Edition 2019

The artists made this decision in response to the open letter and petition launched on May 10. In this letter, the lack of diversity in the selection of the finalists for the BelgianArtPrize 2019 was criticized.

The organizers of the BelgianArtPrize respected and supported the values expressed in the open letter. They were also against any form of discrimination and in favor of encouraging debate on societal, socio-political, and cultural issues that resonate within society. The non-profit organization ‘De Jonge Belgische Schilderkunst – La Jeune Peinture Belge’ understood the artists’ standpoint but regretted their withdrawal. The prevailing societal debate was unrelated to the intrinsic artistic value of their work. The jury emphasized that it fully stood by its choice of the four laureates. During their deliberations, the jury members carefully studied the careers and oeuvres of the nominated artists. Jury members were in no way instructed to consider quotas, gender ratios, language balance, nationality, or other non-artistic criteria.

The non-profit organization stood by the jury’s decision and endorsed the professional and thoughtful manner in which it had carried out its work. Therefore, the organizers of the BelgianArtPrize decided not to award the prize in 2019. They regretted that the artists could not work in a calm and serene atmosphere due to the pressure of a societal debate that did not directly target them but of which they nevertheless suffered the backlash. The became ‘victims’ in the sense that they were deprived of the opportunity to create new work, exhibit it, and build recognition for their art both nationally and internationally.