Köler Prize 2026

The jubilee season will be launched with the return of the Köler Prize! The exhibition of the works of the nominees will feature five Estonian artists who will each create a new work, based on which an international jury will select the winner of the main prize and the visitors will decide the recipient of the Audience Award. The Köler Prize exhibition will be accompanied by a catalogue, a film and a spectacular awards gala. The Köler Prize exhibition opens on April 10 at 19 and will remain open until July 5, 2026.

The five artists nominated by EKKM for the Köler Prize 2026 are: Anna Mari Liivrand, Darja Popolitova, Hanna Samoson, Keiu Maasik and Taavi Suisalu.

In 2026, the main award of 15,000 euros will be sponsored by the indie video game developer and publisher ZA/UM Studio and its fashion division ZA/UM Atelier. An Audience Award of 5,000 euros will be sponsored by the law firm COBALT.

The Köler Prize was founded in 2011 by EKKM to popularise contemporary art, as well as to give prominence to and recognise local artists. The seventh and most recent Köler Prize exhibition took place in 2018, after which the award has been on hold due to difficult circumstances. However, culture, together with art and artists, still needs attention and support in today’s fragile world, maybe even more so. The Köler Prize can support artists thanks to private supporters who consider it important to fund culture even in difficult times.

By supporting the Köler Prize, ZA/UM Atelier helps return resources to the scene that shaped it. The partnership affirms a shared belief that experimental practice deserves a public stage – backing artists who push form and meaning across both digital and physical mediums, and strengthening the cultural ecosystem that EKKM champions.

ZA/UM is a video games studio founded in Estonia in 2015 and now operating in the United Kingdom and throughout Europe. Their best-known game is award-winning Disco Elysium, released in 2019.

The law firm COBALT is one of the leading law firms in the Baltic States with 35 years of international experience and a long-standing supporter of the arts. Visitors can also contribute to the Audience Award fund; contributors will be entered into a raffle to win theatre tickets to performances by Von Krahl and Expedition, as well as special prizes from ZA/UM and COBALT.

The jury for the 2026 award includes Greek curator and art historian Panos Giannikopoulos; Monika Lipšic, curator of the Rupert Residency and Public Programme; curator and artistic director of PUBLICS Paul O’Neill; and the previous Köler Prize (2018) main prize winners, Tanja Muravskaja and Anna Škodenko.

The large-scale exhibition is accompanied by a catalogue compiled by art historian and critic Andreas Trossek and designed by EKKM’s 2026 graphic designer Rasmus Einman.

Also returning is the film introducing the nominees’ work, Screen Tests for the Köler Prize 2026, directed by Piibe Kolka and produced by Brigit Arop. The film premieres on April 24 at 20 at Cinema Sõprus. Previous Köler Prize films can be watched on EKKM’s Youtube channel.

A grand awards gala will take place on June 12, where the recipient of the Köler Prize main prize and the Audience Award will be announced. The gala is staged by artists Katariin Mudist and Keithy Kuuspu.

Nominees from left to right: Anna Mari Liivrand, Taavi SUisalu, Keiu Maasik, Hanna Samoson, Darja Popolitova

Köler Prize 2026 public programme: