Judges

Honorary Chair: Sir Peter Blake, UK

Artist

Sir Peter Blake is one of the most influential and original artists working in the UK. He graduated from the Royal College of Art, London in 1956, having previously studied at Gravesend School of Art.  After graduation, having completed his national service, he travelled the world, drawing inspiration from every imaginable angle.

Sir Peter takes clear and constant inspiration from popular culture in many of his eclectic collages and silkscreen prints with images of Marilyn Monroe, for example, combined with those of the Mona Lisa.  He is rarely credited with the creation of pop art, but in fact he created his ‘Captain Webb Matchbox’ before Warhol’s soup tin paintings used consumer products as art.  His work on the album sleeve of The Beatles’ ‘Sgt Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band’, brought him to public attention.

Peter Blake was awarded the CBE in 1983 and received his knighthood in 2002.

In 2007 he had a major retrospective at Tate Liverpool which traveled to the Museum of Modern Art. Bilbao.

Tim Marlow

Director of Exhibitions, White Cube, London

Tim Marlow has been director of exhibitions at White Cube since 2003. He is also an award-winning radio and television broadcaster. He was the founder and editor of Tate magazine and is the author of numerous books and catalogues. He has lectured on art and culture in more than thirty countries.

Philly Adams

Director of the Saatchi Gallery

Philly Adams is the Director of the Saatchi Gallery, and works directly with the Saatchi collection, liaising with artists and galleries on new acquisitions and commissions.  Since 1998 she has worked on major exhibitions and accompanying publications drawn from the collection including exhibits in Berlin, New York and St Petersburg. 

Previously managing an independent London gallery P-inc and later with the Crane Kalman Gallery she moved in 1998 to specialise in contemporary art with the Saatchi Gallery.  As an independent curator and advisor her most recent project a commemorative show "IN PIECES " brought together some of London’s most cutting edge and well established artists.

Robert Punkenhofer

Director, Art & Idea and Vienna Art Week

Robert Punkenhofer founded ART&IDEA, a non-profit organization for contemporary art in 1995. In parallel to his work at ART&IDEA, Punkenhofer has also served as chief executive officer of the Austrian Design Foundation (2002-2004) and artistic director of Vienna Art Week (from 2005) and Flow, Festival of Conversation for Culture and Science, as well as Director of the Austrian World Fair Office in charge of Austria’s EXPO projects in Aichi, Japan 2005 and Zaragoza, Spain 2008. Since 2005, he is also in charge of the Creative Industries Office of Austrian Trade at the Federal Economic Chamber. To date he has been involved in over 80 exhibitions, publications and special projects with 300 artists worldwide. Punkenhofer curated Island in the Mur, the main attraction of Graz 2003 – Cultural Capital of Europe, in cooperation with Vito Acconci. Most recently he curated the exhibition a way beyond fashion at Apex Art in New York.

Joseph Backstein

Director Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art

Joseph Backstein is the commissioner for the 2007 and 2009 Moscow Biennale of Contemporary Art, as well as the co-ordinating curator for the inaugural one in 2005. Since 2005 Backstein has been the Artistic Director for the State Centre for Museums and Exhibitions “Rosizo”, and since 1991 he has been the Director of The Institute of Contemporary Art, Moscow and the Head of the Contemporary Culture Department at The Russia Academy of Sciences.

Backstein has worked as curator on a multitude of international exhibitions, throughout Europe, Japan and the USA, including recently the Norman Foster exhibition at the Pushkin museum, the 2002 Video-Zone (Video Art Biennial) in Tel-Aviv, and the Russian Pavillion at the 1999 Venice Biennale. He lives and works in Moscow.

Gavin Turk

Artist

Gavin Turk is an artist who came to prominence as one of Britain's infamous "Young British Artists" and was included in the influential Sensation exhibition in 1997. Beginning his career paradoxically with his own demise and posthumous recognition set the tone for his subsequent work, which dealt with the cult of personality and the construction of artistic myth. Turk's work has been included in several seminal exhibitions including the 46th International Istanbul Biennial, Istanbul in 1999 and Material Culture, Hayward Gallery, London in 1998. Last year he has had solo shows at Paul Stolper, London; Sean Kelly, NY and at Venice Biennale, and also included in Pop Life, Tate Modern, London. In the 90’s he set up Live Stock Market and the Articultural Show. Recently he has created The House of Fairy Tales, a child-centered artist led project. He currently lives and works in London.

Nasser Azam

Artist

Nasser Azam is a leading contemporary artist who lives and works in London. Alongside major public sculptural commissions, such as The Dance (2007), permanently located on London's South Bank, and a series of exhibitions as artist in residence at the County Hall Gallery, Azam has pioneered 'performance painting', an approach to making work that relies on extreme conditions. During summer 2009 Azam broke new ground when he became the first artist to complete a series of paintings in zero gravity conditions. In 2010 he will travel to Antarctica to make a cycle of works inspired by the environment. Azam is also widely recognized for his support of the arts, and as a collector of contemporary art.