The Serpentine x FLAG Art Foundation Prize has announced its selection committee for the inaugural award, the largest contemporary art prize in the UK given to a single artist. The five-person jury includes Michelle Kuo (Chief Curator at Large and Publisher at MoMA), Venus Lau (director of Museum MACAN), Hans Ulrich Obrist, Jon Rider, and artist Rirkrit Tiravanija. The committee met in London on 23rd April to select the first recipient, who will be announced on 12th May. The prize awards £200,000 biennially over ten years, totaling £1 million across five artists, with each recipient developing a new body of work culminating in exhibitions at Serpentine in London and The FLAG Art Foundation in New York.
This prize matters because it represents a significant shift in how contemporary art is supported, offering substantial financial freedom and time for artists to create ambitious new work rather than producing for immediate exhibition cycles. The selection committee's international and interdisciplinary makeup—spanning museum leadership, curatorial innovation, and artist-led practice—sets a high standard for identifying where contemporary art is heading. The choice of the first winner will signal priorities in the global art world and could influence future prize models.