For its first edition, the jury of the Prix Arts Numériques selected digital artist Jonas Lund for his work MVP (Most Valuable Painting).
The winner was announced on Wednesday 22 October during an evening presentation under the dome of the Palais de l'Institut de France.
He receives a prize of €20,000 in recognition of his career and his digital work. The work will be exhibited in France or Switzerland in 2026.
Jonas Lund © DR
Jonas Lund (1984, Sweden) creates paintings, sculpture, photography, websites and performances that critically reflect on contemporary networked systems and power structures. His artistic practice involves creating systems and setting up parameters that oftentimes require engagement from the viewer. This results in performative artworks where tasks are executed according to algorithms or a set of rules. Through his works, Lund investigates the latest issues generated by the increasing digitalisation of contemporary society like authorship, participation and distribution of agency. At the same time, he questions the mechanisms of the art world; he challenges the production process, authoritative power and art market practices.
Lund earned an MA at Piet Zwart Institute, Rotterdam (2013) and a BFA at Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam (2009). He has had solo exhibitions at Francisco Carolinum, Linz (2022), The Photographers’ Gallery, London (2019), König Galerie, Berlin (2021), Whitechapel Art Gallery, London (2016), Steve Turner, Los Angeles (2016, 2015, 2014), Showroom MAMA, Rotterdam (2013), New Museum, New York (2012) among others and has had work included in numerous group exhibitions including Centre Pompidou, Paris, Schinkel Pavillon, Berlin, ZKM, Karlsruhe, Vienna Biennale 2019, Witte De With, Rotterdam, Kindl – Centre for Contemporary Art, Berlin, and the Stedelijk Museum, Amsterdam. His work has been written about in Artforum, Frieze, Kunstforum, The New Yorker, The Guardian, Metropolis M, Artslant, Rhizome, Huffington Post, Furtherfield, Wired and more.
Jonas Lund © DR
MVP (Most Valuable Painting) is a participatory algorithmic art project that critically examines how value is determined in the art world by creating a system where viewer engagement directly influences aesthetic outcomes. Composed of 512 individual, evolving digital paintings, the work sits at the intersection of pictorial tradition and computational art, transforming the typically static nature of painting into a dynamic process.
"For this first edition of the Prize, it was important to reward a work that invites reflection on the very nature of digital art and the processes underlying its creation. Beyond its formal effectiveness and its connection to abstract painting, the jury was captivated by the intelligence of Jonas Lund's work and its production, whose concept is similar to a public commission." Miguel Perez de Guzman, General Delegate of the Fondation Etrillard.
Jonas Lund, MVP (Most Valuable Painting), shown in Linz (Austria)