The ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art

The ground-breaking ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art seeks to elevate the status of and encourage interest in live art in Finland and internationally.

ANTI - Contemporary Art Festival focuses on site-specific works created for urban spaces. Held each year in Kuopio, this free festival offers a unique meeting place for artists and anyone interested in art’s ability to transform everyday spaces. Launched in 2002, the festival is the leading live art forum in Finland and the Nordic countries. The term ‘live art’ refers to innovative performance art. This comprises process centred, performative, time specific forms of art that transcend boundaries.

The prize for live art set up by the ANTI-Contemporary Art Festival and Saastamoinen Foundation was awarded for the first time in September 2014 at ANTI in Kuopio. The prize has a total value of €30,000, and is the only existing international prize for live art. The award-winning artist or group of artists receives a cash prize of €15,000 and a production grant for a similar amount to enable them to create a new work for the following year’s ANTI-Contemporary Art Festival.

The winner is chosen by an international jury made up of leading art and culture professionals. The most recent ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art was awarded in September 2022.

Pekka Mäkinen Willoh S. Weiland, Artefact