Corin Sworn wins the Max Mara Art Prize for Women

01/28/2014

The Glaswegian artist Corin Sworn is the winner of the fifth edition of the Max Mara Art Prize for Women, which was awarded on January 23 at the Italian Embassy in London. Set up in 2005 in collaboration with the Whitechapel Gallery in London, it is the only prize for visual arts dedicated to artists from the United Kingdom who have not yet had a major survey exhibition.

The prize for this edition’s winner consists of a six-month residency in Italy (starting in March 2014) to create the project presented in the competition. Born in 1976, Corin Sworn will create a work of art that will be exhibited at the Whitechapel Gallery, before becoming part of the Collezione Maramotti in Reggio Emilia. The winning idea which convinced the jury is inspired by the history and the costumes of the Commedia dell’Arte, with the idea of bringing the improvised performances of the itinerant theatre troupes of the sixteenth century back to life. «The promise of spending six months in Italy gave me a multitude of ideas for a new work of art and I can’t wait to develop it during my time in Rome, Naples and Venice», said the artist when it was announced she had won.

The event was attended by the President of Max Mara Luigi Maramotti, who expressed his full support for the artist and his immense gratitude to the jury and the Whitechapel Gallery, as well as the gallery director Iwona Blazwick and the Italian Ambassador in London Pasquale Q. Terraciano.