The annual independent Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Award was first introduced in 2009 by the Sergey Kuryokhin Contemporary Art Center in association with Sergey Kuryokhin Foundation.

The Sergey Kuryokhin Award has become one of the most significant cultural events both in St. Petersburg and the rest of Russia, characterizing the global trends in the world contemporary art. The award is given to painters, curators, writers, journalists and musicians, in whose work the innovative ideals of Sergey Kuryokhin are given in new perspective.
The founding principles of the Sergey Kuryokhin Award are the search for new ways of interaction between various art forms, the provoking nature of art, its focus on performance, improvisation and the unpredictability of the artistic result.

The award revolves around the unique synthesis of different forms of art in Sergey Kuryokhin's works and its further development. Such nominations as Pop-Mechanica Grand-Prix, Best Media Object, Public Art, clearly reflect the basic idea behind the awards. The Award not only provides the necessary funding and artist promotion, but is also an attempt to introduce the most successful projects to a wider audience, which would otherwise remain overlooked by more conservative schools of culture.


The Award ceremony takes place as a part of the Art Mechanics Festival, supported by St. Petersburg Committee of Culture.