Mona Schulzek wins junger westen 2023 art prize

Nominees exhibition: Eliza Ballesteros, Noémi Barbaglia, Rebekka Benzenberg, Marta Dyachenko, Fabian Friese, Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann, Isabella Fürnkäs, marc norbert hörler, Lucia Kempkes, Ju Young Kim, Maria Clara Kulemeyer, Julia Miorin, Esper Postma, Moritz Riesenbeck, Miriam Schmitz, Tatjana Stürmer, caner teker, Tatjana Vall, Emil Walde, Denise Werth, Karla Zipfel
Exhibiton concept: Nico Anklam
Curators: Nico Anklam, Kerstin Weber
Curatorial assistant: Lara Müller

The art prize junger westen is the oldest municipal award for art in Germany after WWII. Founded in 1948 by the city of Recklinghausen, it has been publicly announced every two years in changing categories through an open call since 1956. Previous winners include e.g. Gerhard Richter (1967), Michael Sailstorfer (2007) and Jeewi Lee (2021). For 2023 the jury named Mona Schulzek as the winner and selected 22 artists (from 532 applications) for the nominees exhibition. All of the works are exemplary of artistic practices that provide contemporary impulses for what goes beyond conventional sculptural categories. As such, the junger westen 2023 shows new paths for space-related art, whether aesthetic, social or political. As introduced for the first time in 2021, the award winner is given the entire upper floor of the Kunsthalle as a venue for a solo presentation.

For the jury, Mona Schulzek’s work exemplifies what sculptural practice can ideally achieve today: to give contemporary impulses for what we try to understand as space. Mona Schulzek’s works touch on discourses immanent to the art system but reach beyond it into various areas of life. She completed her studies at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 2023 as a master student of Gregor Schneider. She received the Max Ernst Scholarship in 2019 and her works are represented in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Bochum and the Max Ernst Museum Brühl. She has already had solo exhibitions in Germany and abroad, including France, Austria and Spain, among others.

The members of the jury this year were: Prof.in Dr. Martina Dobbe (Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf), Dr. Stefanie Kreuzer (Director of Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr), Max Leiß (Art Prize Winner junger westen 2017), Dr. Sandra Beate Reimann (Curator Museum Tinguely Basel), Christoph Tesche (Mayor of the City of Recklinghausen), Holger Freitag (Chairman of the Committee for Culture, Science and City History of the City of Recklinghausen), Dr. des. Nico Anklam (Director of the Museums of the City of Recklinghausen) and as a substitute Kerstin Weber (Researcher/Curator, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen).

The opening on December 2, 2023 featured the performance AUSDRUCK DER SCHEU [Mountains and Paranoia], 2023 with Thomas Huy (Vocals) and Magdalena Forster (choreography/dance), score by David Rank Art, concept and prologue by Eliza Ballesteros.

The art prize junger westen is awarded by the City of Recklinghausen with the support of the Cultural Foundation of the Stadtsparkasse Recklinghausen. Thanks to additional support from the Rotary Club Recklinghausen and the Ulrike and Bernd Tönjes Foundation, the prize money was doubled to 20,000 EUR for the frist time. This increase will remain for the next competitions until 2031.

A catalogue will be published on February 10th 2024 with an essay by Dr. Christina Landbrecht, Program Director Art, Schering Stiftung Berlin.

The visual identity of this junger westen was designed by studio saskia hoefler-hohengarten and studio kela-mo.

The Museums of the City of Recklinghausen 
Museum Director and Head of the Kunsthalle: Dr. des. Nico Anklam 
Wissenschaftliche Mitarbeit/Curator: Kerstin Weber, M.A. 

For all press inquiries, please contact Kerstin Weber at weber [​at​] kunst-re.de.