Pauline Curnier Jardin winner of the prestigious Preis der Nationalgalerie
Berlin, September 12, 2019
On the evening of September 12, 2019, in the presence of State Minister of Culture Monika Grütters, the winner of the Preis der Nationalgalerie was announced in an award ceremony at Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin.
After its first edition in 2000, the Preis der Nationalgalerie was awarded for the tenth time: “Founded by the Freunde der Nationalgalerie and supported financially as well as organisationally for 19 years, the Preis der Nationalgalerie is a very fine example of continuous civic commitment and unique with regard to all other comparable European organisations,” says Gabriele Quandt, Chairwoman of the Freunde der Nationalgalerie.
The jury, consisting of Annie Fletcher, Director of IMMA – Irish Museum of Modern Art, Dublin, Anna-Catharina Gebbers, Curator at Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin, Udo Kittelmann, Director of Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Philippe Vergne, Director of Serralves Museum of Contemporary Art, Porto, and Theodora Vischer, Senior Curator of Fondation Beyeler, Basel, decided after intensive discussions on Pauline Curnier Jardin (born 1980 in Marseille) as the prize winner.
With the award Pauline Curnier Jardin wins a major solo exhibition next year in one of the Nationalgalerie’s institutions as well as an accompanying publication.
Jury statement:
After a lively discussion the jury awarded the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2019 to Pauline Curnier Jardin for her work not only in the shortlist exhibition here at the Hamburger Bahnhof but for her practice in its entirety.
The jury grounded its decision on the Preis der Nationalgalerie’s spirit to support the development and encouragement of an artist’s work. The jury especially appreciates Pauline Curnier Jardin’s compelling and emersive filmic and installation work. Not unlike a delirious circus, her work provides an unsettling experience based on the confusion of our time.
In cooperation with the Deutsche Filmakademie the Förderpreis für Filmkunst, endowed with 10000 Euros, was awarded for the fifth time. The winner is Lucia Margarita Bauer (born 1979) for the film “Maman Maman Maman” (2019).
The Jury, consisting of Nikola Dietrich, Director Kölnischer Kunstverein, Doris Dörrie, writer and filmmaker, Marina Fokidis, curator, writer and director of South as a State of Mind journal, Ulrich Matthes, actor, and Bige Örer, Director of the Istanbul Biennale, chose the winner from a shortlist of four candidates.
Jury Statement:
In MAMAN MAMAN MAMAN Lucia Margarita Bauer tells an intensely personal story. In a playful way, she creates a documentary portrait and manages to include a surprisingly deep psychological level, in which the question of identity and alleged madness is constantly raised anew. Based on her grandmother’s personal history, she finds herself confronted with her own origins. She discovers the difficulties of life between an extended family, Alzheimer’s disease and the Second World War.
From mobile phone videos and letters, the family’s own photo collection, the family library and the Super 8 films of her grandmother, Lucia Margarita Bauer creates a fascinating, inspiring and associative montage and thereby develops her very own visual language. She convinced the jury with her sense of creativity and the combination of humour and tragedy, through which she captivates the audience. Light-footed and at the same time deeply serious, she succeeds in creating a shimmering and truthful portrait of a woman, a family, a time and a house.
The prize-winning film will be on view at Hamburger Bahnhof from September 13, 2019 to February 16, 2019 parallel to the works of the four nominated artists.
As a symbolic prize Udo Kittelmann and Ulrich Matthes awarded the signed multiple Intuition by Joseph Beuys from 1968 to the winners Pauline Curnier Jardin and Lucia Margarita Bauer.
After the award ceremony, more than 400 international guests and friends of the Nationalgalerie celebrated the two winners and the anniversary of the award: “Today we are celebrating the tenth award ceremony. These are nearly 20 years of success in which the prize has always been up to date. An art museum cannot develop into the future without being creative and supportive in regard to young artist. This is made possible by the Preis der Nationalgalerie,” commented Udo Kittelmann, Director of the Nationalgalerie – Staatliche Museen zu Berlin.