Leopold Bloom Art Award | 2017

The finalists in this year’s Leopold Bloom Art Award will present works at a joint exhibition on view at the New Budapest Gallery between 23 September and mid-November. As has now become customary, the exhibition opening is being organized jointly with the award presentation, during which the winner of this year’s award of 10,000 Euros, based on the decision of an international jury, will be announced. The award was established for the purpose of nurturing the international presence of contemporary art from Hungary. The exhibitors, who are also the finalists, are: Lőrinc Borsos, Ákos Ezer, Anna Fabricius, Márk Fridvalszki, Ferenc Gróf, Hajnal Németh, Andi Schmied and Eszter Szabó. Internationalism also has an important role in the story behind the award: it was established by Mary McLoughlin and John Ward, an Irish art collector couple and the owners of the Maurice Ward transportation and art handling company, and the name of the award refers to Leopold Bloom, the protagonist of James Joyce’s Ulysses, a young man of Hungarian ancestry who calls attention to the importance of innovative art, cultural bonds that cross borders, and independence.