The Serpentine Gallery in London has launched a new art award in partnership with the Flag Art Foundation in New York, which will give £200,000 each to five artists over ten years, making it the largest contemporary art prize in the UK.
The Serpentine x Flag Art Foundation Prize will be awarded every other year to an international artist who will show their work at both the Serpentine and the Flag Art Foundation, a non-profit space located in Manhattan.
The first artist will be selected in 2026, with their exhibition opening at the Serpentine in autumn 2027 followed by a stint at Flag in spring 2028. “This partnership will establish a decade-long collaboration, awarding five prizes to five outstanding artists,” a press statement says.
Artists selected for the prize can be any age, based anywhere worldwide, and will need to have been exhibiting professionally for less than ten years, the organisers say. A rotating jury of curators, art historians and artists will select the winners (the first jury is to be announced).
The Flag Art Foundation was founded by Glenn Fuhrman, a contemporary art collector who co-founded the private investment firm MSD Capital, and his wife Amanda. According to ArtNews, Fuhrman invested in the Baer Faxt, an art industry newsletter, in 2021. He is also a trustee of the Museum of Modern Art in New York. The foundation also supports the Suzanne Deal Booth and Flag Art Foundation Prize, a $200,000 unrestricted award to an artist along with two solo exhibitions at The Contemporary Austin in Texas and traveling to Flag in New York. The most recent recipient was Sable Elyse Smith.
Bettina Korek, the chief executive of the Serpentine, says in a statement: “This partnership deepens our shared mission to forge new connections between artists and audiences while nurturing transatlantic dialogue. The alliance provides global artists with the space and support to expand their practice, inspired by Zaha Hadid’s enduring spirit of experimentation.” Hadid, who died in 2016, designed the first Serpentine Gallery pavilion in 2000.
Other art prizes in the UK are worth considerably less than the Serpentine x Flag Art Foundation Prize. The Turner Prize winner, awarded by Tate, receives £25,000 while the other three shortlisted artists each receive £10,000. Another UK contemporary award, Artes Mundi, which launched its tenth edition in October in venues across Wales, is worth £40,000.
