EMDASH
EMDASH is a philanthropic foundation that encourages and enables significant projects with contemporary artists. Founded by Andrea Dibelius in 2010, EMDASH believes in innovative ideas as expressed through art and interdisciplinary collaborations, and seeks to bring these to a wider audience through its commissions, awards and partner institutions.
FOUNDATION
As a punctuation mark, an emdash indicates a pause to reflect or review before a clear statement, often before taking a new direction.
The EMDASH foundation likewise encourages artists to think beyond what they’ve done so far, to imagine new ideas and directions in their work. EMDASH wants to make these notions reality, nurturing potential and allowing artists access to wider audiences through the foundation’s networks.
The range of projects EMDASH has and seeks to nourish is highly diverse – stemming from contemporary art but often in surprising ways and in collaboration with non-art world disciplines or organisations. Through its artist projects, EMDASH strives to create platforms for people from all walks of life to pause, consider and potentially to implement change.
As part of its Artists Projects series EMDASH commissioned Notes on Protesting from artist Peter Liversidge at the Southbank Centre (2014) and Whitechapel Gallery (2015). In 2013 EMDASH supported the Austrian Pavilion, at the 55th Venice Biennale, in presenting artist Mathias Poledna.
EMDASH AWARDS
The EMDASH Award is an annual prize with a unique focus on performative work. The winning artist has the opportunity to realise a new project which is commissioned by EMDASH and presented in partnership with an institution or museum. The EMDASH Award celebrates innovative thinking and progressive performative art. It enables the winning artist to develop their practice and engage with wide audiences in new and potentially unexpected ways. The artists are shortlisted and judged by a jury and the winning artist is announced in March each year.
