With her ghostly-looking fabric sculptures, Congo-born Sandra Mujinga won the Preis der Nationalgalerie, which recognizes outstanding work by artists under 40 who live in Germany.
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This year's Preis der Nationalgalerie (National Gallery Prize), Germany's most prestigious contemporary art award, went to the artist Sandra Mujinga, who lives in Berlin and Oslo.
The jury decided on Mujinga, who was born in the Democratic Republic of Congo, "after intensive discussions," they said at the award ceremony held on Thursday at the Hamburger Bahnhof, a museum for contemporary art in Berlin.
The artist's work features ghostly-looking figures made of interwoven lengths of fabric that seem to float through the Hamburger Bahnhof exhibition spaces. Mujinga shows "great sensitivity for the materials used," the jury said.
From a 'past future'
Mujinga succeeds in uniting contradictory experiences in her figures, the jury argued, creating "an openness that creates space for one's own imagination."
The jury of the German contemporary art prize said the sculptures give the impression of being from a past future. "They remind us that we must be considerate of other creatures for our survival and can learn strategies from them to adapt to an ever-changing environment," the jury wrote.
Mujinga's work, along with works by the other nominees, is on display at Hamburger Bahnhof until February 27.
Solo exhibition next year
The prize has been awarded every two years since 2000 to contemporary artists under the age of 40 who reflect the internationality of the art scene in Germany.
There is no prize money, but since 2013, the works of the prize winner are presented in a solo exhibition at Hamburger Bahnhof the following year.
Previous award winners include Anne Imhof and Monica Bonvicini. The "award recipients and nominees have since been among the defining protagonists of contemporary art," the award website says.
11 renowned female artists based in Germany
The art world is still male-dominated, but things are changing. Here are 11 important artists you need to know.
Image: Imago/I. Kjer
Natascha Sadr Haghighian
Natascha Sadr Haghighian represented Germany at the 2019 Venice Biennale. Shown here wearing a stone mask at a press conference ahead of the art show, she went by the name of Natascha Süder Happelmann for the event. The artist, a two-time Documenta participant, often plays with the notion of identity. She created for instance a website allowing people to swap parts of each other's CVs.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/W. Kumm
Anne Imhof
Anne Imhof became the star of the 2017 Venice Biennale with her performance piece "Faust" in the German pavilion, which won her the Golden Lion award. The mammoth work dealt with the themes of power and powerlessness, arbitrary violence, resistance and freedom. She has been commissioned to recreate the piece at London's Tate Modern museum in March 2019.
Image: Imago/I. Kjer
Hito Steyerl
German-Japanese video artist Hito Steyerl represented Germany in 2015 at the Venice Biennale. She was the first woman to be ranked number one in ArtReview's "Power 100," the magazine's list of the most powerful people in the art world. Her influential work deals with surveillance, military confrontation and the entanglement of corporations.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/S. Pilick
Rosemarie Trockel
Rosemarie Trockel gained renown through numerous international exhibitions. Her work often integrates knitted fabrics or black electric hotplates dotting colored surfaces, a reference to stereotypical depictions of the housewife and an ironic homage to the dots used by different Pop Art artists.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Katharina Fritsch
Designed to carry statues of British historical figures, London's Trafalgar Square has a plinth at each of its four corners. Since 1999, the fourth plinth has been showcasing different works of art on a temporary basis. German sculptor Katharina Fritsch's giant blue cockerel, "Hahn / Cock," was on display there in 2013. The artist is renowned for her large-scale, monochromatic sculptures.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Isa Genzken
A 2013 retrospective of Isa Genzken's work at the Museum of Modern Art in New York cemented the sculptor's international reputation. She had previously participated in different art shows including the Documenta and the Sculpture Projects Münster. Her early works deal with the ideals of modern architecture; since the 2000s, she has created apocalyptic installations made of cheap materials.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/J. Kalaene
Katharina Grosse
Katharina Grosse quickly gained renown with her innovative work that opens up new dimensions in painting. The Berlin-based artist's air brushed installations often submerge viewers in a chaotic space of colors. Her works are part of the collections of the Centre Pompidou in Paris, the Museum of Modern Art in New York and the Kunsthaus in Zurich, among others.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/M. Balk
Rebecca Horn
Rebecca Horn is a pioneering female artist in Germany: She was the first woman to become a professor at the Berlin University of Arts in 1989, as well as the first to be awarded the prestigious Goslar Kaiser Ring Award in 1992. A year later, she also became the first female artist to have a retrospective at New York's Guggenheim Museum.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa
Alicja Kwade
The Berlin-based artist Alicja Kwade was born in Poland. Her installations often include stones, glass, chains, mirrors and clocks. A recent piece at the Berliner Galerie consisted of a huge clock swinging from the ceiling on a chain — a memorably hypnotic work.
Image: picture-alliance/dpa/R. Vennenbernd
Katharina Sieverding
She was one of the first artists to create large-format portraits that openly featured image manipulation. Sieverding was awarded the Käthe Kollwitz Prize in 2017. Her work questions the artistic, political and social conditions behind the production and the reception of art.
Image: picture alliance/dpa/F.Gambarini
Haegue Yang
The Seoul-born Berlin-based artist has held exhibitions throughout the world. For her installations transforming everyday objects into surreal associative works, she often uses materials from the hardware store or household items. At the Documenta 13, she revealed Venetian blinds that moved on their own, making strange sounds. Haegue Yang's pieces are filled with poetry and humor.