Prize for European Art Graduates

STARTPOINT 2016

Prize for European art graduates

National Gallery in Prague, Trade Fair Palace

5. 10. - 11. 12. 2016, OPENING ON OCTOBER 4TH

During the fourteen years of its existence, the StartPoint prize has evolved from a national exhibition of graduation projects to an extensive pan-European prize monitoring emerging artistic talents. This year again members of the curatorial team along with other local experts and school representatives will map out 34 art schools from 16 European countries in order to select one graduation project at each school, which will be presented on the project's website: All selected works then undergo further curatorial selection until the final exhibition and the accompanying catalog, featuring around 20 most distinctive artists. All exhibiting artists are personally invited to the installation and opening of the exhibition with a rich accompanying program.

Apart from the exhibition accompanied by the catalogue and the website, the project of StartPoint is foremost about encounters among emerging artists and experts across countries, traditions and genres, which can bring them and the audience new opportunities for comparison. This convergence is further developed by the STARTED residential program attended by the main winner and awarded finalists.

On the day of the opening of the main exhibition, the final jury awards the main prize and several honorary mentions. The reward for all the winners is a month-long residence in Prague or Berlin, which will take place next year. During this residence the artists have an opportunity to realize their exhibition projects and the main prize winner can publish his/her own catalogue.

Curatorial team 2016:Pavel Vančát, project curator /Marcel Fišer, director of the GAVU - Fine Art Gallery in Cheb, project manager / Radek Váňa, curator, Amsterdam / Lucia Gavulová, Slovak National Gallery, Bratislava // International jury 2016:Adam Mazur, curator, Warsaw /Ondřej Chrobák, Chief Curator, The Moravian Gallery in Brno / Adam Budak, Chief Curator, National Gallery, Prague

Since 2015 is StartPoint cooperating with The National Gallery in Prague, which hosts the final exhibition in its Trade Fair Palace venue. Further selected exhibition are held around Europe (Bucharest, Amsterdam et al.).

StartPoint Prize is supported by the Ministry of Culture of Czech Rep., The City of Prague and many other local partners. The residency programme STARTED is run in cooperation with Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin.

For further information please visit our website or

All artists shortlisted for the final exhibition will be announced on Sept 12th at the Facebook page of StartPoint.

REPRODUCTIONS - captions:

a) Niki Lindroth von Bahr (KKH Stockholm): Bördan C, moving sculpture

c) Saija Kassinen (KUVA Helsinki): 117, 297, 395, interactive videoinstallation

d) Carmen Catuti (HGB Leipzig): Grapes, photography

e) Nils Alix Tabeling (RCA London): Mélusine, mixed media installation

f) Vangjush Vellahu (MKH Kiel): Abkhazia, After (Abkhazia, Georgia), videoinstallation

g) Tytus Szabelski (ASP Poznań): All that is Melted…, photography

h) Kamila Maliňáková (FaVU VUT Brno): The Life, mixed media installation