50th AnniversaryOctober 29, 2009

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The Guggenheim inaugurated a new annual art event in the fall of 2009: artist Rob Pruitt presented The First Annual Art Awards at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum in association with White Columns. The Art Awards celebrates select individuals, exhibitions, and projects that have made a significant impact on the field of contemporary art during the past year. Pruitt, whose conceptual practice is rooted in a pop sensibility and a playful critique of art world structures, has conceived the event as a performance-based artwork which follows the format of a Hollywood awards ceremony.

Nominees in 11 categories were determined by a council of more than four hundred artists and art world professionals. The ceremony honored artist Joan Jonas and curator Kasper König in the lifetime-achievement category in celebration of their achievements in contemporary art. Presenters including Cecily Brown, Knight Landesman, Julianne Moore, and Nate Lowman announced winners in additional ten categories at an awards ceremony on October 29 in the Guggenheim Museum’s rotunda. Read more about the evening in Museum News.

The final list of winners is:

• Artist of the Year: Mary Heilmann
• Curator of the Year: Connie Butler
• Exhibition Outside the United States: Jeff Koons, Versailles, Château de Versailles, France
• Group Show of the Year, Gallery: Who’s Afraid of Jasper Johns? Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
• Group Show of the Year, Museum: The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984, Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
• New Artist of the Year: Ryan Trecartin
• The Rob Pruitt Award: Cynthia Plaster Caster
• Solo Show of the Year, Gallery: Manzoni: A Retrospective, Gagosian Gallery, New York
• Solo Show of the Year, Museum: Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective, Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Museum of Modern Art, New York
• Writer of the Year: Jerry Saltz

Net proceeds from the Art Awards will benefit the following not-for-profit arts organizations: the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation; White Columns; and Studio in a School.