Acquisitions & Awards 2024
Swab Committee Members
Swab 2024 Best Booth Award
The award, granted by Swab Barcelona’s selection committee, formed by Omar López-Chahoud, Jérôme Pantalacci, Isa Natalia Castilla, Domenico de Chirico, Pedro Jaile, José Luis Lorenzo, Marie Elena Angulo, Jesper Stieler and Laura Peh, recognizes the best stand proposal presented at Swab 2024. This initiative, launched last year, was born with the purpose of encouraging and promoting risky and avant-garde proposals within the context of the fair, supporting those projects that explore new aesthetic and conceptual languages in contemporary art. The award reflects Swab Barcelona’s commitment to innovation and experimentation in the artistic field, offering a platform for galleries and artists to challenge traditional conventions and enrich the global creative landscape.
Winner: Reiners Contemporary Art
Carmen & Lluís Bassat Collection
Acquisition
The Bassat Collection is one of the most representative collections of what has been the Catalan art of the second half of the twentieth century. The intention of the Collection is to contribute, through the exhibition of its collections, to the explanation of the events and movements that have given rise to the art of our time. It has more than 3,000 original works, of which some 2,500 are paintings and drawings and 500 are sculptures, and is complemented by an important collection of graphic works.
Winner: Asha Swillens, Kahmann Gallery.
Fundació Vila Casas
Premi al millor artista català
The Fundació Vila Casas, created in 1986 by the pharmaceutical entrepreneur Antoni Vila Casas, is a private non-profit organization dedicated to the promotion of contemporary Catalan art. Through its prestigious art collection, the Foundation acts as a dynamic platform to promote and disseminate contemporary artistic practice, bringing to the public the current expressions and trends of art in Catalonia. In its commitment to the socio-health field, the Fundació Vila Casas develops research that establishes a vital dialogue between health professionals, the media and society in general. Tradition, culture and language are essential pillars of the Foundation, reflecting and preserving Catalan cultural identity as a fundamental value in each of its initiatives.
Winner: María María Ascha Kutscher, ADN Gallery.
Benoît Doche de Laquintane
Acquisition
The Benoît Doche de Laquintane Collection focuses primarily on works related to Poetry in its broad meaning. It aims to articulate a relationship with the current times and to bring together artworks that respond to the contemporary moment and engage with the possibilities of a constantly accelerating future. The collection invites the viewer to question and reflect on the world around us and our position in it. The Benoît Doche de Laquintane Collection aims to support emerging and established artists from the international art scene.
Winner: Mariana Rebola, PLATO.
MANGO
Best emerging artist award
Mango reaffirms its commitment to contemporary art by renewing, for another year, its active participation in Swab Barcelona 2024, where it awards the best emerging artist. Through this award, the brand seeks to promote the talent of young artists under the age of 35, selected for their ability to contribute innovative proposals and make a significant contribution to current trends in art. The award not only consists of the recognition of the artist’s work, but also includes the acquisition of a work that will become part of Mango’s art collection. This commitment to young and emerging art underscores Mango’s desire to support new voices in the artistic field, promoting a space for growth and visibility for those creators whose work challenges traditional boundaries and brings freshness to the contemporary cultural scene.
Winner: Claudia Pastomás, VANGAR.
Kells Art Collection
Acquisition
The Kells art collection was born in 1996, as a result of the approach of Juan Manuel Elizalde and Choli Fuentes to the world of Art. At present, the Collection is formed by several hundreds of works, of eclectic character, that reflect their interests and the themes for which they feel a special affection and sensibility: language and communication in its different fields occupy an important part of the collection.
Winners: José Cori (Collectio) and Juan Anton (THA House + ATM)
José Luís Lorenzo
Acquisition
The José Luis Lorenzo Collection is one of the most complete collections of contemporary art in Argentina, with the singularity of being in permanent dialogue with antiques, design objects and handcrafted productions that are also part of the collection. With the intention of promoting local and national artistic productions, the collection began to grow in the 1990s. All techniques and disciplines are represented, although there is a certain predilection for photographic productions.
Winner: Valeria Maculán, Tramo.
Piramidón
Acquisition & Residency
Founded in 1990 by Isidre Bohigas, Piramidón is a hybrid space between art gallery and creation factory, merging the field of artistic production with that of diffusion, exhibition and commercialization, a project that pursues the objective of supporting artists, linking in the same center two of the main spheres on which their practice pivots: the workshop and the art gallery. This award offers a residency to an artist, providing him/her with a space and resources to support and enrich his/her creative process.
Winner: Claudia Pastomás, VANGAR.
La Escalera
Acquisition
The project La Escalera, founded by Francisco Rivas and Steffie Phippen on a farm in the Vall d’Albaida (Valencia), unites their passions for contemporary art, sustainable agriculture and the exchange of ideas. In this rural space, they combine cultivation with artistic exhibitions and residencies, creating a dialogue between creativity and nature.
La Escalera’s collection, focused on contemporary works that dialogue with the natural environment, reflects their vision of connecting art with rural life. In addition to exhibitions, they organize meetings and workshops that foster collaboration between artists and the community, consolidating their commitment to sustainability and cultural transformation in the region.
Winner: Valeria Maculán, Tramo.
Fundació Úniques
Best female artist from the Catalan Countries
Fundació Úniques is the foundation that promotes contemporary women artists living in Catalonia, Valencia and the Balearic Islands. Promote women artists and their work, giving them visibility nationally and especially internationally. Its raison d’être is to promote culture, talent and creativity as a means of social and economic transformation of a country. Its objective is to promote the creation of new instruments to develop the sustainability of culture, and this will be possible by weaving alliances between business and culture.
Winner: Mariona Moncunill, Palmadotze.
Diezy7
Acquisition
Created in 2008, the Diezy7 Award reflects Joaquín Díez-Cascón’s tireless commitment to the support and visibility of emerging artists, channeling his deep passion for painting and drawing into an initiative that has become a benchmark within contemporary art.
For Díez-Cascón, works on paper have a unique value because of their proximity to the creative process and their ability to capture the essence of artistic experimentation, attributes that significantly enrich the Diezy7 collection. By integrating these pieces, the collection not only adds works of great aesthetic and conceptual charge, but also reaffirms its purpose of supporting and promoting young talent in the context of current art, ensuring that each acquisition reflects the freshness and vitality that characterize the new generations of creators.
Winners: Estanis Comella (Raccoon Projects) and Hojan (ss space space).