With Plant! the COAL Prize 2023 invites artists from all over the world to sow the seeds of creation and action, to germinate new research and experimentation, so that an inventive and resilient plant-based way of thinking can flourish in the world to come.
“If you don’t sow, you’ll never grow”. Thus advises the wisdom of plants, organisms that tame the depths to grow towards the light. Endlessly iterating, they synthesise the blue planet into a green world, the colour of hope and renewal, the symbol of ecology, the shimmer of life, dreaming and generating a habitable Earth. The plant kingdom, abundant in an infinite number of shapes, sizes and colours, represents the overwhelming majority of the mass of life on Earth. Robust, the plants live in continuity and mesh every electron in their environment. Thus, for several hundred million years, they have been a model of adaptation, resilience and diversity, feeding and inspiring the development of human societies, which ceaselessly draw on their resources and imitate their forms. Yet plant life is, more than ever, threatened by climate change, the destruction of natural habitats and the depletion of resources.
Every year, ten projects are shortlisted by a committee of professionals. The COAL Prize and its special mentions are awarded from among these ten projects.The winner of the COAL Prize will be awarded 12,000 euros and benefits from a residence in the heart of the Domaine de Belval, property of the François Sommer Foundation. In addition, all applications considered by COAL and the selection committee will become part of a network of artists and projects may be solicited or promoted for opportunities and actions carried out by COAL and its partners.
This year's COAL Prize is call to feel the richness of plants, their balances and dynamics, from seed to calyx, from molecule to ecosystem. Applications that include a detailed description of the proposed project, describing its artistic dimension, its relevance to the theme PLANT! and a note on the technical feasibility of the project can be submitted until 19 March. Find more information here.
The COAL Prize is supported by the European Union through the European cooperation programme ACT – Art Climate Transition, the French Office for Biodiversity, the Museum of Hunting and Nature, the Fondation François Sommer and the Fondation LAccolade, as well as by a partnership with the Centre Wallonie Bruxelles/Paris and the Ateliers Médicis.
