Collective exhibition of the laureates of the Oskar Čepan Award 2024 at the Pistoria Palace. The works of Kvet Nguyen, Svetlana Fialová, and Paula Malinowska will be presented.

Exhibition Opening Date: December 13, 2024, 18:00, Fri
December 14, 2024, Sat – February 28, 2025, Fri

A total of 63 artists applied for this year’s Oskar Čepan Award, marking the highest number in the 28-year history of the project.

The diversity of the submitted creative works reflects the current and constantly evolving discourse of contemporary visual art. The international jury consisted of Erin Li (CHN/HK), curator at Delfina Foundation in London, focusing on live art and culture; Amira Gad (EG/FR), independent curator at KANAL – Centre Pompidou in Brussels, with prior experience at Serpentine Galleries in London; Piotr Sikora (PL/CZ), curator of residency programs at MeetFactory in Prague, inspired by sauna culture, mycology, and kitsch; and Lilia Kudelia (UA/USA), curator of the Young Visual Artists Award program in New York and art historian based in Texas.

The opening will take place on Friday, December 13, at 18:00 at Pistoria Palace.

During the opening, DJ Kristofino and DJ GÄP will perform.

The Oskar Čepan Award was established in 1996 by the American foundation Trust for Mutual Understanding. It is part of the international network of the Young Visual Artists Awards. Since 2001, the project has been carried out by the Foundation – Center for Contemporary Art with support from the Trust for Mutual Understanding, and since 2016, also in collaboration with Residency Unlimited.

The project aims to support contemporary visual art and its creators. Applications are accepted through an open call and are not restricted to a specific medium. The age limit for participation in the project is 40 years. The Oskar Čepan Award is part of the broader international YVAA – Young Visual Artists Awards network, organized in countries of Central and Eastern Europe.

Oskar Čepan (1925 – 1992) was a prominent critic and theorist of visual art with a broad scope and profound insight, a dedicated editor and anthologist, a knowledgeable and perceptive author of texts on contemporary Slovak visual art, a philosopher, theorist, historian, and critic.

In the history of Slovak 20th-century visual art, he held an irreplaceable position. His texts remain relevant to this day and are surprisingly accurate.