Firtash Foundation and the Saatchi Gallery Announce the Launch of UK/raine the first Open Competition Worth GB£75,000 for Emerging Artists From the UK and Ukraine

Premonition was the largest survey to date of contemporary Ukrainian art in the UK and showcased over 80 works by 38 artists. The show attracted 137,438 visitors (5,494 per day), making it the only UK exhibition in the world's top 20 most attended shows in 2014, and the seventh most popular contemporary art exhibition worldwide according to The Art Newspaper's annual survey of international museum attendance. Premonition also formed part of the annual Days of Ukraine in the UK festival and the Firtash Foundation's ongoing support and promotion of Ukrainian arts and culture.

UK/raine launches the first ever open competition for all emerging artists from the UK and Ukraine who are aged 18-35 years old. The aim of the competition is to find and support the most imaginative and talented young artists, including students on BA and MA courses who are living and working in the UK or Ukraine or born in either country.  

Artists will be able to enter their work via the Saatchi Gallery's website into one of five categories: installation, new media (including video and photography), painting, sculpture and street art.  

A shortlist of 30 artists (six from each category) will be given the opportunity to exhibit their work over one entire floor at the Saatchi Gallery for a month-long exhibition running from 24^thNovember 2015 - 3^rdJanuary 2016. A winner from each of the categories, as well as an overall winner will be selected by a panel of renowned international judges including: Johnson Chang - curator, Guest Professor of China Academy of Art (Hangzhou, China) and founder of Hanart TZ Gallery (Hong Kong), Nigel Hurst - Saatchi Gallery CEO, Prof. Dr. Apinan Poshyananda, Permanent Secretary, Ministry of Culture, Thailand and Oleksandr Soloviov - Ukrainian author and curator. There will also be a winner of a separate public vote. All winners will be announced at the exhibition's launch and VIP private view in London on 23^rdNovember 2015.

Each of the category winners will receive GB£10,000 with the overall winner of the prize receiving a further GB£20,000. The winner of the public vote will receive GB£5,000 of production costs towards their work, project or exhibition in order to support their future artistic endeavours.  

Further information on how to enter can be found by visiting: http://www.saatchigallery.com/uk/raine

Notes to Editors  

Criteria for Entries  

UK/raine is open to artists between the ages of 18 and 35 who are living and working or currently enrolled on a BA or MA course in the UK or Ukraine, or born in either country.

All entries can be submitted via the dedicated URL http://www.saatchigallery.com/uk/raine

Entrants will be able to make their submissions into one of five categories: installation, new media (including video and photography), painting, sculpture and street art.  

Contestants will be required to upload a minimum of three and a maximum of eight images of artworks (maximum file size 5MB, 300px each) or videos via YouTube or Vimeo, along with a CV and short artist's statement (no more than 200 words) in Microsoft Word or PDF Formats.

Submissions will be accepted from 10.00am BST on 10^thSeptember 2015 until 11.59pm BST on 20^thOctober 2015

For a full list of Terms and Conditions please visit: http://www.saatchigallery.com/uk/raine

About the Firtash Foundation  

The Firtash Foundation is a private, international charitable fund focussed on supporting and promoting Ukrainian art, literature and culture abroad. Established in 2008 by Lada and Dmitry Firtash, the Foundation supports a number of initiatives dedicated to supporting Ukraine's youth by providing long-term and systematic support to education and cultural initiatives in Ukraine and around the world.  

http://firtashfoundation.com/en/

About the Saatchi Gallery  

The Saatchi Gallery was founded in 1985 to provide an innovative platform to bring contemporary art to as wide an audience as possible and make it accessible. Over the last five years the Saatchi Gallery has hosted 17 out of the top 20 most visited exhibitions in London, according to The Art Newspaper's annual survey of international museum attendance, and is also ranked amongst the world's top five most liked museums on Facebook and Twitter by Museum Analytics. Entry to all the Saatchi Gallery's exhibitions is free.

http://www.saatchigallery.com

About Days of Ukraine in the UK  

Days of Ukraine in the UK is the biggest festival dedicated to Ukrainian culture and was first organised in

2013. It has since become a major platform to showcase Ukraine's rich heritage, traditions, culture and tremendous potential. This annual initiative aims to bring Ukraine closer to Britain and is organised and funded by Firtash Foundation.  

http://ukraine-days.co.uk/en/