01 OVERVIEW
Created in 2000 by Gilles Fuchs, Founder and president of ADIAF, the Marcel Duchamp Prize aims to highlight the creative abundance of the French scene at the beginning of the 21st century and to support artists in their international career.
Each year, this collectors’ prize distinguishes one laureate among four French artists or artists living in France, working in the field of plastic and visual arts: installation, video, painting, photography, sculpture, performance and so on. Like the important artist who lends his name to it – and with the complicity of the Marcel Duchamp Association, which supports this initiative – it distinguishes the most significant artists of the French scene of their generation and encourages all new artistic forms that stimulate creation.
At this time, 100 artists, laureates and nominees, have been honoured by the Marcel Duchamp Prize, which over the years and exhibitions has become a true ambassador of the French scene. They represent unique insight into the vitality of French creation and offer an open vision of contemporary art in France.
02 PARTNERSHIP WITH THE CENTRE POMPIDOU AND MUSEE D´ART MODERNE DE PARIS
The result of a unique private/public collaboration, the Marcel Duchamp Prize has been organised from the outset in partnership with the Centre Pompidou. It enables a new generation of artists to benefit from a framework that promotes their reputation and helps them to make themselves known worldwide.
For fifteen editions, the Centre Pompidou invited the winner to hold a solo exhibition, providing artists on the French scene with an exceptional showcase within the institution. The visibility of the Marcel Duchamp Prize increased considerably in 2016 when the Centre Pompidou opened its doors to the four nominated artists. As renovation work on the historic Centre Pompidou building required a new venue to be found, the Marcel Duchamp Prize exhibitions from 2025 to 2029 will be presented at the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, as part of the Centre Pompidou’s Constellation program.
This development makes it possible to pay tribute to the finalist artists and enhances the international prestige of the Marcel Duchamp Prize.
03 PRIZE ENDOWMENT
1 – Exhibition of the four nominated artists at Musée d’Art moderne de Paris for several months. On average 100,000 visitors and a major publicity campaign.
2 – ADIAF grant of to the galleries for the scenography of the exhibition .
3 – Organisation of an event to announce the laureate, bringing together the major players in the art world on the French scene: collectors, professionals, institutions, museums, press.
4 – Publication by the ADIAF of a Marcel Duchamp Prize catalogue dedicated to the four artists and the exhibition.
5 – ADIAF provides the laureate with a €35,000 grant.
6 – Two-year residency in Sèvres – Manufacture and Musée Nationaux for one of the artists of the prize (specific call for projects).
7 – Participation in international exhibitions organised by ADIAF with the support of the Institut français. More than 50 artists of the Marcel Duchamp Prize, nominees and laureates, have been invited to take part in these exhibitions (more than twenty to date).
04 HOW IT WORKS
The Marcel Duchamp Prize is awarded to French and foreign artists living and working in France. All disciplines of “plastic” creation are eligible: painting, drawing, sculpture, installation, film or video, performance.
The distinctive feature of the Marcel Duchamp Prize lies in the method of selection of the nominated artists who are chosen by ADIAF collectors, committed figures in the art world.
The long selection process of the artists takes place in several stages:
Artist meetings and studio visits
Throughout the year, ADIAF collectors are invited to meet artists to learn about their work. Nearly 60 studio visits are arranged each year. At the end of this stage, the ADIAF Artistic Committee draws up an initial list of artists eligible for the Marcel Duchamp Prize.
An internal vote open to all ADIAF members
The list drawn up by the Artistic Committee is sent to the members who are asked to vote for 4 artists. This vote enables a second list to be drawn up which will be submitted to a Selection Committee.
An ADIAF Selection Committee to select the 4 nominated artists
Chaired by the ADIAF President, composed of collectors from the association and renewed every year, the ADIAF Selection Committee chooses the 4 finalists. Over the past 20 years, more than 130 collectors from the association have thus participated directly in the choice of artists for the Marcel Duchamp Prize.
“Reporters” to present the artists to the jury
A novel process has been put in place whereby artists are introduced to the panel of judges through “rapporteurs” chosen by the artists.
An international jury to select the winning artist
The international jury, composed of 10 prominent figures, meets to select the winner. It has four permanent members (the President of the ADIAF, the Director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne – Centre Pompidou, who chairs the jury, the Director of the Musée d’Art Moderne de Paris, and the representative of the Association Marcel Duchamp). The six other members—French and foreign—are two directors of major institutions, two collectors, and two artists. They are replaced for each edition.