Hugo Boss Prize Exhibition Featuring New Installation by Anicka Yi 

Opens at Guggenheim Museum on April 21

Exhibition: The Hugo Boss Prize 2016: Anicka Yi
Venue: Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, 1071 Fifth Avenue, New York
Location: Tower Level 5
Dates: April 21–July 5, 2017

(NEW YORK, NY, February 15, 2017)—From April 21 to July 5, 2017, an exhibition of new works by artist Anicka Yi, winner of the 2016 Hugo Boss Prize, will be on view at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York. Interweaving Yi’s ongoing study of microorganic forms, data collection, and sensory perception, this exhibition presents a densely layered examination of the intersecting biological, social, political, and technological systems that define our lives. Yi is the 11th artist to receive the biennial prize, which was established in 1996 to recognize significant achievement in contemporary art and which recently marked its 20th anniversary.

The Hugo Boss Prize 2016: Anicka Yi is organized by Katherine Brinson, Curator, Contemporary Art, and Susan Thompson, Assistant Curator, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum.

Through concepts and techniques drawn from scientific research, Anicka Yi’s installations create vivid fictional scenarios that ask incisive questions about human psychology and the workings of society. Challenging the dominance of vision in encountering an artwork, she expands the perceptual experience of the “viewer” into a broader sensory immersion. The artist has a longstanding interest in smell and its potent link to memory and subjectivity, at times activating her installations with scents designed to evoke specific emotional states or cultural identities. Her work studies the ramifications of both the digital and corporeal realms, with a focus on how biology, particularly in relation to gender or race, is frequently politicized.

In October Yi was selected as the winner of the 2016 Hugo Boss Prize from a short list of six finalists that included Tania Bruguera, Mark Leckey, Ralph Lemon, Laura Owens, and Wael Shawky. The 2016 jury comprised of Katherine Brinson; Dan Byers, Mannion Family Senior Curator, Institute of Contemporary Art/Boston; Elena Filipovic, Director and Chief Curator, Kunsthalle Basel; Michelle Kuo, Editor in Chief, Artforum International; and Pablo León de la Barra, Guggenheim UBS Map Curator, Latin America, Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. The jury described their decision in a statement: “In recognition of the milestone 20th anniversary marked by this year’s prize, we carefully considered the spirit of the project over the past two decades and the innovatory achievements represented by the list of past recipients. In selecting Anicka Yi as the winner from an exceptionally strong group of nominated artists, we wish to highlight the singularity of her vision and the generative new possibilities for artistic production offered by her practice. We are particularly compelled by the way Yi’s sculptures and installations make public and strange, and thus newly addressable, our deeply subjective corporeal realities. We also admire the unique embrace of discomfort in her experiments with technology, science, and the plant and animal worlds, all of which push at the limits of perceptual experience in the ‘visual’ arts.”

This exhibition is made possible by HUGO BOSS.

HUGO BOSS PRIZE HISTORY

The Hugo Boss Prize 2016 marks the 11^th presentation of the award at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. Since its inception in 1996, the prize has been awarded to American artist Matthew Barney (1996), Scottish artist Douglas Gordon (1998), Slovenian artist Marjetica Potrč (2000), French artist Pierre Huyghe (2002), Thai artist Rirkrit Tiravanija (2004), British artist Tacita Dean (2006), Palestinian artist Emily Jacir (2008), German artist Hans-Peter Feldmann (2010), Danish artist Danh Vo (2012), and American artist Paul Chan (2014). Previous finalists have included Laurie Anderson, Janine Antoni, Cai Guo-Qiang, Stan Douglas, and Yasumasa Morimura in 1996; Huang Yong Ping, William Kentridge, Lee Bul, Pipilotti Rist, and Lorna Simpson in 1998; Vito Acconci, Maurizio Cattelan, Michael Elmgreen and Ingar Dragset, Tom Friedman, Barry Le Va, and Tunga in 2000; Francis Alÿs, Olafur Eliasson, Hachiya Kazuhiko, Koo Jeong-a, and Anri Sala in 2002; Franz Ackermann, Rivane Neuenschwander, Jeroen de Rijke and Willem de Rooij, Simon Starling, and Yang Fudong in 2004; Allora & Calzadilla, John Bock, Damián Ortega, Aïda Ruilova, and Tino Sehgal in 2006; Christoph Büchel, Patty Chang, Sam Durant, Joachim Koester, and Roman Signer in 2008; Cao Fei, Roman Ondák, Walid Raad, Natascha Sadr Haghighian, and Apichatpong Weerasethakul in 2010; Trisha Donnelly, Rashid Johnson, Qiu Zhijie, Monika Sosnowska, and Tris Vonna-Michell in 2012; and Sheela Gowda, Camille Henrot, Hassan Khan, and Charline von Heyl in 2014. A timeline and a video on the history the Hugo Boss Prize, as well as an archive of past prize catalogues, are available at guggenheim.org/hugobossprize.

PUBLICATION

In conjunction with the Hugo Boss Prize 2016, the Guggenheim has published a catalogue featuring projects by each of the nominated artists and newly commissioned critical essays illuminating their practices. The catalogue includes texts by Clare Davies, Tim Griffin, Anthony Huberman, Caroline A. Jones, Alex Kitnick, and Lucía Sanromán, along with an introduction by Brinson and Thompson. The volume also contains a special commemorative section devoted to the Prize’s 20-year history with texts by Thompson. Designed by Frith Kerr and Ben Prescott of the London-based firm Studio Frith, the catalogue is available for $40 at the Guggenheim Store or online at guggenheimstore.org.

ABOUT HUGO BOSS AG

Since 1995 HUGO BOSS has provided critical support to many Guggenheim programs. In addition to the Hugo Boss Prize, the company has helped make possible retrospectives of the work of Matthew Barney (2003), Georg Baselitz (1995), Ross Bleckner (1995), Francesco Clemente (1999–2000), Ellsworth Kelly (1996–97), Robert Rauschenberg (1997–98), and James Rosenquist (2003–04); the presentation Art in America: Now (2007) in Shanghai; the Felix Gonzalez-Torres (2007) and Ed Ruscha (2005) exhibitions in the U.S. Pavilion of the Venice Biennale; and the exhibition theanyspacewhatever (2008–09) at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum. At the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011, the fashion and lifestyle group HUGO BOSS was the lead sponsor of the Allora & Calzadilla exhibition in the U.S. Pavilion. For more information, visit group.hugoboss.com/en/group/sponsoring/art-sponsoring or hugoboss.com/us/magazine/arts.

HUGO BOSS GLOBAL ARTS PROGRAM

Contemporary art is an integral part of the HUGO BOSS corporate culture. In conjunction with the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum the Group established the HUGO BOSS Prize in 1996 which has evolved into an internationally renowned art award. The prize was complemented by the HUGO BOSS Asia Art Award in 2013, focusing on upcoming Asian artists. HUGO BOSS has also been supporting numerous international exhibitions of contemporary art. To date, these have presented works by Ross Bleckner (1995), Georg Baselitz (1995 and 1996), Dennis Hopper (2001), James Rosenquist (2003), Olafur Eliasson (2005) and Josephine Meckseper (2007). In 2012 HUGO BOSS sponsored the very first solo exhibition of Jeff Koons at a Swiss museum. Since 2014 the Group has started a special partnership with the Vitra Design Museum in Weil am Rhein, supporting exhibitions like Konstantin Grcic, Panorama (2014) and in 2015/2016 The Bauhaus#itsalldesign.

ABOUT THE SOLOMON R. GUGGENHEIM FOUNDATION

Founded in 1937, the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation is dedicated to promoting the understanding and appreciation of art, primarily of the modern and contemporary periods, through exhibitions, education programs, research initiatives, and publications. The Guggenheim network that began in the 1970s when the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, New York, was joined by the Peggy Guggenheim Collection, Venice, has since expanded to include the Guggenheim Museum Bilbao (opened 1997), and the Guggenheim Abu Dhabi (currently in development). The Guggenheim Foundation continues to forge international collaborations that celebrate contemporary art, architecture, and design within and beyond the walls of the museum, including the Guggenheim UBS MAP Global Art Initiative and The Robert H. N. Ho Family Foundation Chinese Art Initiative. More information about the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation can be found at guggenheim.org.

VISITOR INFORMATION

Admission: Adults $25, students/seniors (65+) $18, members and children under 12 free. The Guggenheim’s free app, available with admission or by download to personal devices, offers an enhanced visitor experience. The app features rich multimedia content on special exhibitions, the Guggenheim’s landmark building, and artworks in the museum’s permanent collection. Verbal Description guides for select exhibitions also are included for visitors who are blind or have low vision. The Guggenheim app is supported by Bloomberg Philanthropies.

Museum Hours: Sun–Wed, 10 am–5:45 pm; Fri, 10 am–5:45 pm; Sat, 10 am–7:45 pm; closed Thurs. On Saturdays, beginning at 5:45 pm, the museum hosts Pay What You Wish. For general information, call 212 423 3500 or visit the museum online at: guggenheim.org.