Roger Pailhas Prize
Paying tribute to the Marseille-based gallerist, known for his daring and innovative booths within the most prestigious art fairs, Art-o-rama organizes since 2015 the Roger Pailhas Prize awarded by a committee of collectors and art professionals.
It rewards the best curatorial project by reimbursing the costs of participation at the fair.
Roger Pailhas
Roger Pailhas inaugurated his first gallery in Marseille (Cours Julien area) in 1986 with a group show that gathered Daniel Buren, Gilbert Della-Nocce, Toni Grand, Jannis Kounellis, Sol Le Witt, Mario Merz, and Bruce Nauman.
In 1990, he opened a second space in Paris with a solo show by John Knight. In 1996 the Marseille-based gallery moved to the Vieux-Port (old harbour central area) into a 1,000sqm space. He closed the Parisian gallery in 1998 and decided to focus on Marseille instead.
In 1996 he created Art Dealers, an original contemporary art fair where he gathered, within the gallery’s space, 8 new international galleries each year.
Meanwhile, he participated in some of the most prestigious international art fairs such as Art Basel, Fiac, and the Armory Show, where he offered, with the complicity of his artists, among the most ambitious and adventurous booths. Samuel Keller himself said that Roger Pailhas’ booths inspired the Statement section of Art Basel. The gallery and Art Dealers ceased to exist when Roger Pailhas passed away in 2005.
Laureate 2026 : Bombon Project, Barcelona
Enric Farrés Duran
Bombon Projects presents a solo project by Enric Farrés Duran (1983, Barcelona). The central axis of the project is the performance El feedback francés (2026) (The french feedback), which will take place on 28 and 29 August in the Conversation& Films space of the fair. The work is conceived as a closed-door performative action taking the form of a cinematic work-in-progress: a feedback session for a featured film currently in post-production.
Through this confidential performance, the artist activates a space of listening and negotiation in which the audience is invited to examine the work, while also becoming participants in, and documentary material for, the very context of the film itself.
The booth space presents a group of works related to the film, object-based, graphic, and installation pieces, orbiting around the ideas of cinema, friendship, and the mechanisms through which value is produced. Through this proposal, Farrés Duran questions the emotional, symbolic, and economic value of the context surrounding us, revealing (and celebrating!) the fictions that give meaning to our lives.
Enric Farrés Duran (n. 1983, Barcelona) holds a degree in Art and Design from Escola Massana, Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona, a degree in Philosophy from Universitat de Barcelona, and a master’s in Artistic Production and Research. He combines his artistic practice with university teaching and independent editorial projects.
Laureates
2025 : Season 4 Episode 6, London with David Attwood
2024 : Zyrland Zoiropa, Berlin, with Liam Allan and Burckhard Beschow
2023 : Galeria Mascota, Mexico, with Michael Ross
2022 : Gilles Drouault galerie, Paris, with Jason Dodge
2021 : Exo Exo, Paris, with Gaspar Willmann
2019 : VEDA, Florence, with Dominique White
