LOEWE FOUNDATION & Studio Voltaire have today announced Prajakta Potnis as the recipient of the second year-long international residency.
Launched in 2021, the LOEWE FOUNDATION / Studio Voltaire Award celebrates talent, creative thinking and individuality within contemporary art practice. The international recipient for 2024 is Prajakta Potnis (she/her), a Mumbai-based artist working with painting, installation and time-based media. This will be Potnis’ first project in the UK. The artist will be based at Studio Voltaire from October 2024.
I can’t express enough how grateful I am for receiving this award at such a pivotal moment in my career. It will be an invaluable opportunity to provide new contexts for comparative readings of some key issues I’ve been exploring, as well as to research and develop a new body of work that responds to these uncertain and trying times.
The award will offer me a place for reflection and interaction within a thriving community of artists, activists, curators and audiences. I am excited for the invaluable exchange of ideas and experiences. I would like to thank LOEWE FOUNDATION and Studio Voltaire for giving me the chance to live and learn in London for a year.
Prajakta Potnis
Via the award, Potnis will receive:
- A £25,000 stipend to support living costs and accommodation.
- A rent-free studio at Studio Voltaire for the 12-month duration of the residency.
- Budget for travel, equipment, materials and production.
- Bespoke professional development and mentoring programme.
Key figures in the Indian art scene, including Shaunak Mahbubani (Independent Curator), Akansha Rastogi (Senior Curator, Exhibitions and Programming, Kiran Nadar Museum of Art), Veeranganakumari Solanki (Programme Director and Curator, The Gujral Foundation), and Mario D’Souza (Director of Programmes, Kochi Biennale) were invited to nominate twelve artists to apply for the award. Applications were selected by Devika Singh (Art Historian and Curator, currently Senior Lecturer in Curating, The Courtauld Institute of Art), Studio Voltaire’s Director Joe Scotland and Curator (Studios and Residencies) Dot Zhihan Jia.
The LOEWE FOUNDATION / Studio Voltaire Award works to increase and strengthen equitable representation and access and amplify artistic voices across class, race, gender, sexuality and disability. This is the second edition of the year-long international residency. The inaugural recipient was Hong Kong-based artist and independent publisher, Beatrix Pang. The award also provides two years of support for seven UK-based artists through rent-free studio space, professional development opportunities and bursaries. The current UK-based artists for the 2023-2025 award are Babajide Brian, Maz Murray, Emily Pope, Shamica Ruddock, Meera Shakti Osborne, Nick Smith and Ossie Williams.
Devika Singh, Senior Lecturer in Curating, The Courtauld Institute of Art said:
It was a great honour to contribute to the LOEWE FOUNDATION / Studio Voltaire Award. This residency will nurture risk-taking and international exchange between India and the UK at a time in which reflection is needed. We were impressed by Prajakta’s attention to materiality and commitment to surfacing unknown narratives. Her nuanced and thought-provoking perspective will greatly enrich the vibrancy of the UK cultural milieu.
Dot Zhihan Jia, Studio Voltaire’s Curator (Studios and Residencies) said:
We are thrilled to continue this timely and much-needed programme supporting global dialogues with the generous support of LOEWE FOUNDATION. Prajakta is an incredible artist whose depth and attentiveness in her approach really impressed us. It was a great pleasure to draw on the rich expertise of our nominators as well as our panellist Devika Singh. We can’t wait to welcome Prajakta to Studio Voltaire.
About
Prajakta Potnis (b. 1980, Thane, India) lives and works in Mumbai. Potnis’ paintings, videos and time-based installations highlight the fractures within everyday domestic life, particularly in the context of gender and social divides. Her works dwell between the intimate world of the individual and the world outside, effortlessly weaving together the complexities of emotions.
Potnis has exhibited extensively both nationally and internationally. This will be her first project in the UK. Exhibitions include the 15th Sharjah Biennale (2023), Rencontres d’Arles (2022), Taipei Fine Art Museum (2021), The 11th Gwangju Biennale (2016), Queens Museum (2015), Kochi-Muziris Biennale (2014), Kadist Art Foundation (2012), and Herning Museum of Contemporary Art (2010), among others.
Solo projects include when the wind blows, Project 88, Mumbai (2016); Kitchen Debate, Künstlerhaus Bethanien, Berlin (2014); Time Lapse, The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai (2012); Local Time, Experimenter, Kolkata (2012); Porous walls, The Guild art gallery, Mumbai (2008); Membranes and Margins, Gallery EM, Seoul (2008); Walls in between, The Guild Art Gallery, Mumbai (2006).
Potnis completed her Bachelor’s and Masters studies at Sir J.J School of Art, Mumbai (1995-2002). She is represented by Project 88 Mumbai.
Celebrating its 30th Anniversary in 2024, Studio Voltaire is one of the UK’s leading not–for–profit arts organisations. Its pioneering public programmes of exhibitions, participation projects, live events and offsite commissions have gained an international reputation. The organisation has an outstanding track record of supporting artists at a pivotal stage in their careers, championing emerging and underrepresented practices and placing emphasis on risk-taking and experimentation. Many commissions are artists’ first solo exhibitions in London or the UK.
Studio Voltaire commissions a wide range of participatory and offsite projects, working in collaboration with artists, local organisations, schools and community groups and provides a much-needed resource of affordable and accessible onsite artists’ studios, supporting the development of diverse individual and collective practices, from recent graduates to internationally recognised practitioners.
Studio Voltaire is a registered charity and part of Arts Council England’s National Portfolio.
The LOEWE FOUNDATION was established as a private cultural foundation in 1988 by Enrique Loewe, a fourth-generation member of LOEWE’s founding family. Today, the Foundation continues to promote creativity, organise educational programmes and protect cultural heritage in the fields of craft, art, design, photography, poetry and dance. The Foundation was awarded the Gold Medal for Merit in the Fine Arts by the Spanish government in 2002. blogfundacionloewe.es/en
