Photo: Thomas Mueller

The First Annual Art Awards at the Solomon R. Guggenheim Museum, sponsored by Calvin Klein Collection, is set to take place on October 29th.  Rob Pruitt, the visual artist who skyrocketed to fame in the late 1980’s, conceived the event as a performance-based artwork which follows the format of a Hollywood awards ceremony. The Art Awards celebrates select individuals, exhibitions, and projects that have made a significant impact on the field of contemporary art during the past year. The event will benefit the Guggenheim,  White Columns and Studio in a School.  The categories include:

Artist of the Year
Curator of the Year
Exhibition Outside the United States
Group Show of the Year, Gallery
Group Show of the Year, Museum
New Artist of the Year
The Rob Pruitt Award
Solo Show of the Year, Gallery
Solo Show of the Year, Museum
Writer of the Year

Lifetime Achievement Awards will go to artist Joan Jonas and curator Kasper König.  Who are you rooting for? Full nominees are listed after the jump.

Portrait of Rob Pruitt and the Delusional Downtown Divas. Photo: Kai Regan

Artist of the Year
Louise Bourgeois
Urs Fischer
Dan Graham
Mary Heilmann

Curator of the Year
Klaus Biesenbach
Daniel Birnbaum
Connie Butler
Massimiliano Gioni

Exhibition Outside the United States
Francis Bacon, Tate Britain, London
Jeff Koons Versailles, Château de Versailles, Versailles
Mike Kelley: Educational Complex Onwards: 1995–2008, Wiels Contemporary Art Centre, Brussels
Wolfgang Tillmans: Lighter, Hamburger Bahnhof, Museum für Gegenwart, Berlin

Group Show of the Year, Gallery
“A Twilight Art,” Harris Lieberman, New York
“Who’s Afraid of Jasper Johns?” Tony Shafrazi Gallery, New York
“Your Gold Teeth II,” Marianne Boesky Gallery, New York
“ZERO in New York,” Sperone Westwater, New York

Group Show of the Year, Museum
“After Nature,” New Museum, New York
“The Pictures Generation, 1974–1984,” the Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York
“The Quick and the Dead,” Walker Art Center, Minneapolis
“WACK! Art and the Feminist Revolution,” P.S. 1 Contemporary Art Center, Long Island City, New York

New Artist of the Year
Elad Lassry
Daniel McDonald
Marlo Pascual
Ryan Trecartin

The Rob Pruitt Award
To be announced the evening of Oct. 29

Solo Show of the Year, Gallery
Cindy Sherman, Metro Pictures, New York
Manzoni: A Retrospective, Gagosian Gallery, New York
Paul Sharits, Greene Naftali Gallery, New York
Picasso: Mosqueteros, Gagosian Gallery, New York

Solo Show of the Year, Museum
“Dan Graham: Beyond,” the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
“Lawrence Weiner: As Far as the Eye Can See,” the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles, and Whitney Museum of American Art, New York
“Live Forever: Elizabeth Peyton,” New Museum, New York
“Martin Kippenberger: The Problem Perspective,” the Museum of Contemporary Art, Los Angeles and The Museum of Modern Art, New York

Writer of the Year
Tim Griffin
John Kelsey
Walter Robinson
Jerry Saltz