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India awarded by illycaffè at Arco 2009
The illy SustainArt Prize ceremony
Friday 13th  February – 12h00
Foro Break room – Pavillon 6

Madrid, February 2009 - illycaffè, in collaboration with Arco,  the COntemporary ARt Fair of Madrid, presents the second edition of the illy SustainArt Prize. Being India the fair’s guest nation for this 2009 edition, the award is dedicated to young Indian artists under the age of 35.

8 Indian artists, represented by 6 different galleries, are participating to the prize:
Gallery Ske: Avinash Veeraraghavan; Gallery Mirchandani Steinruecke: Abir Karmakar; Aicon Gallery: Debanjan Roy; Justin Ponmany; Chemould Prescott Road: Jitish Kallat; Vadehra Art Gallery: Pors & Rao, Tejal Shah; Sakshi Gallery: Valay Shende.

The winner, selected by an international jury composed of two independent curators - experts in Indian art - Bose Krishnamachari and María Inés Rodríguez, and Carlo Bach, art director of illycaffè, will receive a prize of 15,000 Euros and the chance of presenting a project for the production of a series of art coffee cups for the illy Art Collection, which the company has been promoting for more than 15 years, with the involvement of leading and emerging talents at international level.

The awards ceremony will take place on Friday 13th February at 12h00 in the Foro Break, Pavillon 6, at Arco. Lourdes Fernández, director of ARCO will also be present.

Moreover, ARCO will be the perfect occasion to get young artists and curators in touch with the new illycaffè project, the illy sustainArt Observatory - www.illysustainArt.org - dedicated to artists, curators, and art critics living and working in emerging countries. Within this platform, artists may submit their works to critics and curators members of the network, curators and critics have the possibility to create online exhibition as well as publish reviews. Both artists’ works and online exhibitions will be “visited” and evaluated by a team of 6 exponents of the contemporary art world: Meskerem Assegued – art critic and curator; Carlo Bach – illycaffè art director; Suman Gopinath – independent art critic and curator; Mariangela Mendez Prencke – art critic and curator; Michelangelo Pistoletto – one of the major artists in the international artistic scenario; Angela Vettese – art critic, teacher at the IUAV and chairman of the Fondazione Bevilacqua La Masa.

Based in Trieste, Italy, illycaffé produces and markets a unique blend of espresso coffee under a single brand leader in quality. Over 6 million cups of illy espresso coffee are enjoyed every day. illy is sold in over 140 countries around the world and is available in more than 50,000 of the best restaurants and coffee bars. espressamente illy, the chain of franchised Italian-style coffee bars is now present in over 30 countries and comprises 210 outlets. With the aim of spreading the coffee culture, illy has founded the University of coffee, the centre of excellence offering theoretical and practical training on every aspect of coffee for coffee growers, coffee shops staff and enthusiasts. On a global level illycaffè employs around 700 people and has a consolidated turnover of €270 million. (2007 results).

For further information:
Anna Adriani /Christine Pascolo, illycaffè Trieste - Tel +39 040 3890111
Giorgia Meretti/ Alberto Bottalico/Susanna Picucci - Cohn & Wolfe Milano - Tel +39 02 20239375 - 366 - 386
Barbara Martinez, illycaffè España – Tel +34 93 303 4050, barbara.martinez@illy.es
Julián García Calvo, Jefa de Prensa ARCO – Tel +34 917225717, julian@ifema.es