EMDASH Awards / Frieze Projects
— Frieze London 01 January 2011 — 31 December 2013

From 2011 to 2013 Wedel Art oversaw EMDASH’s sponsorship of Frieze Projects and the EMDASH Award. Frieze Projects is the curated section of Frieze London for which every year multiple artists are commissioned to make large-scale, non-commercial projects in the fair space. The EMDASH award was given to one artist each year who applied via open submission.  That artist received funds for a commission as part of Frieze Projects. The award was originally given to artists under the age of 35 living outside the UK, but has since expanded its remit to include emerging artists of all ages irrespective of nationality. 

2011 EMDASH Award winner Anahita Razmi, an Iranian/German artist, was selected from 579 applicants. Taking as its point of departure choreographer Trisha Brown’s 1971 work Roof Piece, Razmi’s video-art commission drew attention to how Tehran’s skyline was used by protesters after the Iranian presidential election in 2009. 

In 2012 Belgian-American artist Cécile B. Evans won the EMDASH Award out of a selection of 777 applications. With it she created an audio guide for the fair with a holographic ‘host’, also featuring a panel of non-art experts who described works throughout the fair in a subjective manner. 

In 2013 Finnish artist Pilvi Takala was selected from 556 applications. Takala gave a committee of children aged between 8-12 years old from the Eastside Youth Centre in Bow, London, the opportunity to decide on how to use the majority of the award production budget. The resulting art-work made was a dynamic bouncy castle that was then hired out for events.