Köler Prize 2026 nominees from left to right: Anna Mari Liivrand, Taavi Suisalu, Keiu Maasik, Hanna Samoson and Darja Popolitova.
The Contemporary Art Museum of Estonia (EKKM) will celebrate its 20th season in 2026 by opening the anniversary year with the Köler Prize award exhibition. Five Estonian artists will create new works for the exhibition, based on which an international jury will select the grand prize winner, and visitors will decide the recipient of the audience award. The exhibition of the nominees will be accompanied by portrait films of the artists, a catalogue and a grand awards gala.
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. Visitors can also contribute to the audience award fund.
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 five artists nominated by EKKM for the 2026 Köler Prize exhibition are:
Anna Mari Liivrand, Darja Popolitova, Hanna Samoson, Keiu Maasik and Taavi Suisalu.
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.
The 2026 award jury consists of international art professionals, and the winners of the previous Köler Prize main award in 2018, Tanja Muravskaja and Anna Škodenko.
The first exhibition of EKKM’s 20th anniversary season opens on 10 April and will remain open until 5 July 2026. The Köler Prize award gala will take place on 12 June 2026.