Cecilia Alemani, the curator of New York’s High Line, has been announced as curator for the first nomadic iteration of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, which takes place through 2027. Founded in 2005 and now in its tenth edition, the Max Mara Art Prize for Women supports emerging and mid-career women artists. Until now, the award has centered on a six-month residency during which the winner produced a new project. This project would be shown at London’s Whitechapel Gallery and Collezione Maramotti in Italy.
For its new nomadic model, the prize will take on a new geographic scope, travelling to a different country for each edition. For each edition, the winning artist will present the work at a partner institution, which, for the inaugural edition is Museum MACAN in Jakarta, Indonesia. In a statement, Alemani said the award is “evolving into a full-fledged tool of cultural diplomacy and international dialogue,” and declared that “in our era, the West holds no monopoly on artistic innovation.”
Alemani also emphasized that this change comes at a “time of fragmentation,” and this new model signifies the award’s commitment “to building the kind of solid, lasting ties that are essential not only for the blossoming of individual careers, but for the growth and reinvention of the entire ecosystem of contemporary art.”
“Creating an award that enabled artists to fully realize their potential was, at the time, a truly groundbreaking endeavor,” said Luigi Maramotti, president of Max Mara, in a statement. “It provided a one-of-a-kind opportunity for holistic growth—nurturing artists not only technically and creatively, but also personally and culturally.
Previous winners include Emma Talbot, Helen Cammock, and Margaret Salmon. Works by past winners were presented last April in Florence at “Time for Women! Empowering Visions in Twenty Years of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women” at La Strozzina, a part of Palazzo Strozzi.
