BARCELONA.- James Cohan Gallery announced that American artist Bill Viola has been awarded the 2009 Catalonia International Prize, known as the XXI Premi Internacional Catalunya 2009 by the Catalonian government of Spain. This annual award is granted since 1989 to those persons who, through their creative work, have made a decisive contribution to the development of cultural, scientific or human values around the world. Winners are leaders and innovators from all fields including the arts, sciences, religion, politics and economics. In being a recipient of this award, Mr. Viola follows in the footsteps of many notables including Karl Popper, Mstislav Rostropòvitx, Jacques Delors, Harold Bloom, Vaclav Havel, Claude Levi Strauss, Amos Oz and many more. The prize will be given to Mr. Viola by the president of the Catalan Government, Mr. José Montilla on Tuesday, June 30, in a ceremony to be held in the Palace of the Generalitat, in Barcelona.

The Generalitat de Catalunya, autonomous government of Catalonia in the Framework of the Spanish State, created the Premi Internacional Catalunya in 1989, to recognise persons who made key contributions to the development of cultural, scientific or human values. The prize is endowed with 100.000 euro and the sculpture “The Key and the Letter” of the Catalan artist Antoni Tàpies.