After the grand opening of the new building, the Arken Museum in Copenhagen announced John Bock as the winner of the Arken Prize 2008.
Born in 1965, Bock – who was shortlisted for the 2006 Hugo Boss Prize – has exhibited all over the world. His work was presented at the 1999 Venice Biennale, directed by Harald Szeeman – who coined the term ‘confusionist’ for Bock and Jonathan Meese – and then in 2003 and 2005, where he gave a performance at Utopia Station and presented an installation at the Arsenale, part of the section curated by Rosa Martínez. Bock’s projects were also on view at Documenta 11, the Museum of Modern Art in New York, the Institute of Contemporary Art in London and the Centre Georges Pompidou in Paris. The Prize, which is John Bock’s first personal honorary award and consisting of 100,000 Danish kroner, is Denmark’s biggest art award. It is accompanied by two travel grants of 50,000 Danish kroner, donated by Annie & Otto Johs of Detlefs’ Philanthropic Foundation, which were awarded to artists Eva Koch and Morten Schelde. Bock, who studied art and economy in Hamburg, already has his work Rooting Around the Lumps, 2002-03, in the museum’s collection.