Socially engaged art
10 December, 2020
Committed Artist: One New Award, Two Countries and Five Laureates
This new award recognises the work of artists who are committed as citizens, both in France and in Spain, to transform established models through outstanding actions in response to different social problems. Discover the five artists awarded this year, their careers and their actions… as original as they are exemplary!
Committed citizen artists, actors of change
The multiple crises we are currently experiencing have highlighted the serious shortcomings and blockages that affect our world, which urgently call for inspiration for change. With the creation of this new award, the Foundation wants to highlight the involvement of artists as full agents of the transition towards more ecological, inclusive and fulfilling societies. “We have already heard it said many times that we live in an uncertain world, immersed in a kind of permanent and multiform crisis. In this context, artists play a decisive role in society. Creative and particularly inspiring figures since the dawn of time, artists have the ability to draw the maps of the present and build new imaginaries,” says Anastassia Makridou-Bretonneau, head of the Foundation’s Citizen Art line, “but both today and yesterday, beyond using the symbolic language of art, some of them decide to undertake initiatives strongly linked to reality. In their role as artist-citizens, they make a long-term commitment to concrete and demanding actions. They put their imagination, their know-how and their experience at the service of others and give voice and wings to other possible realities.”
Committed Artist Award
Press kit
10 Dec. 2020 · PDF 12 MB
Sources of information and innovation
The Committed Artist Award is part of the values of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation: joy, confidence, demand, curiosity and, especially, originality, skills from which to cultivate and celebrate diversity and the crossings between different artistic fields and modes of action, as unexpected as they are fertile.
This award does not respond only to an aesthetic judgment, like most artistic prizes that are awarded according to criteria linked to talent, usually from a logic of competition. The Committed Artist Award covers all disciplines and is aimed at artists whose work already enjoys a certain visibility. The awards of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation do not seek to discover talents but to bring to light remarkable artistic commitments.
Anastassia Makridou-Bretonneau, Head of the Foundation's Citizen Art line
The Prize emphasizes the value of demanding artistic practices, driven by artists and developed within the framework of collective and social projects. These unique actions are sources of inspiration that can grow, be replicated and generate a multiplier effect, as Anastassia Makridou-Bretonneau emphasizes: “To date, all our partners were intermediary structures between the artist and the public (museums, theatres, associations, etc.). With this award we wanted to fully integrate artists into our ecosystem, so that they can help us face the challenges of our patronage strategy from their perspective and thus enrich our vision.” If health circumstances allow it, we dream of holding a public event in 2021 on the theme of artists’ civic engagement, which will also mobilise other actors from the world of art and philanthropy around the winners.
Five artists awarded in 2020
Proposed by a Franco-Spanish nominating committee, the artists have been selected by a volunteer jury that has taken into account creators from all disciplines who carry out their actions both in Spain and France, as well as internationally.
We wanted to avoid the idea that there would be only one way to commit, a single type of committed artist. Our Award seeks rather to generate a kind of “family portrait”. And this first promotion is a faithful reflection of that intention, with very diverse artistic trajectories and commitments. Regardless of whether they develop actions on the ground or other more intangible ones, on a larger or smaller scale, all the winners propose alternatives in response to challenges as diverse as memory loss, social exclusion, intercultural relations or urban planning legislation.
Carlos Almela Mariscal – Head of the Citizen Art line in Spain
Bagpiper, pianist and vocational teacher, Cristina Pato is dedicated to teaching and interpreting, exploring the role played by art and science. Committed to educational and social initiatives, especially with the Silkroad project, created by the renowned cellist Yo-Yo Ma. As the holder of the chair of Spanish culture and civilization at the University of New York, his program focuses on cultural memory and diversity.
Cristina Pato
As a “social architect”, he develops new protocols for public projects, which fluctuate between legality and non-legality, from the Recetas Urbanas collective. Her work is characterised by a permanent experimentation that uses the city as a laboratory and as a space for conflict resolution, as is the case in the construction of the Cañada Real Socio-Community Centre in Madrid.
Santiago Cirugeda, Urban Recipes
A nomadic artist, alien to any school and discipline, from his ethical and aesthetic commitment, he has lived and developed his projects for years in a shelter for the homeless in Madrid, where he brings together artists, institutions, mediators and citizens. Recently, together with her hostelmates, she has moved to an old monastery in Loeches (Madrid) with the idea of starting a community of life where artists and homeless people converge.
Julio Jara, for and with the homeless
This French architect, master builder and set designer is a kind of “unexpected urban planner” who cultivates collaborative work and architecture at the service of people, even more so if they are in humble neighborhoods. It is a pioneer in the transformation of industrial spaces into cultural spaces, always based on the needs, culture and practices of its inhabitants. Through the project La Prueba por 7, he is developing an architectural and legal experiment on seven different territorial scales.
Patrick Bouchain, architecture as a relationship – Permis de faire
Neïl Beloufa is a young plastic artist and filmmaker of French-Algerian origin with great recognition in the art world. For several years now, it has given its practice a social function, mainly through collaborations with young people who suffer from problems of integration or school dropout. Together with members of his team, he accompanies young people from Clichy-sous-Bois whom he invites to his studio to bring them closer to the discovery of the different trades involved in artistic creation.
Neïl Beloufa, an open artist's workshop
Our thanks to the members of the jury!
- Cristina Alonso, Co-director of the Teatre L’Artesà, Director of the Sâlmon Festival, member of the Guidance and Monitoring Committee of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.
- Ingrid Brochard, Founder of MuMO, Musée Mobile.
- Laura Jouve-Villard, ethnomusicologist, Head of Research at the Centre de Musiques Traditionnelles Rhône-Alpes.
- Miguel Magalhães, expert in cultural policies, Director of the GULBENKIAN Paris Foundation.
- Pablo Martínez, Director of Public Programmes at MACBA, Museum of Contemporary Art of Barcelona.
- Catia Riccaboni, Head of the Culture Programme of the Fondation de France.
- Manuela Villa, expert in cultural practices of social impact, member of the Guidance and Monitoring Committee of the Daniel and Nina Carasso Foundation.
Photo copyrights: Judith Sanso ; D.Goupy La Preuve par 7; Belén González; Nanda Gonzague; Isaías Grinolo; Xan Padrón; Max Whittaker; Atelier Neïl Beloufa ; Michelle Boynton
