Chanel has announced the names of the 10 winners of its first-ever Chanel Next Prize, with prize money of €100,000.
The Chanel Next Prize was established in March this year, for artists who are redefining their fields of work. The award is given to international artists from the realms of visual arts, music, performance arts, and films. Yana Peel (Global Head, Arts, and Culture, Chanel) said: “We extend Chanel’s deep history of cultural commitment—empowering big ideas and creating opportunities for an emerging generation of artists to imagine the next.” She also added that the mission of the prize falls in line with the vision of Gabrielle Chanel, the late founder of the global fashion brand.
The prize is part of the Chanel Culture Fund, which was established last year. Its aim was to support artists impacted by the pandemic. The fund is also collaborating with other institutions to establish more awards, exhibitions, and grants. Some of the partners include National Portrait Gallery in London and Centre Pompidou in Paris.
The winners include Jung Jae-il (Korean-born composer), Keiken (an artist collective based out of London and Berlin), Marlene Monteiro Freitas (Lisbon-based dancer), and Precious Okoyomon (writer-poet from New York). Other winners were Lual Mayen, Rungano Nyoni, Marie Schleef, Botis Seva, Wang Bing, and Eduardo Williams.
Each winner will receive a prize of €100,000 ($130,000). The winners will have the choice to allocate the prize money to any project of their choosing. The winners will also get mentors chosen by the organization to help them for the next 20 months. The nominations were submitted by a committee of 25 international artists from various fields. The winners were selected by actress Tilda Swinton, architect David Adjaye, and artist Cao Fei.
