How to apply for the Coburg Prize for Contemporary Glass 2022

Hailed as “the most important European competition in international contemporary glass art”, the Coburg Prize for Contemporary Glass 2022 has launched. Make a note in your diary now as applications from glass artists will be open online between 1 June and 31 July 2021.

The Prize aims to provide a Europe-wide overview of current trends and developments in contemporary glass art and review the current situation of glass art. The competition and accompanying exhibition are open to artists living in, or originating from, Europe who work with glass as a material.

Participation is open to professional artists submitting vessels, sculptures, objects, installations or stained glass made during 2020 and 2021. Up to three pieces can be submitted for consideration. 

Initial applications are via digital images, with selection of artworks for the exhibition and competition to be made from these applications in late September 2021. A second round of judging will take place once the chosen artworks themselves have been submitted, and prize winners will be decided in December 2021.

An international jury will award three main prizes and several special prizes. The first prize is €15,000, second prize is €10,000 and the third prize is €5,000. There will also be an audience award.

Works by approximately 100 to 150 artists will be selected for the exhibition, taking place between 10 April and 25 September 2022 in the historical rooms of Veste Coburg (Coburg Castle) and the European Museum of Modern Glass in Rödental, Germany. 

The previous Coburg Prize for Contemporary Glass was held in 2014, when the work of 150 artists from 34 countries was presented.

The objective of the Coburg Prize is to show which design and processing techniques artists currently use, what thematic content predominates and whether current social questions, such as sustainability, migration, political suppression, globalisation and climate change are taken into account. 

The event is also concerned with ascertaining the extent to which glass is still considered purely as a material or whether, given its numerous possible uses and special properties, such as transparency, it is viewed as a complex medium with multiple meanings.

The award ceremony will take place on 9 April 2022 in Coburg. A bilingual catalogue will be published to accompany the exhibition. Works will be available for sale through the Veste Coburg Art Collections, with a sales commission charge of 20%.

The competition is organised in cooperation with the Alexander Tutsek-Stiftung foundation, based in Munich, Germany.

Note that restrictions due to the coronavirus pandemic are possible, which may lead to the cancellation of the competition.

More information and registration (from 1 June) are via the website: https://www.coburger-glaspreis.de 

Image: Artworks from the last Coburg Prize exhibition in 2014.