Introduction
In the exhibition ars viva 2020, the works of the award winners of the ars viva prize will be presented parallel to the annual conference of the BDI Kulturkreis in Leipzig. At the same time, a retrospective of the ars viva Prize will be presented. This prize, which in its initial stages was closely linked to social reconstruction in the Federal Republic of Germany, has developed over the decades to become one of the most important prizes for young contemporary artists.
The use of word and image plays a crucial role in Cemile Sahin’s artistic practice. In her cinematic work, for example, she stages film-noir-style crime stories that leave the question of the perpetrator unanswered. The plot is formed through contradictory accounts narrated by the film’s actors, each of whom claims to have committed the murder. These narratives are interwoven with close-ups of expressive faces and depictions of different actions that occur simultaneously. Her work also includes collages of text and image as well as lecture performances. In addition, she also writes novels.
The jury, chaired by Ulrich Sauerwein, consisted of members of the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft’s Committee for Visual Arts along with cooperating partners Julia Schäfer (Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig), Bettina Steinbrügge (Kunstverein in Hamburg), Zita Cobb, Willem de Rooij and Nicolaus Schafhausen (Fogo Island Arts), and Dr Franziska Nentwig and Mathilda Legemah (Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft). Dr Stephanie Rosenthal (Gropius Bau) served as an adviser.