The Igor Zabel Award for Culture and Theory
The Igor Zabel Award for Culture and Theory honors outstanding achievements in the field of visual arts that demonstrate visionary thinking and lasting cultural impact. The award recognizes the exceptional accomplishments of curators, art historians, theorists, and art writers whose work supports, develops, or investigates visual arts in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Rooted in this region, the award aims to foster its global relevance, encourage transregional dialogue, and inspire broader cultural engagement.
Named in honour of the distinguished Slovenian curator and art historian Igor Zabel (1958–2005), the award has been conferred biennially since 2008 in cooperation with the initiator of the award, ERSTE Foundation (Vienna), and the Igor Zabel Association (Ljubljana).
The award is not by application. A three-member international jury selects the laureate and recipients of three grants based on proposals given by ten nominators. The laureate receives EUR 40,000; the three working grants are endowed with EUR 15,000 each. With a total prize money of EUR 85,000, it is the most substantial and prestigious prize for cultural activities related to Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. The jury and nominators are appointed by the Igor Zabel Association and the ERSTE Foundation. The first award ceremony took place in 2008 in Ljubljana, the city of Igor Zabel; after 20168, the award ceremony became rooted in Ljubljana once again.
Igor Zabel Award Laureates:
• 2024, Edit András, art historian, art critic, and curator, Budapest
• 2022, Bojana Pejić, art historian and curator, based in Berlin
• 2020, Zdenka Badovinac, curator and at that time director of Ljubljana's Moderna galerija
• 2018, Joanna Mytkowska, curator and director of the Museum of Modern Art, Warsaw
• 2016, Viktor Misiano, curator, art writer, and editor, Moscow/Cisternino (Italy)
• 2014, Ekaterina Degot, curator and art writer, at that time based in Cologne
• 2012, Suzana Milevska, curator and art writer, Skopje
• 2010, Piotr Piotrowski (1952–2015), art historian, Poznań
• 2008, What, How & for Whom (WHW), curatorial collective, Zagreb