The UdK Berlin Art Award has been awarded annually since 2023 in the College of Fine Arts and the Art and Media program at the College of Design at the Berlin University of the Arts. Chaired by the President of the UdK Berlin, the jury, which is made up of renowned people from Berlin's art and cultural life as well as professors from the UdK Berlin, awards the prize to four master students from one year. The prize includes the award-winning exhibition and a monographic catalog.

The UdK Berlin Art Award replaces the “The President’s Fine Arts Award”, which was awarded from 1997-2022.

Meisterschüler*innen of the summer semester 2024 and winter semester 2024/25 from the College of Fine Arts and the Art and Media program of the College of Design can apply. Students of the Art and Media program with a written recommendation for the Meisterschüler*innen degree can also apply.

The participation requirement is the submission of the complete application documents in the period from February 1 to 28, 2025 to the address below. The complete application documents include:

• Declaration of consent
• Images of up to 5 artistic works with details of title, technique, measurements and year of creation summarized in a PDF file. Video and sound files are to be integrated as web links in the PDF (no download links)
• Artist statement in German + English (each max. 1,500 characters incl. spaces)
• Short biography on academic and artistic career (500-700 characters incl. spaces)
• Explanation of the submitted work (max. 3,000 characters incl. spaces)
• Scan of the Meisterschüler*innen certificate (can be submitted later) or for applicants to the Art and Media degree program: Written recommendation for the master student degree

The application is exclusively digital. Please submit all documents in one e-mail. The e-mail attachment must not exceed a maximum size of 20 MB. Deadline for submission is February 28, 2025. Send all documents to artaward_ @udk-berlin.de

President of the UdK Berlin
Prof. Nina Fischer (1. jury meeting), Professor for Experimental Film, UdK Berlin / Prof. Dr. phil. Alberto de Campo (2. jury meeting), Professor for Generative Art/Computalional Art, UdK Berlin
Prof. Josephine Pryde, Professor for Photography, UdK Berlin
Isabelle Graw, Professor for Art Theory at the Städelschule and co-founder of the magazine Texte zur Kunst
Lina Louisa Krämer, Program Director at the Schinkel Pavillon
Dr. Catherine Nichols, Curator at Hamburger Bahnhof

In the first jury meeting on March 13, 2025, the jury will nominate a selection of applicants for the UdK Berlin Art Award 2025. The nominated artists will be invited at the beginning of the summer semester 2025 to present their work in the joint nominees exhibition from May 22-24, 2025 at the UdK Berlin.

In the second jury meeting on May 22, 2025, the jury will visit the exhibition and hold discussions with the nominees. 

The jury will then name the four prize winners.

The nominees exhibition will take place on May 23 and 24, 2025 in the foyer and the cross gallery of Hardenbergstraße 33. The award winners will be announced on May 22 at around 6:30 pm.

The works of the award winners will be presented in a joint exhibition at the Kommunalen Galerie Berlin from 22.11.2025-22.2.2026. Opening is on 21.11.2025.

Monographic catalogs will be produced on the occasion of the exhibition. Each award winner will receive a catalog of approximately 28 pages. All individual catalogs have the same size and a uniform graphic frame and are provided with a foreword by the president. The contents of the catalog, such as texts and work illustrations, are created independently by the award winners. The graphic design is created in collaboration with a graphic designer commissioned by the Department for Interfaculty Events. The award winners will each receive 200 catalogs for free use.

Information and impressions of past exhibitions in recent years: udk-berlin.de/artaward

If you have any questions, please contact the UdK Berlin's Department for Interfaculty Events team at: artaward_ @udk-berlin.de

Good luck from the UdK Berlin Interfaculty Events Team!