Saatchi Gallery and Firtash Foundation launch competition for young British and Ukrainian artists

The Saatchi Gallery and Firtash Foundation have launched UK/raine, an open competition for emerging artists from the UK and Ukraine aged 18-35, with prize money totalling £75,000 (US$116,000).

The first competition of its kind, UK/raine is open to artists aged 18-35 who are living, working or enrolled in a BA or MA course in the UK or Ukraine, or who were born in either country.

Artists can enter their work in one of five categories: installation, new media (including video and photography), painting, sculpture and street art.

A shortlist of 30 artists will have the opportunity to exhibit their work at the Saatchi Gallery for a month-long exhibition running from 24 November 2015 to 3 January 2016. A winner from each category, as well as an overall winner, will be selected by an international panel of expert judges, including Johnson Chang (Founder of the Asia Art Archive), Nigel Hurst (Saatchi Gallery CEO), Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda (Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Thailand) and Oleksandr Soloviov (Ukrainian author and curator).

One winner will also be chosen by a separate public vote. The winners will be announced at the exhibition’s launch and VIP private view in London on 23 November 2015. Each of the category winners will receive £10,000 (US$15,500) with the overall winner of the prize receiving a further £20,000 (US$31,000). The winner of the public vote will receive £5,000 (US$8,000) of production costs towards their work.

UK/raine forms part of the Days of Ukraine in the UK festival and follows the success of Premonition: Ukrainian Art Now, which ran at the Saatchi Gallery from 9 October to 3 November 2014. A collaboration between the Saatchi Gallery and the Firtash Foundation, it was the only exhibition in the UK to feature in the world’s top 20 most attended shows in 2014.

All entries must be submitted online and will be accepted until 11.59pm on 20 October 2015.

The Firtash Foundation is a private charity fund with the main aim of supporting education and culture in Ukraine. The Saatchi Gallery is a contemporary art gallery located in Chelsea, London.