Absolut Rirkrit Tiravanija - the Thai art gourmet wins the Absolut Art Award 2010

This year's ABSOLUT ART AWARD goes to the artist Rirkrit Tiravanija from Thailand. The award, which was awarded for the first time in 2009, comes with 15,000 EUR prize money for artists who do not limit themselves to one artistic discipline, but break down conventional understandings of art with their creative power. Head of the jury and chief curator of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, Christine Macel presented the award in November in Stockholm.

Rirkrit Tiravanija's works are distinguished by their hospitality. To him, art consists of communication and exchange. He creates a new home at his exhibition spaces, sometimes through collaborative cooking sessions. In these private gatherings, he engages in lasting conversations about the social relevance of art. His cooking brings cultures together. It is not only about the communal aspect of a meal, but also about the recipes and their cultural identity, blurring the lines between West and East.

He planned a cook out performance in honour of Daniel Birnbaums' first week as newly appointed director of the Moderna Museet, one day after the award ceremony. Whether he served his meals with a little shot of the popular potato brandy is another story . . .

Rirkrit's invitation for the audience to actively participate in his oeuvre becomes even more evident in regards to Tilted Teahouse, a walk-in and usable sculpture.

Rirkrit Tiravanija was born in 1961 in Buenos Aires and is considered one of the most illustrious artists of his generation, because he does not reduce himself to one singular form of expression and communicates through objects, performances, master classes and social events. “It is not the visible that is important, but the tangible, what happens between people”, says the artist.

Apart from the head of the jury, Christine Macel, the committee consists of Keren Cytter, winner of the Absolut Art Award 2009, filmmaker and curator Thomas Nordanstad and Anna Malmhake, Vice President Global Marketing of Absolut. Next year, Tiravanija will become a member of the panel too.

For over 30 years, ABSOLUT VODKA has been collaborating with artists. The Absolut Art Collection encompasses more than 800 works by artists, including Andy Warhol, Keith Haring, Damien Hirst, Jean-Michael Basquiat, Louise Bourgeois or Sylvie Fleury. The collection is owned by the Historical Wine & Spirit Museum, which will open in 2012.