A Field Well-Found – Artistic Practices from the Marcel Duchamp Prize’s 25 Years

The Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art offers a glimpse into the recent past of the contemporary French art scene through the lens of the winners and nominees of the prestigious Marcel Duchamp Prize, celebrating its 25th anniversary in 2025.

The Centre Pompidou in Paris, a prominent French contemporary art institution, has been a partner of the privately launched prize since its inception, which plays a major role in promoting contemporary art in France and in fostering the international careers of the artists nominated. Over the years, the national art prize founded by ADIAF has grown into a highly regarded and recognised initiative in the international professional discourse. The jury selects artists who were born in France or live in France and who consider the French scene a place of artistic fulfilment. Recent years have only reinforced the idea behind the concept of the prize, which aims to provide a comprehensive snapshot of the French scene, reflecting its social and cultural diversity, by selecting the most innovative artists. 

The selection presented by the Ludwig Museum includes eighteen artists, the majority of whom are prominent figures on the international art scene. The title of the exhibition, A Field Well-Found, refers to the Duchampian phenomenon of the ‘found object’ (ready-made), paying homage to the artist who lent his name to the prize. On the other hand, it refers to the creative process of the exhibiting artists and the theoretical and practical research fields used in their work. Within the exhibition, the reparative process and the approaches to the present and the future that it implies also play an important role.

The Budapest exhibition presents works using different media, drawing a kind of temporal line between the early years of the Marcel Duchamp Prize and the present. While some works were included in the exhibition associated with the Prize when the artist was nominated, others are iconic within the oeuvre, and the show also includes some seminal works from the recent French scene (Tatiana Trouvé, Mohamed Bourouissa). Several artists have represented France or another country at the Venice Biennale (Anri Sala, Céleste Boursier-Mougenot, Julien Creuzet, Kapwani Kiwanga, Latifa Echakhch, Zineb Sedira), but there will also be works originally shown at the Biennale (Camille Henrot). In addition to several renowned French contemporary galleries, there will be works from institutions such as MAC VAL and Lafayette Anticipations.

The exhibition marks the 25th anniversary of the founding of the prize, while the museum also offers one of the most comprehensive selections of French contemporary art in Hungary in recent times. In this way, its spaces become a true found field for these French practices, whose questions are relevant in many aspects within the Hungarian context.

Curators: Jan ELANTKOWSKI, KÁLMÁN Borbála 

Exhibiting Artists
Kader ATTIA / Maja BAJEVIC / Bertille BAK / Mohamed BOUROUISSA / Céleste BOURSIER-MOUGENOT / Mircea CANTOR / Julian CHARRIÈRE / Julien CREUZET / Latifa ECHAKHCH / Cyprien GAILLARD / Noémie GOUDAL / Camille HENROT / Thomas HIRSCHHORN / Bouchra KHALILI / Kapwani KIWANGA / Anri SALA / Zineb SEDIRA / Tatiana TROUVÉ 

The exhibition is presented by Müpa Budapest and Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art in the framework of the Bartók Spring International Art Weeks. 
The exhibition is organised in partnership with the Institut français en Hongrie (French Institute in Hungary) and the ADIAF – Association for the International Diffusion of French Art and with the generous support of the IF Incontournable and PICC programs from the Institut français (French Institute).