Prix Pictet: photography and sustainability
The Prix Pictet, the international prize for photography and sustainability, presents Michael Schmidt's photographs, the winner of this year's award.
The Prix Pictet, the international prize for photography and sustainability, presents the photographs taken by Michael Schmidt, the winner of this year’s award, and a selection of other shortlisted works in the “Consumption” exhibition, which is open to the public from 29 May to 24 August in Room 1 in the Palau Robert.
The Prix Pictet is a prestigious world prize for photographs on the subject of sustainability. The purpose of the prize is to use the power and suggestiveness of photography to convey global messages on preserving the environment.
The photographers whose work will be displayed in the Palau Robert are the prize winner Michael Schmidt, Adam Bartos, Motoyuki Daifu, Rineke Dijkstra, Hong Hao, Mishka Henner, Juan Fernando Herrán, Boris Mikhailov, Abraham Oghobase, Allan Sekula and Laurie Simmons.
The prize was set up in 2008 by the Pictet Group, one of the leading independent asset management banking institutions in Europe. The group, founded in 1805, is based in Switzerland, with headquarters in Geneva and offices in the leading financial centres around the world, including Barcelona and Madrid.
The photographers nominated for the prize are chosen by a group of 275 visual arts experts from around the entire world. The shortlisted series of photographs are subsequently evaluated by an independent jury, which selects the final winner. In addition to the prize, the Prix Pictet also awards a commission, which consists of financing for a photographic report on a sustainability project.
The name of this year’s winner was announced on 21 May at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. The prize, worth 80,000 euros, was presented by the Honorary President of the Prix Pictet, Kofi Annan.
The selected photographs will be shown in a number of exhibitions around the world during the 18 months following the award of the prize. The organisers are also publishing the book Consumption, which includes the works of all the shortlisted photographers and those of some of the nominees.