DESTE Prize 2015

DESTE Prize 2015, published by DESTE Foundation.

The year 2015 marked the 9th edition of the DESTE Prize. The DESTE Prize was established in 1999 as part of the DESTE Foundation’s policy of supporting and promoting contemporary art in Greece. Awarded biannually to a young Greek or Cypriot artist, the Prize aims to identify and showcase the work of an emerging generation of contemporary artists who are actively redefining the parameters of cultural production and contributing to new issues in the artistic discourse. Through the Prize, the Foundation hopes to endorse the spirit of exploration, ingenuity, and ambition, which is essential to DESTE’s mission as well as to the vitality of contemporary art.

The 6 shortlisted artists for the DESTE Prize 2015 – Petros Moris, Yiannis Papadopoulos, Angelo Plessas, Natali Yiaxi, Maria Hassabi, and Socratis Socratous – will present their work during an exhibition that will take place at the Museum of Cycladic Art between May 28 and September 30, 2015. This collaboration between the DESTE and the Museum of Cycladic Art falls withing the scope of the latter’s “Young Views” program, which aims to develop artistic discussion with younger generations, inform the general public about contemporary art, and establish the necessary environment for the fruitful exchange of ideas.

Complete with essays, this publication presents the work of the DESTE Prize 2015 shortlisted artists Maria Hassabi, Petros Moris, Yiannis Papadopoulos, Angelo Plessas, Socratis Socratous, Natali Yiaxi. The 2015 DESTE Prize was awarded to Angelo Plessas.

Selection committee: Andreas Angelidakis (artist, architect, curator), Evangelia Ledaki (curator, art critic), Dimitris Passas (collector), Kostas Sahpazis (artist; recipient of the DESTE Prize 2013),
Daphne Vitali (art historian; curator, EMST, Athens), Andre Zivanari (director, Point Centre for Contemporary Art, Nicosia).

Jury: Bernard Blistène (director, Centre Georges Pompidou, Paris), Max Hollein (director, Schirn Kunsthalle Frankfurt, Frankfurt), Dakis Joannou (president, DESTE Foundation for Contemporary Art), Tom Morton (writer; Curator; Contributing Editor, Frieze magazine), Jakub Julian Ziolkowski, (artist).