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About the Prize
ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art is an extraordinary award that celebrates and supports extraordinary artists and platforms the vibrant contribution Live Art makes to our cultural landscapes.
A jury is charged with responding to the last three year’s of an artist’s output. A focus on recent work allows the prize and its annual shortlist to encounter artists at work, in real time, with material and imperatives that speak emphatically to the contemporary moment.
The Shortlist LIVE! programme brings a live work from each shortlisted artist to ANTI - Contemporary Art Festival.
The performances, the international jury and the schedule for the Shortlist LIVE! programme will be published in spring 2025.
Funded by
ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art and Shortlist LIVE! are generously supported by the Saastamoinen Foundation.
Saastamoinen Foundation works for the benefit of Finnish science and art. Saastamoinen Foundation is one of Finland’s most important art buyers and enablers of scientific research.
Prize money
An award of 30,000 euros makes the world's only international prize for Live Art one of the richest cultural prizes in the arts. The winning artist receives a cash prize of 15,000 euros and the same amount in production support for bringing a new work to the ANTI Festival two years after receiving the award.
The prize is awarded for an outstanding contribution to the field of Live Art during the past three years. Winners are practicing artist and the award is made in both celebration and active support of their on-going practice.
Other expenses
ANTI - Contemporary Art Festival supports shortlisted artists to present their work as a part of the Shortlist LIVE! programme covering fees, per diems, production, travel and accommodation costs.
Shortlisting committee
An international shortlisting committee of artists, curators, directors and others active in and around Live Art creates an annual shortlist for consideration by the prize jury. Membership of the committee is renewed annually.
The 2025 committee:
Season Butler and Elisa Itkonen
Jury
During the ANTI Festival, an independent, international jury meets each shortlisted artist and experiences their work, alongside festival audiences, through the Shortlist LIVE! programme. The jury is asked to consider the nominees’ practice through the lens of the last three years and comes to its decision through the combined process of interviewing each artist, apprehending their broader practice and encountering a live performance. The jury’s decision is announced on the final day of Shortlist LIVE! at Prize Party.
Publication
A bilingual publication documents each Shortlist LIVE! programme, featuring essays by writers who have fostered a critical relationship with the shortlisted artists work – writers are chosen by artists in discussion with the series editor Heidi Backström. Essays, interviews and a range of articles shed light on the practice of each shortlisted artist, alongside offering commentary on the cultural agency and discursive territory of Live Art.
The publications has been produced annually since 2019, with two volumes available to purchase from our online store; individual publications are €15, a bundle of two editions is available for €20.
Published by ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival in co-operation with Live Art Development Agency (LADA), the series is edited by Heidi Backström and designed by Tomi Leppänen.
winners of the prize
2014 Cassils (US/CA)
2015 Willoh S. Weiland (AU)
2016 Terike Haapoja (FI)
2017 Tania El Khoury (LB)
2018 Sonya Lindfors (FI)
2019 Dana Michel (CAN)
2020 Brian Fuata (AU)
2021 Alex Baczynski-Jenkins (PL/UK)
2022 Latai Taumoepeau (TO/AU)
2023 Tiziano Cruz (AR)