Canadian Art’s newly appointed editor-in-chief David Balzer.
Canadian Art’s deputy editor David Balzer has taken first place this year at the International Awards for Art Criticism (IAAC) for his review “Douglas Coupland Doesn’t Care About You,” published on Canadian Art’s website in March.
The awards, now in their second year, are adjudicated by an international jury and organised by the Shanghai 21st Century Minsheng Art Museum in partnership with the Royal College of Art, London. They “seek to stimulate good writing, critical thinking, dialogue and research in China, the UK and wider afield.”
Henry Meyric Hughes, honorary president of the International Association of Art Critics and co-founder of Manifesta, said that, “All the members of the Jury, which I chaired, were greatly impressed with the quality and readability of [Balzer’s] text and voted unanimously in favour of it.”
The 2015 jury consisted of Marek Bartelik, president of the International Association of Art Critics; Juan Cruz, Dean of the School of Fine Art at the Royal College of Art, London; Dietet von Graffenried, publisher of PARKETT Magazine; Pi Li, curator of M+HongKong; and Yongwoo Lee, president of the International Biennial Association.
The first prize consists of a cash award of 6,000 euros and a short-term residency in Shanghai.
Beyond Canadian Art, Balzer’s writing has appeared in the Guardian, the Believer, Modern Painters, Artforum.com, MOMUS and the Globe and Mail, and he has written two books: Contrivances, a short-fiction collection, and Curationism: How Curating Took Over the Art World and Everything Else.
