The Henrike Grohs Art Award is a biennial art prize conceived by the Goethe-Institut and the Grohs family in memory of the former Head of Goethe-Institut in Abidjan, Henrike Grohs.
The prize is run through an open call process and is aimed at young artists who live and work on the African continent. It is awarded biennially to an artist or arts collective practicing in the field of visual arts. The award aims to support emerging artists in their careers, responding to the challenges of practicing on the African continent. Artistic quality is the most important criterion for the award.
The main prize is awarded by an international jury after a shortlist is compiled by a selection committee.
The winning individual artist or collective will receive a cash prize of 20.000€ and 10.000€ towards the production of a catalog of the winner’s work. Two artists or collectives will be selected as runners-up and will be awarded a cash prize of 5.000€ each.
Conceived in honor of the late Henrike Grohs – a dedicated promoter of contemporary art in Africa – the prize aims to support outstanding artistic practices and contributes to cultural dialogue on the African continent. Since its inauguration in 2018, the prize has established itself as an outstanding opportunity to promote exceptional African contemporary art practice. Contemporary visual artists from various disciplines living and working on the African continent are eligible to apply.
The Goethe-Institut is the Federal Republic of Germany’s cultural institute, active worldwide. Its mandate is to promote the study of German abroad and to encourage international cultural exchange. Today it is represented in 98 countries and has some 3,300 employees. It contributes widely to the promotion of artists, ideas, and works. Supporting the local cultural scenes and strengthening pan-African dialogue through the arts are part of its mission on the African continent, where it operates 19 institutes located in Abidjan, Accra, Addis Ababa, Alexandria, Cairo, Casablanca, Dakar, Dar es Salaam, Johannesburg, Khartoum, Kigali, Lagos, Lomé, Luanda, Nairobi, Rabat, Tunis, Windhoek, and Yaoundé, as well as three liaison offices in Algiers, Kinshasa, and Ouagadougou and cultural associations in Antananarivo, Bamako, Cape Town, Harare, Kampala, and Maputo.
Location:
AfricaBenefits
- Main prize: €20,000 awarded to one individual participant or collective of participants.
- Publication fund: €10,000 allocated to the production of a publication by the HGAA.
- Runners up: Two individual artists or artist collectives awarded €5,000 each.
Eligibilities
- Applicants have to be emerging visual artists living and working on the African continent.
- Artists should have been practicing for at least 5 years, with the ability to display a coherent body of work.
- Each applicant may apply only once during the current application process; A collective of artists should apply as one participant; but any artist who belongs to a group is not barred from applying individually as a separate participant
- The selection committee and the jury’s decision are final. No member of the selection committee or jury will enter into any discussion regarding the merits of their decision.
- Every applicant agrees to pass to the Organisers all rights to use an image of their artwork(s) and images of the award event for publication and communication without any payment.
- Information submitted by the applicant can be reviewed by the Organisers at any time to ensure compliance with the Rules and Conditions An applicant may not amend their entry form or any other information once it has been submitted.
- Registration and participation in the Henrike Grohs Art Award is free of charge;
- An applicant may be asked at any time to provide all relevant proof of the accuracy of any submitted information to the satisfaction of the Organizers, this specifically applies to point.
- The Organisers and the Jury have the unilateral right to exclude an application that does not comply with the Rules and Conditions
Application Process
- Artists may submit applications via the online application form within the period of time specified on their official website.
- All applications received outside this period will not be considered.
- Following the close of applications, the Selection Committee will review applications and provide a shortlist of up to twenty artists, whose names will be announced on the website. The shortlisted artists will be notified by email.
- An international jury will select the winner and two runners-up. The prize winners will be announced at an international biennale or event on the continent.
- The Organisers reserve the right to alter these timelines, in accordance with the availability of its members. The announcements of the short-listed artists and the winner of the Prize will be made available on the Henrike Grohs Art Award website.
Application Deadline: August 31, 2023
Application ClosedOfficial link
