The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation has honored Anda Rottenberg, esteemed art historian, critic, exhibition curator and popularizer of contemporary art, with the Aleksander Gieysztor Award. Anda Rottenberg is the first woman to receive this prestigious prize.
The winner of the 14th Aleksander Gieysztor Award was honored for her outstanding achievements in research, exhibition and community activities as well as in organizing cultural initiatives relating to Polish and world art from the final decades of the 20th century and the beginning of the 21st century. In addition, the Award Committee chaired by Prof. Andrzej Rottemund expressed its appreciation for Anda Rottenberg's efforts to popularize Polish contemporary art and, especially, to bring to light its entire artistic and intellectual complexity and links with Polish and European cultural heritage. This is best reflected in the exhibitions organized by her, in which works of art are connected to exhibition space in innovative ways. Moreover, the Committee, in awarding the Aleksander Gieysztor Award, emphasized the winner's efforts to promote Polish artists, especially young artists starting their careers.
"The Aleksander Gieysztor Award is undoubtedly one of the most prestigious prizes in the field of cultural heritage protection in Poland. It owes its high reputation primarily to the prizewinners themselves. The award is part of Citi Handlowy's activities in the area of cultural heritage, carried out through The Citi Handlowy Leopold Kronenberg Foundation for the past 17 years," says Sławomir Sikora, president of Citi Handlowy Bank.
Anda Rottenberg is an art historian, critic, and exhibition curator. In her work, she has combined research with teaching. Her research has focused on contemporary Polish art and resulted in large publications printed in Poland and abroad in around a dozen languages. Currently, she teaches at the Department of Media and Scenography at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.
This year's winner of the Aleksander Gieysztor Award has also been the curator of many Polish and international exhibitions in Warsaw, Kraków, Vilnius, Tallinn, Bucharest, Belgrade, Moscow and Berlin. She has also served as the curator of the Polish section of the international Art Biennale in Venice, Istanbul and Sao Paulo and of the Central and Eastern European section of the Biennale in Kwangju, South Korea, and the organizer of a Polish cultural festival in Brazil and numerous international congresses.
The award ceremony took place on February 13 in the Great Assembly Hall of the Royal Castle in Warsaw. This prestigious prize was presented to the winner by Sławomir Sikora, president of Citi Handlowy.
