Art galleries have considerable weight in the art market, as a result of general cultural vitality and, more specifically, of the artistic proposals that they generate. All in all, their social presence, in terms of mass media and institutional influence does not reflect this dynamic reality.

In order to readdress this situation, the new council of the Guild of Catalan Art Galleries presented the need to design and organize a yearly event that would reinforce the name of the sector. After debating several different proposals, they decided to organize the “Nit del Galerisme”

The first Nit del Galerisme was celebrated February 25th 2008, with great success, thanks to the presence of many notable personalities and good press coverage. For the II Nit del Galerisme, it was decided to shape the event more with the hopes of it developing into one of the cultural events of the year in Catalonia, in the most extensive sense of the term. For this reason the guild contacted the rest of the gallery owner associations in Catalonia –Art Catalunya, la Associació Art Barcelona and la Associació de Galeristes Independents d’Art de Catalunya– to add them to the organization of the event, an invitation that they accepted enthusiastically.

Since then, we've been through four editions and we are on the fifth. In this way, it has been given more importance to the award, so the act is now called  GAC (Galeries d'Art de Catalunya) Awards  - Nit del Galerisme. Since the second edition the trophy is a reinterpretation on iron sculpture of a work on paper by the great artist Torres-Garcia, which has also become the official logo of the event. We thank the Museo Torres Garcia in Montevideo the generosity of allowing the reproduction of a work of this great artist.

 

Prizes were awarded in all editions of the Nit del Galerisme are:

To gallery by its path:

• 2008 - Sala Parés
• 2009 - Juana de Aizpuru (Madrid)
• 2010 - Joan Prats
• 2011- Galeria Estrany de la Mota

To young gallery by its international projection:

• 2008 - Galeria Sicart
• 2009 – Nogueras Blanchard (Barcelona)
• 2010 – Projecte SD
• 2011 – ADN Galeria

To collectionist:

• 2008 - Josep Suñol, promotor de la Fundació Suñol
• 2009 - Isak Andic, per la col·lecció d’art de Mango
• 2010 - Helga de Alvear
• 2011 - Cal Cego

To critic of art by its path (until the second edition):

• 2008 - Arnau Puig
• 2009 - Maria Lluïsa Borràs

To critic of art:

• 2008 - Juan Bufill
• 2009 - Jaume Vidal Oliveras
• 2010 - José Luis Brea
• 2011 - Xavier Antich

To curator (from the third edition):

• 2010 - Latitudes
• 2011 - Helena Tatay

To mass media by the diffusion of art and culture:

• 2008 - Programa La Nit al Dia (Televisió de Catalunya)
• 2009 - Programa Continuarà (TVE Catalunya)
• 2010 - A-desk
• 2011 - El Cultural (El Mundo)

To artist by the best exhibition in gallery (from the fourth edition):

• 2011 - Galeria Nogueras-Blanchard – Ignacio Uriarte

Also, from the third edition was introduced an honorary award for his career for artists. Until now this has gone to the artists Antoni Tapies and Jaume Plensa.

Prize winners in the first edition of La Nit del Galerisme

Prize winners in the second edition of La Nit del Galerisme

Prize winners in Premis GAC 2010

Prize winners in Premis GAC 2011