Who are the 2026 Igor Zabel Award and Grant recipients?

2026 Laureate 

The jury has given Nataliia Ivanova the 2026 Igor Zabel Award for Culture and Theory for her achievements as curator, educator, and the founding director of the Yermilov Centre in Kharkiv (since 2012). Ivanova’s work strengthens visual art and culture in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe by bridging the regional avant-garde heritage with contemporary practices and fostering global dialogue. Her work demonstrates the necessity of cultural practice under complex conditions. Operating an institution near a frontline zone requires sustaining creative production amid danger. Under her leadership, the Yermilov Centre has strengthened its role as a cultural institution and a space of care, and has become a remarkable example of how art institutions can fulfil their social mission. The centre functions as both a bomb shelter and an active gallery, providing physical protection alongside intellectual, emotional, and resilience support for the local community. Ivanova’s work demonstrates an uncompromising commitment to critical cultural discourse, artistic production, and international solidarity amid active conflict.

2026 Grant recipients: 

• Tania Arcimovich, a researcher and art writer from Minsk, in recognition of her research and contributions to contemporary art, performance, and historical avant-garde studies in Belarus and among the Belarusian diaspora. The jury values her research on independent Belarusian art during political transitions and displacement, with a focus on institutional structures, gender, and memory.
   
• Octavian Esanu, based in Beirut and Tokyo, in recognition of his art historical, curatorial, and pedagogical work connecting the artistic infrastructures and legacies of post-socialist Eastern Europe and the postcolonial Middle East. The jury values his analysis of modern and contemporary art within transregional and materialist frameworks, and his explorations of the institutionalisation of artistic practice during political and economic transitions in these regions.
   
• Alona Karavai, cultural worker and curator from Ukraine, for her cultural work that engages with the long-term societal fracturing caused by ongoing warfare. She has created support structures for contemporary art outside metropolitan centres that transform temporary wartime crisis interventions into sustainable, long-term regional institutional strategies.

The award recognises 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. It has been conferred biennially since 2008 in cooperation with the initiator of the award, ERSTE Foundation (Vienna), and the Igor Zabel Association (Ljubljana). 

2026 jury:
• Vasif Kortun, curator, Ayvalık, Turkey
• Kasia Redzisz, curator and artistic director of Kanal – Centre Pompidou, Brussels
• Sophie Thun, artist and professor at the University of Applied Arts, Vienna

2026 nominators:
Aleksei Borisionok / Jakub Gawkowski / Flaka Haliti / Angela Harutyunyan / Elena Narbutaitė / Lívia Nolasco Rózsás / Michal Novotný / Boyan Manchev / Hana Ostan-Ožbolt-Haas / Magda Radu