24.04.15

Shortlist Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2015

The Mondriaan Fund has announced the names of the visual artists shortlisted by an international jury for the 2015 Prix de Rome Visual Arts. The four nominated artists are:

Foundland (Lauren Alexander, Capetown, 1983, & Ghalia Elsrakbi, Damascus, 1978, live and work in Amsterdam)
Hedwig Houben (Boxtel, 1983, lives and works in Brussels)
Christian Nyampeta (Rwanda, 1981, lives and works in the Netherlands and London)
Magali Reus (The Hague, 1981, lives and works in London)

They will each receive a working budget and will be given the opportunity to create a new work during a five-month residency. The work will be exhibited at de Appel arts centre in Amsterdam. On the basis of the new work, the jury will announce a winner medio December 2015. The winner will win €40,000 and a residency at the American Academy in Rome.

The jury selected these artists from a list of seventy artists, a number of whom were nominated by scouts selected by the Mondriaan Fund. Other artists initiated proposals themselves or were nominated by a third party. All the shortlisted artists were nominated by a scout.

The jury was impressed by the high quality of all candidates. The jury members were delighted to be introduced to such rich and varied emerging artists with plans arousing their curiosity for more. Eventually the jury convincingly proposed three artists and one artist collective. Important criteria were the quality of the work, and a positive attitude towards innovation and experiment. Despite overlap in subject matter and research, each candidate works from a specific position and approach. The jury has high hopes on the outcome of the work periods of these artists and believe the work periods will contribute to interesting developments in their artistic careers.