Once again we invite all artists to apply to the artig Art Prize 2020 (endowed with 2.500 €), the artig Special Prize (1.500 €) and the Audience Prize (1.000 €). Application deadline is March 7 14, 2020. Both jury prizes will be awarded at the opening vernissage on Friday, April 24. The Audience Prize will be presented on Sunday, May 24.

to the Participation & Exhibition Terms & Conditions

UPDATE: SUBMISSION PERIOD EXTENDED BY 1 WEEK TO MARCH 14

Due to scheduling difficulties with some jurors, the meetings of the nomination and photo jury had to be postponed by a week. The advantage: We can also extend the submission deadline by one week until on Saturday, March 14th at midnight, giving those who have just heard about our art prize the time to select the right works and submit them with good images. The announcement of the works nominated for the art prize (and for the exhibition) will also be postponed by one week to Sunday, March 22nd. All other dates (posting, award ceremony / vernissage and exhibition) remain the same.

Once again in 2020, the artig association invites visual artists of all genres, painters, sculptors, photographers, performance and video artists as well as artists who make hybrid art to submit one to two artworks to the international artig Art Prize 2020. The artists can send photos of their artworks either directly per online form or by letter.

The Art Prize is offered and organized by the artig associaton, a registered and approved non-profit organization that was founded in 2009 by artists and art lovers in the Allgäu region of Bavaria. Since 2012, artig has been operating the Kunstreich Gallery in the historic old town of Kempten. The finalists’ artworks are presented there in a large exhibition from April 24 through May 24, 2020 and the art prizes are awarded in the Kunstreich Gallery.

The artig Art Prize honors contemporary art without restrictions. This means: no restrictions with respect to age, origin, production method or theme – and with as little outside interference as possible. In the end, the artig Art Prize is an award from artists for artists; they are in the focus.

What has changed compared to 2018?

We have increased the initial endowment: the artig art price from 2.000 to 2.500 €, the artig special price from 700 to 1.500 € and the public price from 700 to 1.000 €. And as always, we reserve the right to raise the endowments again and / or introduce a fourth price if the participation is high enough.
The art award and special award winners will now have up to € 500 instead of € 400 for a free solo exhibition in 2021 for transport, travel and material costs.
The registration fee drops from € 30 to 25.
Everything else remains as it was.

The Key facts at a glance:

young and old art fans at the presentation of the artig Art Prize 2016 during the opening reception

The Prizes

artig Art Prize 2020* for visual art (paintings, sculpture/plastic, photography, video, installation, performance…), endowed with 2,500 Euro
artig Special Prize 2020* for the extraordinary, endowed with 1,500 Euro
artig Audience Prize 2020, endowed with 1,000 Euro, donated by the Clemens Härle Brewery and voted for by the exhibition visitors per ballot.

*The Art Prize and the Special Prize both also include a free solo exhibition in the Kunstreich Gallery in the town of Kempten; transport, accommodation and material costs up to 500 Euro are also included.

All art prizes are always awarded. Each prize is awarded to one person and not divided into several (exception: audience award with the same number of votes).

The Dates 2020

Sat. March 7 14, 12 a.m. midnight	Registration + submission deadline
Sun. March 15 22	Announcement of finalists / accepted artworks
Mon. March 30 and Sat. April 4	Delivery accepted artworks
Fri. April 24, 8 a.m.	Prize award and vernissage
Fri. April 24 – Sun. May 24	Art exhibition
Sun. May 24, 17 Uhr	Audience prize (counting of the ballots and announcement
Sun. May 24, and Mon., May 25	Collection of artworks after the exhibition:

The Selection Process

Tried-and-tested, once again we will run the two-phase jury process:

Photographs of one to two artworks can be submitted per online form or letter until March 7 14, 2020. From these the jury nominates the works for the Art Prize. The original works must then be delivered and will be shown in the Art Prize exhibition starting April 24.
From these original artworks, the jury will select two works that will receive the two art prizes at the opening reception on Friday, April 24, 2020.

The Participation Fee

The non-refundable participation fee is 25 Euro (formerly 30 Euro). The fee will be used to finance a free art prize. For all sold pieces of art, a commission of 15 % will be charged. No other costs will be charged – the illustration of the artworks in the exhibition catalogue for example, is included.

In our view the participation fee is a artist solidarity fee: all artists pay the same amount into a „jackpot“ that is held in trust by the artig registered association (a recognized charitable association that is prohibited to make private profit). The jackpot is then used to award prizes to select artists and to pay the expenses for a professional and large format exhibition catalogue, for the art prize and two award winner exhibitions, for insurance, for rent and for many other things.

The entire organizational work, the award selection and the organization of the exhibitions is based on the voluntary, unsalaried work of our members, nominated artists do not have to take on any supervisory services.

For us, it is important that the art prize focuses on art and the artists. This includes feasible delivery times for every artist, not just for teachers and retired people, a rigorous control of non-transparent competition and the prohibition of applications submitted by association members (in order to avoid that suddenly one of the organizers receives an award…), a professional exhibition marketing all the way to the opening speeches that will not praise the merits of town officials and sponsors while the artists provide a decorative backdrop. Moreover, we also reject entrepreneurs who praise art sponsoring as “social” (!) commitment, and who purchase paintings because they match their products thematically or in color – or via their sponsoring influence in any other way and create dependences.

The restrictions: „The artwork should not be older than the artist.“

From the very beginning, the artig Art Prize was intended to be as free as possible (like the art itself) and to have as little restrictions as possible with respect to the underlying criteria, e.g. with respect to the theme, the production methods as well as the age, education, origin or the association membership of the participating artists.

For us, this includes not only the age of the artist, but also that of the work: So why should a piece of art be less relevant, good or less presentable only because it is older than three years? Similar as is the case with books, a theater play, an idea or a vision? Of course, depending on the theme, a particular artwork may become less relevant over time – but not per se simply through its age. At what point will a piece of art be no longer up-to-date? And how up-to-date and novel must art be at all?

In light of this absurdity it’s valid for our art price since 2017, that we accept every artwork independent of the year it was created – as long as it was created by the submitting artist himself or herself.

There are only a few more restrictions. Art is free but the technical restrictions and limits are not the sky, but the walls and the ceiling of the Kunstreich Gallery. Therefore, the maximum size of the artworks should not exceed 2.2 x 3.5 meters. Other than that, there are no restrictions concerning genre, technique, age, origin or theme.

artig artists and full members are excluded from participation to ensure free and unbiased jury decisions. Moreover, this should also guarantee results without strange connotation. Naturally, the admission to the exhibition is also free.

Now we are ready to start – more details can be found on the following pages:

to the submission & entry form

to the Participation & Exhibition Terms & Conditions

In Retrospect

In 2014, artists from half of Europe submitted 540 works: Already at this first art award we were amazed – and also a little bit proud of the great trust in us. The jury selected 50 works that were exhibited on two (inbetween three) floors of the gallery Kunstreich.

In 2016, the jury selected 69 works from a wide range of genres from over 800 submitted works. Due to the unexpectedly high number of participants, we immediately doubled the main prize to 2,000, raised the other two prizes to 700 euros and enlarged the format of the exhibition catalog to 30 x 30 cm. The award winners were also invited to solo exhibitions.

In 2018, over 1,000 works by 560 artists came from half of Europe, from Portugal to the Czech Republic and from Belgium to Macedonia. 72 works made it into the exhibition this time. Thanks to the further increase in the number of participants, we raised the good art price from 2,000 to 2,500 €, the good special price from 700 to 1,500 € and the public price from 700 to 1,000 € and introduced a fourth price, the good extra price 2018 with another € 1,000.

The bottom line: We are proud to be part of such a great artist community that takes a lot on itself – and knows how to celebrate together at vernissages.

artig Art Price 2018