Announcing the Frieze LIFEWTR Sculpture Prize

The Frieze LIFEWTR Sculpture Prize is a new, open call for an emerging artist to develop, create and display a work for Frieze Sculpture New York 2020: a free display of outdoor art, presented with Tishman Speyer, in Rockefeller Center.

Open now to applications across the world, the deadline for submission is July 1, 2019 at 5pm time EST.

Announced at the opening of Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center in New York 2019, the inaugural Frieze LIFEWTR Sculpture Prize will enable an emerging artist to create a work unveiled as part of Frieze Sculpture: a program of works by leading international artists, curated by Brett Littman (Noguchi Museum and Sculpture Garden). 

The Frieze LIFEWTR Sculpture Prize is made possible through the ongoing partnership between Frieze and LIFEWTR, a premium water brand committed to advancing and supporting emerging artists on a global stage. The Prize underscores Frieze and LIFEWTR’s shared commitment to providing support and visibility to emerging artists, promoting dialogue between artists of different generations, and making art accessible in the public realm. 

In 2019, Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center features work by Rochelle Goldberg, Ibrahim Mahana, Paulo Nazareth, Kiki Smith, Sarah Sze and Hank Willis Thomas, among others, establishing an ambitious vision set to carry into the 2020 edition, where it will provide a prestigious context for the Frieze LIFEWTR Sculpture Prize winner’s work.

See Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center in pictures here.

Loring Randolph, Artistic Director of Frieze in the Americas, said:
 
This is the first year we have launched Frieze Sculpture in New York and already the local reception has been extremely positive. I'm delighted that this platform will also now be used to foster a young artist’s career, via the Frieze LIFEWTR Sculpture Prize. Brett Littman, for this year’s Frieze Sculpture, has taken inspiration from Isamu Noguchi’s News, commissioned for Rock Center over 70 years ago. It was Noguchi’s first major public work in New York City, and a turning point in his career, so it feels fitting – and extremely exciting – to offer a platform to a contemporary emerging artist in this same incredible location in the heart of Manhattan. I’m grateful to LIFEWTR for making this great opportunity possible, and extending our mission of supporting innovative art across the city.

Read Brett Littman on Isamu Noguchi’s‘News’ and its influence on Frieze Sculpture New York here.

The Frieze LIFEWTR Sculpture Prize includes a generous budget for production, research and development, artist fees and travel expenses. Applicants will be judged on the innovative nature of their idea and its potential for realization. Proposals will be reviewed by a selection panel chaired by Brett Littman. The winner will be announced in September, and their commission unveiled during Frieze Sculpture New York in April 2020.

Since its debut in 2017, LIFEWTR has worked with more than 20 artists from around the world providing each featured artist with global visibility and opportunities to advance their career and passion through a far-reaching platform and partnerships with art world industry leaders such as Frieze.

For further information on how to apply for the Frieze LIFEWTR Sculpture Prize, please click here.

LIFEWTR, a premium water brand committed to supporting and advancing emerging artists on a global stage, is the Official Water and Emerging Program Partner for Frieze. The wide-ranging, multi-faceted global partnership helps further the brand’s commitment to supporting artists through various touchpoints throughout the year. At Frieze New York 2019, LIFEWTR celebrates the series 'Art through Technology', presenting three works by emerging artists Andrew Benson, Zach Lieberman and Sara Ludy, in additon to supporting the acquisition of a work by an emerging artist for the collection of the Brooklyn Museum, presenting panel discussions, and enabling the realization of the first Frieze Virtual Reality exhibition, Electric.

^{Main Image: Paulo Nazareth at Frieze Sculpture at Rockefeller Center, New York 2019. Photo by Timothy Schenck. Courtesy: the artist and Mendes Wood DM. Photo: Timothy Schenck/Frieze}