For the ninth time, Henkel Central Eastern Europe (Henkel CEE) bestowed the Henkel Art.Award. featuring a monetary prize of 7,000 euros. The prize was granted to the Polish artist Maksymilian Cieślak. The Young Artist’s Prize Austria was given to Susanna Flock, whereas the Croatian artist Nina Kurtela received the Young Artist’s Prize CEE. Both promotional prizes are endowed to the sum of 2,000 euros. The Henkel Art.Award ceremony took place on November 25 in the auditorium of the Museum der Modernen Kunst Stiftung Ludwig Vienna (Museum of Modern Art—MUMOK).
Precisely 1,060 works of art were submitted by young artists to be evaluated, a new record for the Henkel Art.Award. An international jury of experts consisted of museum specialists, art experts, renowned curators and gallery owners.
The cinematic works of Maksymilian Cieślaks are characterized by a high level of narrative intensity and originality. Cieślak works with the tools offered by silent films, the aesthetics of amateur movies on YouTube as well as the elements of found footage. In this regard, he is able to approach film as a medium in a completely undogmatic and sometimes humorous manner. He uses the history of motion pictures, myths of media history such as Yuri Gagarin’s flight in space or a Doors concert as material to create a highly unconventional cinematic language. Some of his works, such as Doctor Faustus or Cloud Nine, can be seen as extremely angry satires on the art scene.
Image Courtesy: www.henkel.at, Maksymilian Cieślak featured in the photo
The Young Artist’s Prize Austria for young, up and coming Austrian artists was also granted for the fifth time at the Henkel Art.Award. gala ceremony. This year the prize went to Susanna Flock. The Styrian-born artist convinced the jury with her clear examples of graphic art and the way she handled space, artistically manipulating and changing it with the simplest methods. The fact that she had created such a large number of art works, although she is still a student, was only one of the many reasons why she received the Young Artist’s Prize Austria.
Image Courtesy: www.henkel.at, Nina Kurtela featured in the photo
On the other hand, the Croatian artist Nina Kurtela won the Young Artist’s Prize CEE awarded to young artists from Central and Eastern Europe taking part in the Artists-in-Residence Program of KulturKontakt Austria, the longstanding cooperation partner of Henkel. After completing her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb, Nina Kurtela began to intensively deal with contemporary dance. The language of dancing was integrated into her video works, adorning them with a special rhythm and lightness. The Henkel Young Artist’s Prize CEE in connection with the scholarship financing a three-month working stay in Vienna will enable the young artist to show her works of art in Austria and get to know people in the local art scene.
Image Courtesy: www.henkel.at, Susanna Flock featured in the photo
The works of all the nominees as well as the award winners were exhibited November 26-28 at the MUMOK in Vienna.