Rosa Barba Wins 2019 Calder Prize with $50,000 Award and Collection Placement

Rosa Barba, an artist based in Berlin, has been selected as the 2019 Calder Prize laureate. This annual award, presented by the Calder foundation, recognizes a contemporary artist whose innovative practice demonstrates the ongoing influence of Alexander Calder's legacy. Barba receives a $50,000 cash prize and will have a signature work placed within a major collection. She becomes the eighth artist to win the prize, following recipients such as Tomás Saraceno in 2009 and Haroon Mirza in 2015. Barba's work primarily utilizes film to investigate the public realm, examining both built environments and natural landscapes through documentary and fictional narrative approaches. Her previous engagement with Calder's legacy includes a project for the Whitney Museum, where artists were invited to create film or video responses to Calder's work. From this project emerged 'Enigmatic Whisper' (2017), which has been exhibited at the Serpentine Galleries in London and at Secession in Vienna. The announcement was made on 11 February 2020.