The Chinese Contemporary Art Awards (CCAA) were founded in 1997 by Uli Sigg, the former Swiss Ambassador to China, one of the most influential collectors of Chinese contemporary art. Dedicated to promoting Chinese contemporary artists of outstanding achievement, the biennial Awards have become one of the most important of its kind to showcase talent in the Chinese contemporary art scene. The juried selection of CCAA 2012 started in June this year. As usual, during July and August, six highly experienced critics or curators who have been very active in Chinese contemporary art were invited to make up a committee to nominate about sixty artists. Then during September and November, a judging panel of seven world-renowned gallery directors, curators and collection advisers will select winners from the nominees.
Liu Li Anna took up the position of director of CCAA 2012, and with the consideration of age as well as of region, the nomination committee was made up of Bao Dong, Biljana Ciric, Gao Ling, Pi Li, Shen Ruijun and Wang Chunchen (in alphabetic order by family name).
The judging panel consisted of three members from China who have all curated a great number of important exhibitions:
Feng Boyi, artistic director of Hexiangning Art Museum
Huang Zhuan, executive director of OCT Contemporary Art Terminal
Li Zhenhua, independent critic and artist
In addition, four leading scholars from abroad joined the panel:
Carolyn Christov-Bakargiev, artistic director of Kassel Documenta 13
Chris Dercon, former director of Haus der Kunst in Munich, director of Tate Modern in London
Lars Nittve, executive director of M+ Museum
Uli Sigg, founder of CCAA and collector
The final selection will take place on Nov. 5 and 6, 2012, when the jury committee will select winners for the awards:
Best Artist — contemporary artist showing truly extraordinary creative power in the past two years
Best Young Artist — contemporary young artist under the age of thirty showing truly extraordinary creative power in the past two years
Lifetime achievement Award — artist with continued effort in creation and outstanding contribution to contemporary art in China over a long period
The selection results will be announced at the press conference in CAFAM on the afternoon of Nov. 7.