The Szpilman Award, named after the German art group Szpilman, is awarded to works that exist only for a moment or a short period of time. The purpose of the award is to promote such works whose forms consist of ephemeral situations.[1]
Since its beginnings in 2003 it is still the only art prize for ephemeral works in the world. The Szpilman Award is awarded annually. It carries with a dynamic cash award (sum of money collected by members of the jury parallel to the competition, called "Jackpot Stipendium"), a trip to Cimochowizna (Poland), and a huge challenge cup will be handed over to the next prize winner in the subsequent year.[2] The prize is open to the public, the jury choose up to seven artists for the short list and one winner.
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In 2003 art students of Hochschule für Gestaltung Offenbach (Germany) and Städelschule Frankfurt (Germany) founded the Szpilman Award.[3] In the beginning only people from Germany could apply, 17 participants took part. They changed regulations and opened the call for Europe in 2004, 23 participants took part. The public interest in the prize raised, so the attendance raised up to 173 in 2005. One year later Szpilman abolished any restrictions: everyone from all over the world can apply now for the Szpilman Award (2006: 358 participants / 2007: 203 participants / 2008: 298 participants / 2009: 375 participants). People from around the globe participate (Argentina, Armenia, Australia, Austria, Belarus, Belgium, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Bulgaria, Canada, China, Colombia, Croatia, Cuba, Czech Republic, Denmark, Estonia, Ethiopia, Finland, France, Germany, Greece, Guernsey, Hungary, Iceland, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Japan, Korea, Latvia, Lebanon, Lithuania, Macedonia, Republic of Moldova, Mozambique, Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Peru, Philippines, Poland, Portugal, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Montenegro, Singapore, Slovakia, Slovenia, South Africa, Spain, Sweden, Switzerland, Turkey, UK, Ukraine, USA, Venezuela, Vietnam).[4] Szpilman Award is based in Berlin (Germany).
Awarded the Promotion Prize for Fine Arts of Kärnten/Austria which obliges her to arrange an exhibition at the Galerie Kärnten, Catrin Bolt will not exhibit paintings but announces a performance at the opening instead. When the speeches begin (the commissioner of culture in Kärnten is Jörg Haider), she leaves the event. The opening itself ( the speeches, the audience, the buffet) turn out to be the actual performance. Catrin Bolt hires a photographer to take pictures of the night which she wants to exhibit at the show the next day. However, the gallery refuses the hanging.
A young British Muslim, in traditional dress, is placed in a cage by Doug Fishbone in the middle of a busy private view at the Freud Museum in London. The young man sits impassively, not interacting with the audience at all throughout the opening, while people mill around him chatting and drinking. The entire performance takes only several hours, only for the opening of an exhibition. The exhibition is entitled 'Paranoia', and looks at different kinds of cultural paranoias operating in the contemporary West. [5]
Climbing up a 8 meter long streetlamp Martin Flemming measured out the distance between a highway bridge and the top of a streetlamp. After measuring he has produced an empty book put it in the gap between bridge and lamp and shot a photo of that situation. He produced a second book. This book - fitting exactly, so it can not be opened - is containing a photo of itself in that given situation. So it is impossible to see the photo but possible to see what is on it, if you are standing under the bridge. If the book is taken out by anybody, the work is eliminated.
In a Czech newspaper Albert Heta places an advert announcing the ceremonial opening of the Embassy of Kosovo. The advert is austerely designed, formal looking and placed in a prominent position where it cannot be overlooked. With this glimpse on an outwardly standard ceremony – the opening of a diplomatic mission –, Albert Heta draws attention to the unsolved status of his native country: At this time Kosovo was under UN protectorate (UN protectorate over Kosovo).
Hank Schmidt in der Beek stands in the manner of a plein air painter (En_plein_air) surrounded by mountain scenery and paints the pattern of his shirt on canvas.
Kamila Szejnoch installs a tiny swing at the monumental bronze 'Berling Army Soldier' in [Warsaw]. She suggests a change in the function of the monuments, attempting to build a bridge between the present and the past, adding a contem- porary layer distinct from their original style and function. She asks, what a particular memorial actually refers to and what kind of history it conceals. [6]
Michal Sznajder studies and scrutinises reality. He creates several images of moments. Recorded with a simple digital camera without sound, only a few seconds, short looped motions are shown. These little few-seconds sequences are presented as well in a loop. In contrast to the linear way of perception every moment repeats endless.
In a gesture of a reporter Julia Weidner sits without asking next to sleeping and reading people on park benches in Vienna. She confronts and comments the situation again and again with the chorus of the song 'Keep on the Sunny Side'.
Notes:
| a. | ^ Kosovo is the subject of a territorial dispute between the Republic of Serbia and the self-proclaimed Republic of Kosovo. The latter declared independence on 17 February 2008, while Serbia claims it as part of its own sovereign territory. Its independence is recognised by 86 UN member states. |
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