K21 Global Art Award 2024 goes to Asian shooting star Wang Tuo

DÜSSELDORF

K21 Global Art Award 2024 goes to Asian shooting star Wang Tuo

May 2024

K21 Global Art Award, Wang Tuo, 2022 The Second Interrogation, video still, 3-Kanal Video-Installation, Farbe, Ton, 4K, courtesy of the artist

Düsseldorf, May 2024: The K21 Global Art Award 2024 goes to the Chinese artist Wang Tuo. With the K21 Global Art Award, the Kunstsammlung North Rhine-Westphalian is continuing its efforts to network with the elite of the international art world.

The presentation of the K21 Global Art Award 2024 to Wang Tuo is linked to the purchase of the video installation "The Second Interrogation" (2022), which will be on display at K21 from 24 May 2024. The award ceremony will take place on 23 May under the dome of the Ständehaus. This is generously supported by a private foundation of a well-known entrepreneurial family. The ideal conditions, therefore, to create an important international art prize.

The prizewinner

Wang Tuo comes from Changchun in north-east China. A studied biologist, he turned to art after his first degree and obtained a Master's in Painting at Tsinghua University in Beijing and later a Master of Fine Arts at Boston University in the USA. From 2015 to 2017, he was an artist-in-residence at the Queens Museum in New York. The conceptual artist produces video, performance and mixed-media installations.

Last year, Wang Tuo was the winner of the Sigg Prize 2023 in Hong Kong. This prize was established by Ringier Group CEO and former Swiss ambassador Dr Uli Sigg, who is considered the largest collector of contemporary Chinese art. Wang Tuo was also one of six Chinese artists who exhibited at the M+ Museum in Hong Kong as part of the prize. It was Doryun Chong, the Chief Curator of the M+ and also a jury member of the K21 Global Art Award, who nominated Wang Tuo for the award. In its statement, the jury of the K21 Global Art Award recognised the courage and social criticism of the Beijing-based artist and presumably also wanted to make a political statement with its selection. Prof Dr Susanne Gaensheimer, Director of the Kunstsammlung Nordrhein-Westfalen, herself describes Wang Tuo as a "shooting star in Asia".

Networking with the elite of the international art world

The K21 Global Art Award was founded in 2023 as a cooperation project between the collection and the K20K21 Circle of Friends. It was awarded for the first time in 2023 to Johannesburg-born artist Senzeni Marasela under the impressive dome of the Ständehaus and streamed live around the world.

The justification for this award clearly emphasises Düsseldorf's international orientation. According to the organisation itself, the prize is composed as follows: A jury of five museum directors and curators from around the world draw up a list of artists, which is then submitted to the selection committee of the Friends of K20K21, who in turn choose the artist. The Friends of K20K21 acquire the artworks of the selected artist. According to the organisers, works worth 70,000 euros were acquired in 2023. The organisers cite the Reydan + Roger Weiss Foundation as the sponsor. Reydan Weiss-Camli, widow of the renowned centre developer and mfi founder Roger Weiss, is a member of the board. She has even provided the award with a purchase budget of € 100,000 this year.

The K21 Global Art Award aims to honour the vision and courage of artists at the beginning or in the middle of their career and is awarded annually to internationally recognised artists under the age of 45.

The award ceremony will take place on 23 May under the dome of the Ständehaus.

Wang Tuo, 2021 © Wang Tuo