Herno Prize assigned to Wilkinson Gallery
The second edition of HERNO Prize was won by the Wilkinson Gallery in London. The jury was composed by Lionel Bovier, Director of MAMCO, Musée d’art moderne et contemporain in Geneva, Anna Colin, Associate Curator at the Fondation Galeries Lafayette in Paris and Co-Director of the Open School East London, Annie Fletcher, curator of exhibitions at Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven and Jens Hoffmann, Deputy Director and Head of Exhibitions and Public Programs at the Jewish Museum in New York.
The gallery has won the prize of € 10,000 because the jury was “struck by the clarity and rigor of the stand” .
In particular, it has been appreciated the exhibition project, linked to ZG Magazine, the first magazine of “hybrid” art, which ranged between art, cinema, fashion and music: the Wilkinson Gallery presents a selection of rare works of some artists – Dara Birnbaum, Jimmy Desailly, Derek Jarman, Joan Jonas and Laurie Simmons – who confronted on issues such as sexual identity, social identity and gender have defined the 1984 summer issue of its magazine ZG magazine, published that year in a climate of social concern anticipated eponymous Orwell novel.
The jury also stressed the solidity and high quality of miart 2016, particularly evident in the proposal of the galleries. Therefore, the jury has decided to give an honorable mention to the Greene Naftali Gallery in New York, in this section Established with the exhibition of Gedi Siboni staff, the Zero gallery … Milan, always in section Established, for the courageous staff Pietro Roccasalva, and finally to Richard Saltoun gallery in London, in the section Decades, for the thorough and sophisticated research on feminist artists of the seventies.
With Herno Prize, miart and Herno S.p.A., emphasize the fundamental value of exhibition making and display concept, focusing on shared values. The search for absolute quality and know-how that underline the best of contemporary art and a manufacturing excellence product are only a necessary starting point, which must then be followed by an equally important ability to expose and capture ‘ attention, creating a perfect balance between creativity, aesthetics, functionality and usability.
