Deadline: 7 December 2026. The BBA Artist Prize 2027, run by BBA Gallery in Berlin, is open worldwide to anyone 18 or over, in all fine-art mediums. Participation fee: 49€.
What is on offer
| Place | Cash | Also |
|---|---|---|
| 1st | 1,000€ | Artsy profile, solo exhibition at BBA Gallery, promotion |
| 2nd | 700€ | Artsy profile, promotion |
| 3rd | 500€ | Artsy profile, promotion |
| Audience award | 300€ | Artsy profile, promotion |
A jury of industry professionals decides, with named members including Elizabeth Kang, founding director of Kang Contemporary in Berlin, and media entrepreneur Christian Bracht. There is also a group exhibition in Berlin for selected artists.
The arithmetic
The total cash pool is 2,500€. At 49€ per entry, 51 applicants cover it in full.
That is not an accusation. It is the structure of nearly every paid open call, and running a jury, a gallery show, an opening and promotion costs real money that has to come from somewhere. But it tells you what you are buying, and it is not a lottery ticket with favourable odds.
What 49€ actually purchases is a jury read by named Berlin gallery professionals, and a shot at a solo show in a commercial gallery. For an artist with no European gallery relationships, a solo exhibition at a Berlin gallery is worth considerably more than 1,000€, and that — not the cash — is the prize that matters. The gallery says so itself, framing the prize as “the first step in a lasting relationship” and noting that past prize artists go on to participate in group shows and represent the gallery internationally.
For an artist who already shows in Europe, the calculation is different and probably negative.
What they ask for
After paying the fee, the submission form wants:
- Name, country, contact information
- An artist statement, 300 words maximum
- CV and exhibitions list
- Artwork information: title, medium, size, year of creation
- Up to 5 images, 3 MB each
Applicants get access to their portal and can refine the entry until the final deadline, which is a genuinely useful detail — pay early to secure the slot, keep editing until December.
The free comparison
Worth holding both in view. The Sound of Future, the sound-art call we covered earlier this month, is free with no age limit and closes 1 November. Paid and free calls are not competing for the same decision: a free call costs you only the work of applying, while a paid call is a small investment in being seen by specific people in a specific city.
The test we would apply: can you name what you want from this call other than winning it? If the answer is “a relationship with a Berlin gallery” or “a jury read by Elizabeth Kang,” 49€ is a defensible spend. If the answer is only the prize money, the arithmetic above is the whole story.
Also newly open
Two more dates from this week’s sweep, both now on the homepage events board:
- Kunstraum NYC artists-in-residence 2027 — rolling applications, with 31 December 2026 the deadline for the July and October 2027 terms. Three-month residencies in New York City, artist-led. An application fee applies.
- The BBA call above also runs a separate One Shot Award, listed as open on the same site.
Sources
- BBA Artist Prize 2027 — BBA Prizes
- BBA Prizes — all open calls
- call: The BBA Artist Prize 2027 — netEX, The New Museum of Networked Art
- call: Kunstraum NYC – artists in residence 2027 — netEX
- BBA Artist Prize terms and conditions