It was first given out on December 4, 2007, hosted at the Winzavod Contemporary Art Center in Moscow. Four awards were given. The Young Artist Category is awarded to an artist under 30 and they receive a three months stay in Villa Romana. New Media Project of the year is awarded 10,000 euros. Artist of the Year is awarded 40,000 euros. Audience's Prize is awarded 5,000 euros.
The award has been evolving over the years. "One of the distinctive features of the prize is that artists are able to nominate themselves."[3] Now the categories are 'Project of the Year', 'Young Artist. Project of the Year' and 'Scholarly Work. History and Theory of Contemporary Art'. Every year the venue changes, the finalists' projects being shown in different cities.
On September 20, 2007, Deutsche Bank and ArtChronika presented their nominations of over 250 names for the Kandinsky Prize in a press conference. Their work was displayed in exhibitions at Moscow’s Central House of Artist and in St. Petersburg. It was eventually cut down to 50. The winners were announced in December. The objective is to promote contemporary Russian art and to offer insights into the art scene's most important trends and perspective.
"This is a natural progression. In the last two years, we have had the Biennale, art fairs and many exhibitions. With all these events, there comes growth in numbers of art critics, art investors, art foundations and institutes, and so we decided there should also be an art prize," Nikolai Molok, the editor of ArtKhronika.[4]
Anatoly Osmolovsky, AES+F, Yuri Albert, Yuri Avvakumov, Katerina Belkina, Alexander Vinogradov and Vladimir Dubossarsky, Dmitri Vrubel and Victoria Timofeeva, Dmitry Gutov, Larisa Zvezdochetova, Alain Kirtsova, Vitaly Kopachev, Oleg Kulik, Konstantin Latyshev, Anton Litvin, Rauf Mamedov, Irina Nakhova, Nikola Ovchinnikov, George Pervov, Alexei Politov and Marina Belova, Alexander Sauko, Sergei Saigon, Sumnina Maria, Olga and Alexander Florensky, Gor Chahal, Yuri Shabelnikov.
Vladislav Mamyshev Monroe, Anton Litvin, Vladimir Logutov Alexei Buldakov and Petr Bystrov, Philip Dontcov, Oleg Kulik, Provmyza Victor Freudenberg, Marina Chernikov, Aristarchus Chernyshev.
Alexey Belyaev-Gintovt, Dmitry Gutov, Boris Orlov, Victor Alimpiev, Peter White, Alexander Vertinsky, Sergei Vorontsov, Dmitri Vrubel and Victoria Timofeeva, group "Blue Noses", Olga Stone, Sergei Kostrikov, Gregory Maiofis Bogdan Mamonov, Boris Markovnikov, Diana Machulina, Rosedkin, Vincent Nilin and Dmitri Prigov, George Pervov, Igor Pestov, George Pusenkoff, Vitaly Pushnitsky, Kerim Ragimov, Leonid Rotar, Aidan Salakhova, Sergey Skachkov, Marina Fedorova, Galina Hailu, Dmitry Tsvetkov, Sergey Chilikov, Sergey Shekhovtsov.
Diana Machulina, Anna Gholud, Grigory Yushchenko, 3 ART, MAKE, Andrei Blokhin and Georgy Kuznetsov, Ilya Gaponov and Cyril Koteshov, Alexander Gronskiy, Alina Gutkina, Oleg Dou, Alexander Klymtsov, Lera Matveeva, Misha Most, Nikolai Rykunov, Anna Titova.
Group "PG", Vladimir Logutov, Group "Blue Soup", Maria Andre, Hope Anfalova, Vladlen Gromov, Marina Zvyagintsev, Anton Litvin, Ksenia Peretrukhina, Group PROVMYZA, Programme ESCAPE, Thanatos Banionis, Alexander von Busch, Svetlana Hansemann, Marina Chernikov.
Konstantin Batynkov, Peter White, Vita Buivid, Alexei Garikovich, Dmitry Gretzky, Alla Esipovich, Vadim Zakharov, Vladimir Kozin, Irina Korina, Rostislav Lebedev, Gregory Maiofis, Igor Moukhin, Nikolay Nasedkin, Arkady Nasonov, Pavel Pepperstein, Nikolay Polissky, Roman Sakin, Semen Fajbisovich, Natalia Khlebtsevich, Anastasia Horoshilova, Dmitry Tsvetkov, Cyril Chelushkin, Dmitry Shorin, Sergei Shutov.
Thanatos Banionis, Julia and Alexander Devlyashova Toschevikova, Alexandra Dementieva, Vadim Zakharov, Marina Zvyagintsev, Elena Kovylina Alexander Lavrov, Alexei Politov and Marina Belova PROVMYZA Olga Tobreluts and Dmitry Sokolenko, Aristarch Chernyshev and Alexei Shulgin.
Young Artist — Olya Kroytor for the project Fulcrum
Project of the Year —Filippov Andrey for the project The Wheel in the Head
Scholarly Work. History and Theory of Contemporary Art — Podoroga Valeriy for the project The Second Screen: S. Eisenstein and the Cinematography of Violence
