BARCELONA, SPAIN.- The Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona is pleased to present the first edition of the Joan Miró Prize, awarded every other year and designed to reward an outstanding contribution to the contemporary art scene.

The Joan Miró Prize is organized by the Joan Miró Foundation in Barcelona and sponsored by Fundació Caixa Girona. Both institutions have signed an agreement that guarantees a minimum of five editions of the Prize over a period of ten years. Their collaboration stems from a common desire to promote culture at large and the visual arts in particular.

The Prize, consisting of a cash award of 70,000 €, is one of the best-endowed among existing art awards and will be given to an artist, regardless of age, nationality or gender, whose work constitutes an outstanding contribution to current art practices along the spirit of research, innovation, engagement, and freedom that characterized the life and work of Joan Miró.

The name of the winner of the Joan Miró Prize 2007 will be announced in March 2007 and the award ceremony will take place at the Joan Miró Foundation auditorium in May 2007, with organizers, sponsors, jury members, and the winning artist all present.

An international jury composed of contemporary art specialists who might change with each edition will be charged to select the candidates to the Prize and to choose the eventual winner. The jury will always include a representative of the Joan Miró Foundation and a representative of Fundació Caixa Girona.

The jury members of the 2007 edition will be the following: Ida Gianelli, Director of Castello di Rivoli Museo d’Arte Contemporanea, Alfred Pacquement, Director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne Centre Georges Pompidou, Vicente Todolí, Director of Tate Modern, Rosa Maria Malet, Director of the Fundació Joan Miró, and Arcadi Calzada, President of Fundació Caixa Girona.

With the generous support of Fundació Caixa Girona, the Joan Miró Foundation will organize an exhibition of the winning artist that will be part of its exhibition calendar for 2007-2008. The show, or a similar one, will also be seen at the Fontana d’Or exhibition spaces of Fundació Caixa Girona.