The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize is a juried prize that supports artists whose practices address critical intersections in art, architecture, design, climate, conservation, sustainability, and environmental justice.
Funded by philanthropists Eric and Wendy Schmidt, the prize is awarded by MOCA every two years from 2024 until 2030. The Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize awards a $100,000 unrestricted honorarium and institutional support to complete a new project presented by MOCA. The winners also engage and collaborate with communities in Los Angeles and beyond.
Inaugural Winners
On October 30, 2024, MOCA announced that the inaugural Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize was awarded to Julian Charrière (b. 1987 in Morges, Switzerland; lives and works in Berlin, Germany) and Cecilia Vicuña (b. 1948 in Santiago, Chile; lives and works in New York, NY and Santiago, Chile).
Originally intended to be awarded to one artist, after intense deliberations, the jury selected both Charrière and Vicuña for their unique yet complementary approaches to addressing environmental issues through art. Charrière and Vicuña will each receive the full honorarium and present their commissioned works at MOCA in 2026, marking a significant milestone in MOCA’s commitment to environmental conversations through contemporary art.
Selection Process
Following nominations by a committee of 15 to 20 representatives from diverse fields, a five-person jury selected the winners of the Eric and Wendy Schmidt Environment and Art Prize. Inaugural jury members for 2024 are: Johanna Burton, Maurice Marciano Director of MOCA; Maria Seferian, President, Hillspire; Dan Hammer, Managing Partner at Ode, Co-founder at Clay, and Advisor to the MOCA Environmental Council; John Kenneth Paranada, Curator of Art and Climate Change, Sainsbury Center; and Carson Chan, Director of the Emilio Ambasz Institute for the Joint Study of the Built and the Natural Environment, MoMA. MOCA’s Environmental Council–the first such body convened by a major U.S. art museum–advises MOCA in the administration and execution of the prize.
Presentation
Charrière has gained international acclaim for his interdisciplinary practice that spans film, photography, and sculpture. His work often stems from field research in remote locations such as glaciers, volcanoes, and radioactive sites, where he explores humanity’s evolving relationship with nature. His forthcoming MOCA project will delve deeper into the fragility and resilience of planetary water systems, creating an immersive installation that bridges art and science. The project will engage the public through interactive elements, inviting audiences to reflect on the urgent realities of climate change and environmental degradation while meditating on nature’s powerful, raw beauty.
Vicuña, whose work spans six decades, is known for her large-scale installations, performances, and poetry. Her work readapts ancient Indigenous Andean systems of knowledge, such as the quipu, a pre-Columbian form of communication using knotted cords, to activate the contemporary collective consciousness. Her MOCA commission will take the form of a “Quipu of Encounters,” the latest in a series of collective actions that she has created with communities around the world since the 1960s. Centering on the prompt “to dream the return of water,” it will facilitate the exchange of ideas, poetry, and political strategy between communities fighting for the sacred public rights of water and communities in Chile and those in the broader Los Angeles region.
