Erarta Museum Announces the First Voting Round Results of the 2026 Erarta Prize

From 6 February through 7 June, Erarta’s Grand Hall is hosting an exhibition of artworks nominated for the Erarta Prize, the only contemporary art prize awarded through a public vote rather than by a board of experts. The show features the creations by 40 contemporary artists – paintings, drawings, prints, sculptures, photographs, installations, as well as other contemporary art media.

In the course of the first voting round that lasted through 20 April, the viewers visiting the Prize nominees’ exhibition gave the majority of votes to the 10 artists who will now compete in the second round of the 2026 Erarta Prize between 21 April and 3 June. This round will ultimately determine the exact distribution of the remaining prize money and the winner of the Grand Prix of 500,000 rubles.

The voting procedure was completely transparent: everyone could monitor the actual distribution of votes between the artists in real time by looking at the screens installed in the exhibition space or logging in to my Erarta account and see their own votes being counted. The number of votes received by the artists in the first round was reset to zero, and voting has started over.

The artists ranking from 11th to 40th after the first voting round have dropped out of the competition for the Grand Prix, but will still receive a guaranteed money prize. Their works will remain on display until the close of the Prize nominees’ exhibition.

The detailed outcome of the first voting round has been published here.

In 2026, the total prize value for the artists amounts to 3.5 million rubles and is distributed among the 40 nominees according to the viewers’ choice. The ultimate winners of the 2026 Erarta Prize will be announced at the awards ceremony on 4 June. Stay tuned for more news!