NEW YORK, NY.- The International Association of Art Critics/USA announces its 26th annual awards to honor artists, curators, museums, galleries and other cultural institutions in recognition of excellence in the conception and realization of exhibitions. The winning projects were nominated and voted on by AICA’s 400 active U.S.-based members to honor outstanding exhibitions of the previous season. This year’s 13 first-place winners include exhibitions focusing on contemporary artists William Kentridge and Pipilotti Rist, the architect Frank Lloyd Wright, the performance artist Yvonne Rainer, the mid 20th century artists Francis Bacon, Unica Zürn and John Altoon and the 19th-century master James Ensor.
In New York City , leading cultural institutions being recognized include the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum for The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia; the Metropolitan Museum of Art for Francis Bacon; the Museum of Modern Art for James Ensor, and The Drawing Center for Unica Zürn: Dark Spring. In addition, two ambitious New York City projects are recognized in the "Public Space" category: The High Line NYC, and Ernesto Neto: anthropodino, which was presented by the Park Avenue Armory.
Winning museums located outside New York include the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art and the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, for William Kentridge: Five Themes as “Best Monographic Museum Show Nationally;” the Los Angeles County Museum of Art for The Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures, and the Yale University Art Gallery for Picasso and the Lure of Language.
A complete list of first and second-place award winners is below and will be available at
www.aica.org.
The awards ceremony, held annually for more than 25 years, will take place at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum on February 16. Museum curators, artists and critics from around the country are expected to attend. A select number of seats will be available to the public. Members of the public may contact aicausaprogram@gmail.com for more information about attending the event.
The 2008/2009 AICA Awards:
BEST MONOGRAPHIC MUSEUM SHOW NATIONALLY
First Place: William Kentridge: Five Themes, organized by the Norton Museum of Art, West Palm Beach, FL, and the San Francisco Museum of Modern Art, San Francisco, CA
Curator: Mark Rosenthal
Second Place: Looking In: Robert Frank's The Americans, organized by the National Gallery of Art, Washington, DC, and the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
Curators: Sarah Greenough and Jeff L. Rosenheim
BEST THEMATIC MUSEUM SHOW NATIONALLY
First Place: Art of Two Germanys/Cold War Cultures, organized by the Los Angeles County Museum of Art, Los Angeles , CA
Curators: Stephanie Barron and Dr. Eckhart Gillen
Second Place: Dove/O'Keeffe: Circles of Influence, organized by the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, MA
Curator: Debra Balken
BEST MONOGRAPHIC MUSEUM SHOW IN NEW YORK CITY
Francis Bacon: A Centenary Retrospective, organized by the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and the Tate London, in partnership with the Museo Nacional del Prado, Madrid
Curators: Gary Tinterow assisted by Anne L. Strauss and Ian Alteveer
BEST THEMATIC MUSEUM SHOW IN NEW YORK CITY
The Third Mind: American Artists Contemplate Asia, 1860-1989, organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York
Curator: Alexandra Munroe
BEST SHOW IN A COMMERCIAL GALLERY IN NEW YORK CITY
Picasso: Mosqueteros, Gagosian Gallery, New York
Curator: John Richardson
BEST SHOW IN A COMMERCIAL GALLERY NATIONALLY
John Altoon: Drawings 1962-1968, organized by The Box Gallery, Los Angeles, CA
BEST SHOW BY A NON-PROFIT GALLERY OR SPACE
First Place: Unica Zürn: Dark Spring, organized by The Drawing Center, New York
Curator: João Ribas
Second Place: Other Voices, Other Rooms: Max Cole, Marcia Hafif, Winston Roeth, Fred Sandback, and David Simpson, organized by Dorsky Gallery Curatorial Programs, Long Island City, NY
Curator: Steven Evans
BEST SHOW IN A UNIVERSITY GALLERY
First Place: (Tie)
The Poetics of Cloth: African Textiles / Recent Art, organized by the Grey Art Gallery, New York University, New York
Curator: Lynn Gumpert
- and -
Dirt on Delight: Impulses that Form Clay organized by the Institute for Contemporary Art, University of Pennsylvania , Philadelphia , PA
Curators: Ingrid Shaffner and Jenelle Porter
Second Place: Picasso and the Allure of Language, organized by the Yale University Art Gallery, New Haven, CT
Curator: Susan Greenberg Fisher
BEST SHOW IN A PUBLIC SPACE
First Place: The High Line NYC, organized by The High Line, New York
Curator: Lauren Ross
Second Place: Ernesto Neto: anthropodino, presented by the Park Avenue Armory, New York
Curator: Tom Eccles
BEST ARCHITECTURE OR DESIGN SHOW
First Place: Frank Lloyd Wright: From Within Outward, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, co-organized by the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation and the Frank Lloyd Wright Foundation
Curators: Thomas Krens, David van der Leer, Maria Nicanor, Bruce Brooks Pfeiffer, Margo Stipe and Oskar Muñoz
Second Place: What was Good Design? MoMA’s Message 1944-56, organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Curator: Juliet Kinchin
BEST HISTORICAL SHOW
First Place: James Ensor, organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Curator: Anna Swinbourne
Second Place: Titian, Tintoretto, Veronese: Rivals in Renaissance Venice, organized by the Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, MA and the Musée du Louvre
Curator: Frederick Ilchman
BEST EXHIBITION OF DIGITAL MEDIA, VIDEO, OR FILM
First Place: Pipilotti Rist: Pour Your Body Out (7354 Cubic Meters) organized by the Museum of Modern Art, New York
Curator: Klaus Biesenbach
Second Place: Kenneth Anger, organized by P.S.1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, NY
Curators: Susanne Pfeffer and Klaus Biesenbach
BEST PERFORMANCE
First Place: Yvonne Rainer's RoS Indexical (2007) and Spiraling Down (2008) presented at REDCAT, Roy and Edna Disney/Cal Arts Theater, Los Angeles, CA in cooperation with the J. Paul Getty Museum, Getty Research Institute, and the World Performance Project at Yale University
Organizers: Mark Murphy, Emily Coates and Laurel Kishi
Second Place: Tabboo! “the Nightingale” presented at Participant Inc, New York
Performed by Tabboo (aka Steven Tashjian)
