The Global Fine Art Awards Announces 8th Annual GFAA Award Winners

Following the year-long research process to discover the best curated art and design exhibitions and online programs around the world, the Global Fine Art Awards (GFAA) program announces the winners for its eighth edition - selected from 54 nominees announced last fall.

Peter Trippi, GFAA Executive Committee member and Judge Emeritus, New York-based editor-in-chief of Fine Art Connoisseur magazine, noted last week, "I have always admired how innovative and wide-ranging GFAA's winners and nominees are. This year's cohort also reflects how nimbly they pivoted under unprecedentedly challenging circumstances to create outstanding projects serving broad audiences in an intriguing array of formats."

The GFAA Judges selected five winners and acknowledged eight honorable mentions in the following award categories:

Best Public or Outdoor Installation/Exhibition

(W) Favela Painting - Santa Helena Project

Jeroen Koolhaas / Outdoors

Brazil

Rio de Janeiro

(HM) Artangel: Afterness

Orford Ness

England

Suffolk

(HM) Kusama: Cosmic Nature

New York Botanical Garden

USA

New York

Best Fringe or Cross-Category Exhibition

(W) Barring Freedom

University of Santa Cruz, Institute for the Arts and Sciences (IAS) with San Jose Museum of Art

USA

San Jose

(HM) Disonata: Art in Sound up to 1980

Museo Nacional Centro de Art Reina Sofia

Spain

Madrid

Global Planet

(W) Olafur Eliasson: Life

Fondation Beyeler

Switzerland

Riehen

(HM) Arctic: Culture and Climate

British Museum

England

London

(HM) River Connections

Melbourne Museum

Australia

Melbourne

Global Humanity

(W) Slavery

Rijksmuseum

Netherlands

Amsterdam

(HM) Civilization - The Way We Live Now

Museum of European and Mediterranean Civilizations (MUCEM), coproduced by the Foundation for the Exhibition of Photography and the National Museum of Modern and Contemporary Art of Korea, Seoul

France / Korea

Marseilles / Seoul

(HM) Wangechi Mutu: I Am Speaking, Are You Listening?

Legion of Honor (Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco)

USA

San Francisco

Best Digital Exhibition or Online Educational Program (NEW Award 2020)

(W) The Medici: Portraits and Politics, 1512-1570

The Metropolitan Museum of Art

USA

New York

(HM) Artemisia

The National Gallery

England

London

GFAA conducts extensive research of curated exhibitions and installations across the globe, designating awards for group and themed exhibitions as well as awards for solo artist shows. All of the awards, exemplified by two launched in 2017 - Global Planet and Global Humanity - spotlight the best works produced every year voicing the connection of art to society's pressing issues.

For the second year, GFAA includes a particular focus on the evolving importance of digital representation on the cultural and world stage, through the Best Digital Exhibition or Online Educational Program. Institutions are innovating rapidly to strengthen the connection to their audiences remotely and to keep pace with the growing digital trend in society.

Geographic, scale, ethnic, and gender diversity are critical in the GFAA research and nominee selection:

• 22% of this year's Nominees are in or about the art and artists of Asia, Africa, and the Middle East
• Over 30% of the Nominees are women
• Less than 20% of the GFAA Nominees are exhibitions created by or about European or North American white males
• Less than half of the GFAA Nominees (44%) exhibited in the top 100 most-visited museums in the world (The Art Newspaper, April 2017), whereas the majority emanate from smaller institutions and other venues (56%)

GFAA is a sponsored project of Fractured Atlas, a non-profit arts service organization. Contributions for the charitable purpose of GFAA must be payable to "Fractured Atlas" only. All contributions are tax-deductible to the extent permitted by law. Fractured Atlas, a 501(c)(3) public charity, provides a fiscal sponsorship program to help arts organizations raise money from charitable sources.