The Igor Zabel Award for Culture and Theory acknowledges exceptional achievements of curators, art historians, theorists, writers, and critics in the field of visual art and culture in Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. Named in honour of the distinguished Slovenian curator and art historian Igor Zabel (1958–2005), the award has been conferred biennially since 2008 in cooperation with the initiator of the award, ERSTE Foundation (Vienna), and the Igor Zabel Association for Culture and Theory (Ljubljana).

This year, the award programme takes its inspiration from Igor Zabel’s supportive, caring, and cooperative way of working in the field of art and culture. We live in an era of intensifying crises and catastrophes that damage human and non-human life and give rise to oppressive and violent politics and ideologies. In this context, the award programme celebrates practices that are life-affirming, build transversal collaborations, activate emancipatory legacies, and resist oppression and discrimination, cynicism and resignation.