The winner of London Art Fair‘s De’Longhi Art Projects Artist Award has been announced as Belgian artist Joachim Coucke.
The prize, which offers an award of £2,500, is sponsored by the Italian coffee machine brand De’Longhi.
Coucke’s winning work, Fishing the Pool, focuses on the influence of the internet on our relationship with currency. ‘Lightcoins’ (similar to Bitcoin) are collected via an Ethernet cable, with the work demonstrating how trust is a necessary requirement for virtual money to have legitimate value.
The judging panel for the De’Longhi Art Projects Artist Award includes representatives from the areas of collecting, journalism, curating and education. This year’s panel includes: Dea Vanagan (chair, Macmillan De’Longhi Arts Programme); JJ Charlesworth (publisher, ArtReview), Adrian George (curator, Government Art Collection) and Rebecca Morrill (senior editor, Phaidon).
Coucke’s winning art work, Fishing the Pool, is currently on display with NEST in the Art Projects Dialogues section of the fair until Sunday 24 January. www.londonartfair.co.uk
