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Italian artist picked in €1.25m ECB makeover

AFP
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Italian artist picked in €1.25m ECB makeover
Italian sculptor Giuseppe Penone is one of three artists who will help adorn the ECB's new headquarters: Photo: Giuseppe Penone Yoshkazu Tsuno/AFP

The European Central Bank said on Monday it has commissioned new works from three leading contemporary artists to adorn its spectacular new headquarters in Frankfurt.

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Italian sculptor Giuseppe Penone, Bulgarian installation artist Nedko Solakov and British conceptual artist Liam Gillick "are the winners of the ECB's international competition for site-specific artworks at its new premises," the central bank announced in a statement.

The artists will create artworks for three different locations at the new premises - a twin-tower glass skyscraper by Vienna-based architects Coop Himmelb(l)au - in the east of Frankfurt.

The overall budget for three works is €1.25 million ($1.6 million), the statement added.

The competition was launched in February, with a selection committee of internationally renowned art experts drawing up a list of artists from across
the EU.

In total, 59 artists from the 28 member states were nominated.

The shortlisted artists were then asked to submit a proposal and the jury then selected the best proposal for each of the three locations.

"The jury has chosen three impressive works, representing European art at its best. We hope they will inspire, spark discussions and shift perspectives," said jury chief and ECB executive board member Benoit Coeure.

The three works are to be inaugurated in the autumn of 2015.

The ECB has been housed in a skyscraper in downturn Frankfurt since it was created in 1998. Work began on its new headquarters in the historic Grossmarkthalle (wholesale market) in the east of the city in 2008, and it is now nearly completion.

The new building is expected to be officially inaugurated early next year.

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