Two Galleries Launch the U.K.’s Largest Contemporary Art Prize

View this post on Instagram

A post shared by The FLAG Art Foundation (@flagartfoundation)

The UK boasts some of the world’s most prestigious contemporary art awards, whether it be the Tate’s Turner Prize or the Artes Mundi Prize. Now, though, the country will also be home to one of the largest, thanks to a new partnership between Serpentine Galleries in London and the New York–based FLAG Art Foundation.

Eponymously named the Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize, the award will be presented every other year to an international artist, who will receive £200,000 (approximately $267,000), alongside a solo exhibition, programming, and an accompanying catalog jointly organized by both institutions. In all, a total of £1 million (about $1.3 million) will be distributed biennially over the next decade, benefiting five artists in the form of these £200,000 grants. The honor stands as the largest contemporary art prize in the UK, offering its recipients eight times more funding than that of the Turner Prize, which clocks in at £25,000 (about $33,200).

Winners can be of any generation or age and can be based anywhere in the world, but they must have been exhibiting professionally for fewer than 10 years. Artists must also be “actively working to grow and sustain a strong record of international museum and gallery exhibitions, including gallery representation, honors, awards, art critic reviews, grants, and publications.” These eligibility criteria ensure that the prize will provide artists with the “freedom and time to develop a substantial new body of work, exhibit them, and explore new ideas.” Winners will be selected through a nomination process, featuring a rotating jury of curators, art historians, and fellow artists from around the world.

“What makes this prize so significant is its focus on artists who have not yet received the visibility or recognition they deserve,” says Hans Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine’s artistic director. “This has long been central to Serpentine’s program: from presenting the first UK monographic exhibitions for emerging artists to championing overlooked voices whose contributions merit greater acknowledgement.”

The Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize also deepens the transatlantic dialogue between the UK and the U.S.’s art worlds.

“This partnership allows us to support artist practice on both sides of the Atlantic,” Bettina Korek, CEO of Serpentine, told The New York Times in a recent interview. “When we work together with other organizations, we can create more impact.”

Glenn Fuhrman, founder of FLAG, echoed the sentiment: “This partnership marks FLAG’s most significant commitment to artists beyond the United States. By collaborating with Serpentine to create this prize, we are reaffirming our institutional commitment to champion contemporary artists and to continue providing new opportunities for those artists to share their work with art-lovers everywhere.”

FLAG’s institutional partnership with Serpentine is its second to be announced this fall. Last month, FLAG launched a joint initiative with the Parrish Art Museum in Water Mill, N.Y., in which both institutions will co-organize three exhibitions every year through 2030. In addition to this new prize with Serpentine, FLAG also runs another artist award with collector Suzanne Deal Booth and the Contemporary Austin in Texas, which is accompanied by a $200,000 grant and an exhibition at both institutions.

The inaugural winner of the Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize will be revealed in 2026. The artist’s solo exhibition will open at Serpentine in fall 2027 and subsequently travel to FLAG in spring 2028.