Prix Marcel Duchamp and the Winner 2022

Prix Marcel Duchamp was initiated in 2000 by Gilles Fuchs, Founder of Association for the International Diffusion of French Art (ADIAF). The Prize aims to highlight the abundance of the French art scene at the beginning of the 21st century and to support artists in their international career. It is believed to be the equivalent of the British Turner Prize.
Each year, one laureate among four French artists or artists living in France is distinguished, the one working in the field of plastic and visual arts: installation, video, painting, photography, sculpture, and performance. The winner receives €35,000 personally and up to €30,000 in order to produce an exhibition of their work in the Centre Georges Pompidou.

Claude Bonnin, the president of the ADIAF, a few weeks ago announced the four nominees for the 2022 edition of the Prix Marcel Duchamp: Giulia Andreani, Iván Argote, Philippe Decrauzat and Mimosa Echard. And earlier this week the winner was announced. This year’s France’s top art award has gone to Mimosa Echard, whose multidisciplinary practice bridges the surreal, mechanical, and terrestrial in pursuit of plant and human symbiosis.

Her mesmerizing installation “Escape More” (2022), is currently on view in the Centre Pompidou along with works by the other three nominees. The piece involves a fountain of continuously falling water installed directly into the wall, and forming a blurred window into a large room, where viewers can just make out television screens, the curve of a woman’s body filmed as she moved, cosmetics, and swatches of lace. Objects with a personal feel hang on either side of the curtain of water: a piece of paper with a friend’s poem, photographs, a pill, and a cherry stem.