Codorníu reissues its poster contest 125 years later

Codorníu wants to boost its brand again as it did 125 years ago with the first —and only until now— poster contest. The winery has just announced the second edition, with which it aspires to have the same historical transcendence and contribute to the cultural legacy as it did with the 1898 edition. "It was a great milestone in the world of advertising: it was the first time that advertising and art came together. It was very pioneering and that is exactly what we want to resume," explains the CEO of the Raventós Codorníu group, Sergio Fuster. At the time, it served to popularize cavas made in Sant Sadurní d'Anoia (Barcelona), which were already exported to Cuba and Argentina, in the rest of Spain and abroad.

With the new call, the aim is to discover the new Ramon Casas, Miquel Utrillo, Julio Tubilla or Sebastián Junyent, these being some of the participants of the first edition and creators of images that have survived the years and have become part of the collective imagination. Endowed with 18,000 euros, the contest is open to professionals from all over the world and with different profiles —artists, designers, publicists, illustrators...—. Adapting to new times, the submission of any type of artistic expression will be allowed, as long as it can be captured on a poster, Fuster emphasizes. This allows digital formats, even NFTs.

Codorníu thus wants to evoke the golden age of poster art and mobilize artists to represent contemporary forms of hedonism. Likewise, all candidate works will have to include, as at the time, the company's brand. They will also have to refer to the collection of high-prestige cavas Codorníu Ars Collecta.

From this Tuesday until August 21, proposals can be submitted. The jury that will evaluate them will be made up of the director of Il Giornale dell'Arte, Alessandro Allemandi; the president of the Macba foundation, Ainhoa Grandes; the multidisciplinary artist Antoni Muntadas; the director of the Munch Museum in Oslo, Stein Olav Henrichsen; the consultant and specialist in art and communication Pati Núñez, and the CEO of Raventós Codorníu.

One winner and four finalists will be chosen. The first classified will receive a prize of 10,000 euros and the other four, 2,000 euros each. The jury's decision will be announced at an event in Madrid during the month of October. The finalist art pieces will be exhibited, as well as the posters from the first call, an unusual event.

For Fuster, this recovers Codorníu's artistic relationship, present since its beginnings, with the design and construction of the winery by Josep Puig i Cadafalch or the first poster competition, but weakened for some time and translated only into specific initiatives. For example, eight years ago, the company opted for performing arts through the Goya Theater, in Barcelona, which was renamed Teatro Goya Codorníu. Art galleries have also been supported. "It's a return to the origins," Fuster summarizes.