HEAD – Genève in collaboration with the BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation will present the prize-winning MA graduates of the 7^th New Heads – BNP Paribas Foundation Art Awards at artgenève, providing them with significant support in the early stages of their artistic and professional careers. 

For the 2018 art fair, HEAD – Genève and the BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation have decided to implement an enhanced support mechanism to help assist young artists. From now on, two artistic institutions are invited by HEAD and the Foundation to select and organise the solo exhibition of an MA graduate in Fine Arts. Hence, this year, the Centre d’art contemporain – Yverdon-les-Bains (CACY), represented by its Director Karine Tissot, chose to show the works of Sara da Silva Santos, while Nathalie Herschdorfer, Director of the Museum of Fine Arts in Le Locle, showcased the works of Thomas Liu Le Lann. These exhibitions, organised with the support of HEAD – Genève and the BNP Paribas Swiss Foundation enabled the two young prize-winners to produce new works for the occasion.

From 31 January until 3 February, a selection of works by Sara da Silva Santos and Thomas Liu Le Lann produced for their exhibitions in both institutions will be shown at artgenève. The exhibition will be curated by Charlotte Laubard, Head of the Fine Arts Department at HEAD – Genève. The exhibition will also feature the young artists’ first monographic catalogues with critical texts by Jill Gasparina and Paul Clinton. A meeting will also be set up with the collaborators of BNP Paribas in Switzerland, following which a work by each artist will be selected and added to the Foundation’s collection. 

The New Heads – BNP Paribas Foundation Art Awards thus provide decisive support for the young award-winning artists at the beginning of their careers with a first solo exhibition, a first monographic catalogue, a first showcase in an art fair, a first meeting with patrons and a first work in a corporate collection. 

MA graduate and winner of the New Heads prize awarded by Le Temps, Thomas Baud will also see his works exhibited at artgenève. The newspaper’s prize consists of producing a manifold work which the newspaper will sell by subscription, to its readership.