Exhibition

ars viva 2021 Rob Crosse, Richard Sides, Sung Tieu

10 October 2020 – 21 March 2021

The 2021 ars viva award kicked-off with an exhibition opening at the Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt am Main on 9 October 2020. It presented works by the three award winners Rob Crosse (*1985), Richard Sides (*1985) and Sung Tieu (*1987) . A second exhibition will be presented at the Kunstverein Hannover in April/May 2021.

Film still: Rob Crosse, Prime Time, 2017

Rob Crosse, Richard Sides and Sung Tieu each address questions of human existence and the at times tension-laden coexistence of social groups. Their central medium is digital film, complemented by photography, drawing, installation, sound and objects.

With its focus on tabooed, critical and at times painful topics, the presentation of the ars viva award winners is in line with the exhibitions on current, political and social, but also historical fields of tension, which have been presented within the Museum Angewandte Kunst. In this way, the Museum opens up new perspectives on current positions within the applied and visual arts, tracing the fundamental relationships between society and its structures.

Since 1953, the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e.V. (Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy at the Federation of German Industries e. V.) has awarded the ars viva prize to outstanding young artists based in Germany under the age of 35. The jury honours works that demonstrate a distinct language of form and an awareness of contemporary issues relating to (cultural) history. Next to a monetary stipend, the award includes the cooperation with two international art institutions, an artist residency on Fogo Island (Canada) as well as an extensive bilingual catalogue.

This year’s jury for the ars viva award, under the chairmanship of Ulrich Sauerwein, included members of the Visual Arts Committee of the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft, as well as the cooperation partners Grit Weber (Museum Angewandte Kunst, Frankfurt/Main), Kathleen Rahn and Sergey Harutoonian (Kunstverein Hannover), Willem de Rooij (Fogo Island Arts), Dr. Franziska Nentwig, Min-young Jeon and Mathilda Legemah (Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft) and Hilke Wagner (Albertinum, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden) as expert advisor. For the first time, the selection process took place in digital form.


Documentation about the installation of ars viva 2021

(mostly in German)
© Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e.V.
Director/Editor: Katharina Woll
Editors: Min-young Jeon, Mathilda Legemah
Camera: Nic Middleton