Awards Season

18 Aug

The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre, Art Outreach, and PULSE Clinic
By Alana Malika

Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai, 'ID Card', 2014, heat transfer prints on recycled fabric, 5.7 x 8.1 each. Image courtesy of the artist.

Apocalyptic Smile
In their newest initiative to recognise Vietnamese artists, the Factory Contemporary Arts Centre at Ho Chi Minh City launched the ‘Artist Excellence Award’. The inaugural award searches for Vietnamese artists based within the country whose practice experiments with interdisciplinary mediums, themes, and/or communities.

Image courtesy of The Factory Contemporary Arts Centre.

A rotating network of art experts was invited as nominators to present an international jury with a selection of artists they believe embodies the award ethos. This year, the jury included Dr. Roger Nelson (Art historian; Curator, National Gallery of Singapore), Tom Tandio (Collector; Art Fair Director, Art Jakarta), Tran Luong (Artist; Founding Director ‘APD-Center for Art Patronage and Development, Hanoi), Arlette Quynh-Anh Tran (Curator; Director, Post Vidai Collection, Saigon) and Zoe Butt (Curator; Artistic Director, The Factory). The award is envisaged to be granted biannually.

For its first year, the award was granted to Nguyễn Thị Thanh Mai who will receive a cash prize and a travelling solo exhibition at the Factory next year and in APD Center for Art Patronage and Development at Hanoi in 2023. Hailing from Vietnam’s former capital, Thanh Mai focuses on the intersection where personal identity meets collective experiences primarily through drawing, photography and videography. In documenting the lives of war widows, queer people, refugees and other marginalised communities, Thanh Mai’s work offers an empathic understanding on the physical and psychological effects of resettlement. She is currently teaching at Hue College of Art and is a co-founder of ‘Nổ Cái Bùm’, an annual artist-initiated festival in Central Vietnam.

Other than the ‘Artist Excellence Award’, here are other ongoing award opportunities for art practitioners in Southeast Asia:

IMPART Art Prize for Emerging Artists and Curators

Faris Nakamura, ‘The Dark Spaces In Between’, 2019, enamel on treated wood, 70 x 70 x 12cm. Image courtesy of Richard Koh Fine Art and the artist.

Genevieve Chua, 2019, 'Closed during opening hours', installation view, Institute of Contemporary Arts Singapore, LASALLE College of the Arts. Photo by Wong Jing Wei.

Competition Parameters:
Open to Singapore Citizens or Singapore Permanent Residents

Eligibility/Nomination Process:
Open call and third-party nominations

Key Dates:
30 July 2021 - Call for applications open
15 October 2021 - Call for applications close
December 2021 - Finalists announced
January 2022 - Winners announced

Age Limit:
18 to 40 years old

Entry Fee:
None

Medium:
All media
To recognise the disruptions of the COVID-19 pandemic, artworks made in the last 4 years will be accepted (previously 2 years)

PULSE Awards: The Art of Life
PULSE Clinic is a sexual healthcare provider in Asia operating in Thailand, Hong Kong, Singapore, Malaysia and soon to be opening a clinic in the Philippines. This year they will be launching an award under the theme ‘Sexual Health Matters’. The inaugural award is in search of artists from Southeast Asia and Hong Kong whose practice commits to raising awareness on sexual health, destigmatising sex and representing the LGBTQ+ community.

Award finalists will be invited to participate in a group exhibition at PULSE Art Gallery, Bangkok. The selected works will be auctioned off and the proceeds will be split equally between the artist and a donation to the charity Foundation for Life, which finances sexual health tests and treatments of individuals and communities that lack access. Additionally, the first and second prize winners in each of the five categories will receive US$3,200 and US$1,600 respectively.

Competition Parameters:
Open to residents (local and foreign) from the following Brunei, Cambodia, Hong Kong, Indonesia, Laos, Malaysia, Myanmar, the Philippines, Singapore, Timor-Leste, Thailand, and Vietnam.

Eligibility/Nomination Process:
Open call
Artists must be either new or emerging contemporary visual artists

Key Dates:
21 July 2021 - Call for applications open
15 October 2021 - Call for applications close

Medium:
- Painting – 2D
- Sculpture – 3D
- Photography
- Ceramic
- Digital art

Age Limit:
Above 18 years old

Entry Fee:
None