Blooom Award 2017 winners announced at Art Düsseldorf

The eighth edition of the Blooom Award, an international prize for visual arts supported by Warsteiner beer, has announced its winners during Art Düsseldorf, held from November 17 to 19, 2017. With 2,300 entries from 90 countries, the award is one of the most sought-after. First prize went to American Julian Harper for his video "It's Getting Hot In This Cosby Sweater," exploring racial aspects in human relationships. He receives a one-year training program and a trip to Art Basel Miami or Art Basel Hong Kong. Second prize was awarded to Pakistani artist Arshia Sohail for her installation "Freedom," earning a solo exhibition in a gallery and a trip to Art Paris Art Fair. Third prize went to Chinese artist Yun-Ling Chen, who will spend a day with an art expert. The jury consisted of six members: Catharina Cramer (owner and Director Warsteiner), Yasha Young (director and curator of Urban Nation museum Berlin), Walter Gehlen (co-director of Art Düsseldorf and Blooom Fair), Stephan Berg (Director of Kunstmuseum Bonn), Alain Bieber (Director of NRW-Forum), and Uwe Flade (music video director). Among the ten finalists was Italian artist Antonio Guiotto (Padua, 1978), whose work critiques the overproduction of information leading to a lack of knowledge. He archived 1,300 spam emails received in one year, compiled them into 270 Word pages, and printed them on 12 sheets, transforming perceived junk into something beautiful.