The .ART Award Honors the Story Behind the Artwork

“The question that has always stayed with me is the one the market rarely asks: what happened in the studio before the work arrived? The sketches abandoned, the ideas reconsidered, the moment something became itself?”

That is Shlomi Rabi, founder of Bridgewell Arts and a former auction-house specialist, describing what he is now looking for in his new role on the jury of the .ART Award. The global art prize opened for applications this May to mark the 10th anniversary of the .ART domain.

The .ART Award’s format follows from his question. Every artist who applies builds a working archive in the process: their bio, their work, the story behind it, gathered in one place on a .ART domain. “We rarely get to see how an idea becomes a work of art,” says jury member Akanksha Ballaney, Senior Director of Business Development at Artsy and Artnet. “This award changes that by making the journey as important as the destination.”

Alongside Rabi and Ballaney, the 10-person international panel includes Pulitzer-winning art critic Jerry Saltz (New York Magazine), poet and digital artist Sasha Stiles (co-founder of theVERSEverse and the artist behind A Living Poem at MoMA), media arts curator Regina Harsanyi (Museum of the Moving Image), Dean Phelus (American Alliance of Museums, Museum Magazine), Gijs Stork (Château du Fresne), Laurent Moïsi (Whitewall Magazine), Leo Crane (AIFA Ventures), and Irina Tarsis (Center for Art Law).

Stiles, whose own practice spans poetry, code, and large language models, frames her interest plainly: “I’m fascinated by the inner workings of the artist’s studio, the layers of inspiration and influence and craft, the process behind an artwork.”

Light blue, antique interior with yellow accents and midcentury modern furniture. — A salon at Château du Fresne, the .ART Award 2026 residency near Paris, France.

Person sitting on the floor drawing on a piece of paper on a wooden lounge chair close to a pool's edge. — Artist Claudia Pons Bohman at Anfitrion, the .ART Award 2026 residency in Marbella, Spain.

The total prize value for the .ART Award exceeds $50,000, including a $15,000 Grand Prize, residencies at Château du Fresne in France and Anfitrion in Spain, an editorial feature in Whitewall Magazine, and a premium .ART domain valued at $10,000.

Applications for the .ART Award close on November 1, 2026, with winners to be announced on December 3 during Art Basel Miami. It is free to enter and open to artists worldwide working in any discipline.

Apply now at award.art.

Dark, text-based graphic with a black background and blue glow around copy that reads "Are you ready for the future?" — Sasha Stiles, “Are you ready for the future?” (2020). Image courtesy of the artist

Photograph of a feminine person standing to the left of the frame looking at a projected, text-based artwork that glows pink. — Sasha Stiles, “A Blank Garden,” presented at NFT Paris in 2025. Image courtesy of the artist

Do stories and artists like this matter to you? Become a Colossal Member today and support independent arts publishing for as little as $7 per month. The article The .ART Award Honors the Story Behind the Artwork appeared first on Colossal.