NEW YORK, NY.- Richard Armstrong, Director, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and Museum, and Claus-Dietrich Lahrs, Chairman of the Managing Board and CEO, Hugo Boss AG, today announced the short list for the Hugo Boss Prize 2010. Established in 1996 to recognize significant achievement in contemporary art, this biennial award is administered by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and juried by a distinguished international panel of museum directors, curators, and critics. The following artists are finalists for the eighth presentation of the prize:

• Cao Fei (b. 1978, Guangzhou, China) — video, installation, performance, photography, and online projects.

• Hans-Peter Feldmann (b. 1941, Düsseldorf) — sculpture, installation, photography, and artists’ books.

• Natascha Sadr Haghighian — sculpture, installation, performance, video, photography, sound, and online projects.

• Roman Ondák (b. 1966, Zilina, Czechoslovakia) — performance, installation, photography, drawing, and sculpture.

• Walid Raad (b. 1967, Chbanieh, Lebanon) — photography, video, mixed media, essays, and lectures.

• Apichatpong Weerasethakul (b. 1970, Bangkok) — film and installation.

“The Hugo Boss Prize is internationally recognized as one of contemporary art’s most prestigious accolades,” said Armstrong. “In line with the Guggenheim’s commitment to supporting the most innovative and compelling art of our time, the prize is an opportunity for us to honor artists around the world who are redefining the parameters of creative production. We are delighted to have this opportunity to celebrate the outstanding achievements of the six short-listed artists.”

A publication featuring the work of all six finalists with accompanying essays will be published in June 2010. The prizewinner will be selected and announced in fall 2010, and the artist’s work will be presented in an exhibition in 2011 at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York.

“We are proud that the HUGO BOSS PRIZE has been recognizing artists for so many years,” said Lahrs. “This demonstrates how firmly the award has become anchored in the contemporary art world and also underscores our continuing commitment to the arts as an integral part of our corporate culture.”

The Hugo Boss Prize is given to an artist whose work represents a significant development in contemporary art. The award sets no restrictions in terms of age, gender, race, nationality, or medium, and the nominations may include emerging artists as well as established individuals whose public recognition may be long overdue. The 2010 prize carries with it an award of $100,000.

The jury for the 2010 prize is chaired by Nancy Spector, Chief Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, and the jurors are Udo Kittelmann, Director, Nationalgalerie, Berlin; Alexandra Munroe, Senior Curator of Asian Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; Yasmil Raymond, Curator, Dia Art Foundation, New York; Joan Young, Associate Curator of Contemporary Art, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum; and Tirad Zolghadr, independent writer and curator.

Since its inception in 1996, the Hugo Boss Prize has been awarded to American artist Matthew Barney (1996), Scottish artist Douglas Gordon (1998), Slovenian artist Marjetica Potrc (2000), French artist Pierre Huyghe (2002), Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija (2004), British artist Tacita Dean (2006), and Palestinian artist Emily Jacir (2008). Previous finalists have included Laurie Anderson, Janine Antoni, Stan Douglas, Cai Guo-Qiang, and Yasumasa Morimura in 1996; Huang Yong Ping, William Kentridge, Lee Bul, Pipilotti Rist, and Lorna Simpson in 1998; Vito Acconci, Maurizio Cattelan, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, Tom Friedman, Barry Le Va, and Tunga in 2000; Francis Alÿs, Olafur Eliasson, Hachiya Kazuhiko, Koo Jeong-a, and Anri Sala in 2002; Franz Ackermann, Rivane Neuenschwander, Jeroen de Rijke and Willem de Rooij, Simon Starling, and Yang Fudong in 2004; Jennifer Allora and Guillermo Calzadilla, John Bock, Damián Ortega, Aïda Ruilova, and Tino Sehgal in 2006; and Christoph Büchel, Patty Chang, Sam Durant, Joachim Koester, and Roman Signer in 2008.