ANNANDALE-ON-HUDSON, NY, December, 2014 — The Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College (CCS Bard) is pleased to announce that Christine Tohme and Martha Wilson, are the recipients of the 2015 Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence. The award will be presented at a gala celebration and dinner on April15, 2015 at 6:30pm in New York City.
Tom Eccles, Executive Director of CCS Bard states: “We are delighted that two extraordinary pioneers from very different parts of the globe have been selected for this year’s award. Both Christine Tohme and Martha Wilson represent the dedication, persistence, and vision that every young curator should aspire to. Each in their own way has been a transformative figure often working in challenging environments and under difficult conditions.”
Christine Tohme is an independent curator and founder/director of Ashkal Alwan – the Lebanese Association for Plastic Arts. Founded in Beirut in 1993, Ashkal Alwan is committed to the production, research, and circulation of contemporary artistic and intellectual practices. In 2002, the association initiated Home Works: A Forum on Cultural Practices, a multidisciplinary platform that brings together artists, writers, thinkers, filmmakers, and choreographers, among others, for a public program of exhibitions, panel discussions, film screenings, and performances. In 2011, Ashkal Alwan opened its first multipurpose space and launched the Home Workspace Program, an annual tuition-free art-study program. Tohme received a Prince Claus Award in 2006 for her contribution to the development of critical culture in Lebanon and beyond. She is on the board of Marsa (Beirut), a sexual health center that provides specialized medical services for the general public as well as at-risk youth and marginalized communities. Tohme is also on the board of SAHA (Istanbul), an association supporting contemporary art from Turkey.
Martha Wilson is a pioneering feminist artist and gallery director, who over the past four decades created innovative photographic and video works that explore her female subjectivity. She has been described by New York Times critic Holland Cotter as one of “the half-dozen most important people for art in downtown Manhattan in the 1970s.” In 1976 she founded Franklin Furnace, an artist-run space that champions the exploration, promotion and preservation of artist books, temporary installation, performance art, as well as online works. She has received fellowships for performance art from the National Endowment for the Arts and the New York Foundation for the Arts; Bessie and Obie awards for commitment to artists’ freedom of expression; a Yoko Ono Lennon Courage Award for the Arts; a Richard Massey Foundation-White Box Arts and Humanities Award; and in 2013 received an Honorary Doctor of Fine Arts degree from the Nova Scotia College of Art and Design University.
The award has been designed by artist Lawrence Weiner, and is based on his 2006 commission Bard Enter, conceived for the entrance to the Hessel Museum of Art at CCS Bard. The award also comes with the Audrey Irmas Prize of $25,000 to be split between the recipients.
About CCS Bard’s Audrey Irmas Award for Curatorial Excellence For seventeen years, the Center for Curatorial Studies at Bard College has celebrated and awarded the individual achievements of a leading curator or curators whose lasting contributions have shaped the way we conceive of exhibition-making today. For the fourth time, the 2015 award will be given under the name of patron Audrey Irmas, who has bestowed the endowment for the Award. Irmas is a board member of CCS Bard and an active member of the Los Angeles arts and philanthropic community.
The awardee is selected by an independent panel of leading contemporary art curators, museum directors, and artists. Past recipients include Harald Szeemann (1998), Marcia Tucker (1999), Kasper König (2000), Paul Schimmel (2001), Susanne Ghez (2002), Kynaston McShine (2003), Walter Hopps (2004), Kathy Halbreich and Mari Carmen Ramírez (2005), Lynne Cooke and Vasif Kortun (2006), Alanna Heiss (2007), Catherine David (2008), Okwui Enwezor (2009), Lucy Lippard (2010), Helen Molesworth (2011), Hans Ulrich Obrist (2011), Ann Goldstein (2012), Elisabeth Sussman (2013), and Charles Esche (2014). The award reflects CCS Bard’s commitment to recognizing individuals who have defined new thinking, bold vision, and dedicated service to the field of exhibition practice.