Serpentine and The FLAG Art Foundation’s New Art Prize
The UK’s largest contemporary art prize will award five individual artists at pivotal moments in their careers
Serpentine and The FLAG Art Foundation have announced a significant new international prize designed to provide long-term, meaningful support to artists at pivotal moments in their careers. Spanning a 10-year commitment, the initiative will award a total of £1 million, distributed biennially as £200,000 grants to five individual artists. Once launched, it will become the largest contemporary art prize in the UK awarded to a single artist.
The Serpentine and FLAG Art Foundation Prize is structured around sustained artistic exchange rather than a single presentation. Each recipient will realise a solo exhibition that premieres at either Serpentine in London or The FLAG Art Foundation in New York, before being reinterpreted for presentation at the partner institution. This approach encourages the work to evolve across contexts, fostering an ongoing dialogue between the two organisations and their audiences.
The partnership formalises a decade-long collaboration, with five artists selected over the course of the programme. The first recipient will be named in 2026, followed by the inaugural exhibition opening at Serpentine in Autumn 2027 and travelling to The FLAG Art Foundation in Spring 2028. Each project will be accompanied by a newly commissioned catalogue and a live programme developed jointly by both institutions, extending the impact of the prize beyond the exhibition itself.
To explore the thinking behind this initiative and what long-term institutional support can mean for artists today, we spoke with Bettina Korek, CEO of Serpentine, on the responsibility of cultural organisations to invest not only in presentation, but in the conditions that allow artistic practice to thrive.
COOL HUNTING: The Serpentine and FLAG Art Foundation Prize represents a significant, decade-long commitment. What core need in the contemporary art ecosystem does this initiative aim to address, and what was the pivotal moment that brought these two institutions together to create it?
Bettina Korek: Serpentine’s first Pavilion architect Zaha Hadid gave us the adage “There should be no end to experimentation,” which has become a guiding principle for Serpentine and our programmes. Our aspiration is to uphold these words for artists working today: artists require the means to push the boundaries of their practices, and of our limits for understanding the world.
We are thrilled to be presenting with FLAG the largest cash prize in the UK for artists, but equally important are the strategic and administrative resources this initiative will include, from museum advocacy and curatorial counsel, to production expertise and professional services around the launch of grantee projects.
Serpentine is collaborative by nature, and we are always seeking new opportunities to go beyond gallery walls. Our mission is to build new connections between artists and audiences, and with FLAG we will be platforming vital new practices on both sides of the Atlantic. This bridge between the UK and the US is an increasingly important one for Serpentine—our contributions from stateside-based patrons have tripled over the past five years, as well as the ever more global ecosystem of artists and audiences we serve.
CH: At £200,000, this is the UK’s largest prize for a single contemporary artist. Beyond the financial award, how is the structure, with solo exhibitions in both London and New York and institutional collaboration, designed to provide “unmatched support” at a pivotal career moment?
BK: Serpentine and FLAG share an artist-led ethos, and this collaboration is aimed at providing artists in the earlier stages of their exhibiting careers with meaningful, flexible support that affords them the freedom to take risks and explore new ideas as they continue their creative development.
A long-standing pillar of Serpentine’s artistic programme has been spotlighting emerging artists and those whose practices have been overlooked but deserve greater international recognition. Both are types of artists we hope to elevate through this new prize with FLAG.
CH: The prize requires the artist’s exhibition to be reimagined for the second institution, creating a “transatlantic dialogue.” How do you envision this process challenging and benefitting the artist, as opposed to a standard touring exhibition?
BK: Each recipient will present a solo exhibition that premieres at either Serpentine or The FLAG Art Foundation before being reimagined for the partner institution, fostering an ongoing artistic dialogue between the two. Every presentation will be accompanied by a dedicated catalogue and a dynamic live programme, developed and produced collaboratively. Together, these elements will provide the artist with robust support structures to develop new bodies of work and thoughtfully consider every aspect of their work.
CH: With such a substantial, career-transforming prize, the selection criteria and jury process are crucial. Can you outline the ethos that will guide the selection of artists? Are you looking for a particular kind of artistic practice or career stage?
BK: Artists selected for the prize will be of any generation or age, from all geographies, will have been exhibiting professionally for less than 10 years and will be actively working to grow and sustain a strong record of international museum and gallery exhibitions, including gallery representation, honours, awards, art critic reviews, grants and publications. The announcement will be made by waves and more will be shared in 2026.
CH: The announcement emphasizes collaborative production between Serpentine and FLAG. What does this practical collaboration look like behind the scenes, from curatorial work to public programming?
BK: Finding the right partners is crucial for Serpentine, and partnerships that evolve over time are invaluable. I have such respect for patrons like Glenn and Amanda who support long-term collaborations. They have been supporters of the Serpentine Americas Foundation since its inception in 2014. I’m looking forward to the curatorial partnership FLAG has announced with the Parrish Art Museum, too.
FLAG will be turning 20 in a couple years, and their curator-driven model for a city center private foundation has been both highly influential and difficult to match in quality and rigor. Their nimbleness as an institution that punches above their weight is another point of common ground with Serpentine, and we are excited to enter into this decade-long collaboration.
CH: The first artist will be selected in 2026. What are the immediate next steps in launching the prize and engaging the global artistic community?
BK: The announcement has been very well received, and it was great to announce it in Miami to coincide with Art Basel Miami Beach. We’re in the process of nominating the jury members and we’ll announce the first artist in 2026. It’s very exciting.
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