Inspirational Award for an emerging artist and The QSPA Lifetime Achievement Award which celebrates an artist’s career and lifetime contribution to graphic art and printmaking.

The Award Ceremony, in the presence of HM Queen Sonja, will take place at MUNCH in Oslo on 20 June 2022 and a seminar on Graphic Printmaking the following day at the new National Museum.

Artists are nominated by curators, museum directors and fellow artists from all over the world. The nominees reflect the breadth of contemporary printmaking today, ranging from traditional forms to new approaches involving installation, collage and performance.

The winner of The Queen Sonja Print Award receives a cash prize of NOK 1 million and a residency at the Atelje Larsen art studio in Helsingborg, Sweden.

Aurora Aspen said: “It is a great honour to take on the role as Director for the Foundation, and to work alongside the Board. As well as experiencing, first-hand, the continuous impact HM Queen Sonja makes as a patron of the arts.”

With over eighteen years of international experience, Aurora Aspen began her career at Tate in London. From 2008 to 2014 she oversaw communications strategies for the global gallery Haunch of Venison and concurrently, she established her own consultancy service for clients in New York, London and Oslo, with a focus on strategy and development. Relocating to Norway in 2014, she took on a role at Norway’s Office for Contemporary Art (OCA). During her tenure at OCA, she coordinated major projects such as the Nordic Pavilion at the Venice Biennale, and the Thinking at the Edge of the World Conference in Svalbard. The role also saw her overseeing the International Visitor Program and the maintenance and growth of relationships between OCA, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the Norwegian Arts Abroad network. In 2016, she was appointed Director of OSL contemporary Gallery in Oslo, a position she held until 2022. During her time in the role, she managed the setting out and realisation of the gallery’s strategic plans, domestically and abroad; the gallery’s international presence; relationships between the gallery and major institutions; and the gallery’s roster of renowned artists, ensuring the flourishing of several important careers. She has extensive experience as a consultant for leading museums such as MUNCH, and she is currently a board member for the Young Patrons of the National Museum in Oslo.