ars viva Prize 2014/15
Aleksandra Domanović, Yngve Holen, James Richards
19 October 2014–19 February 2015
Hamburger Kunsthalle
Glockengiesserwall
20095 Hamburg
Germany
The Hamburger Kunsthalle presents the winners of the prestigious ars viva Prize 2014/15: Aleksandra Domanović (b. 1981 in Novi Sad, Serbia), Yngve Holen (b. 1982 in Braunschweig, Germany) and James Richards (b. 1983 in Cardiff, Wales).
The ars viva Prize, which has been presented by the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI (Association of Arts and Culture of the Germany Economy at the Federation of German Industries) every year since 1953, is awarded to young visual artists who live and work in Germany. Previous winners include Marina Abramović & Ulay, Katharina Sieverding, Rosemarie Trockel, Candida Höfer, Thomas Struth, Anna Oppermann, Jeanne Faust, Thomas Demand or Omer Fast. The ars viva Prize consists of an award of 5,000 EUR to each selected artist as well as a series of exhibitions, a bilingual catalogue and a limited artist edition.
Aleksandra Domanović was born in Serbia and now lives in Berlin. Her video works, sculptures and prints explore how historical and cultural events related to the former Yugoslavia shape individual and collective identity. The use of digital media content, which Domanović quotes, archives and recontextualises, is a key element of her practice. The work of Yngve Holen, who is currently based in Berlin, is characterized by the appropriation of advanced technologies. His sculptural practice is instilled with a corporeal sensibility, reflecting our complex experience with our everyday surroundings. Welsh-born artist James Richards, who also lives and works in Berlin, creates videos by combining his own footage with film clips from a wide variety of archival and other sources, accompanied by a self-produced soundtrack. Using a visual language that plays with a friction between the familiar and obscure his compositions speak of a personal narrative amongst media morass.
This year’s jury was chaired by Ulrich Sauerwein and consisted of seven members of the Kulturkreis Fine Arts Committee, curators Dr Brigitte Kölle (Hamburger Kunsthalle), Christina Végh (Bonner Kunstverein), and Krist Gruijthuijsen (Grazer Kunstverein), along with Susanne Pfeffer (Fridericianum Kassel) as an expert advisor.
The ars viva 2014/2015 exhibition opens at the Hamburger Kunsthalle and will subsequently travel to the Bonner Kunstverein (March 7–May 17, 2015) and the Grazer Kunstverein (June 13–August 2, 2015). All three institutions will present a selection of existing and new works created by the artists especially for each exhibition.
Exhibition curator: Dr Brigitte Kölle
