Photo Andy Stagg for Serpentine
The New York–based FLAG Art Foundation will give £1 million ($1.3 million) to the Serpentine Galleries in London to endow a new artist prize.
The Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize, as it will be called, will be awarded every other year to an international artist who will receive £200,000 ($265,000), as well as an exhibition and programming at both institutions and an accompanying catalog.
The winning artists in this decade-long partnership can be of any age and based anywhere in the world. They must, however, have only been exhibiting their work for fewer than 10 years, with the goal of the prize being that it comes “at a significant stage in their careers, with the freedom and time to develop a substantial new body of work.”
The first artist will be selected in 2026, with their exhibition opening at the Serpentine in fall 2027 and then traveling to FLAG in spring 2028. The winners will be selected by a nomination process that will then be decided on by a rotating jury of curators, art historians, and artists. The members of the inaugural jury will be announced at a later date.
“This partnership deepens our shared mission to forge new connections between artists and audiences while nurturing transatlantic dialogue,” Serpentine CEO Bettina Korek said in a statement. “The alliance provides global artists with the space and support to expand their practice, inspired by Zaha Hadid’s enduring spirit of experimentation. We couldn’t be more delighted to collaborate with The FLAG Art Foundation on this shared vision for the future.” (Hadid designed the Serpentine’s inaugural temporary pavilion in 2000 and then its North Gallery, which opened in 2013.)
The new prize is the largest in the UK and one of the largest in the world for artists. By contrast, Tate’s Turner Prize, which is more famous and often controversial, Turner Prize, comes with only £25,000 ($33,176).
“We are delighted to launch the largest contemporary art prize in the UK,” Serpentine Galleries artistic director Hans Ulrich Obrist said in a statement. “What makes this prize so significant is its focus on artists who have not yet received the visibility or recognition they deserve. This has long been central to Serpentine’s programme: from presenting the first UK monographic exhibitions for emerging artists to championing overlooked voices whose contributions merit greater acknowledgment. Serpentine + FLAG Art Foundation equals 11, and we look forward to this new adventure.”
Photo Steven Probert
The FLAG Art Foundation, which was founded by top collector Glenn Fuhrman in 2008, already runs an artist prize for US artists with fellow collector Suzanne Deal Booth. That prize comes with $200,0000 and is administered with the Contemporary Austin in Texas; the winning artist also receives an exhibition at both FLAG and the Contemporary Austin.
Last month, the FLAG Art Foundation announced another institutional partnership, with the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, New York. That initiative, which begins next year, will see the two organizations co-organize three exhibitions a year through 2030 and endow a curatorial position for contemporary art.
“This partnership marks FLAG’s most significant commitment to artists beyond the United States and we could not be happier to do so with Serpentine,” Fuhrman said in a statement. “By collaborating with Serpentine to create this prize, we are reaffirming our institutional commitment to champion contemporary artists and to continue providing new opportunities for those artists to share their work with art-lovers everywhere.”