The two winners of this year's Edward Steichen Award, a biennial incentive supporting emerging European talents, have been determined by an international jury on Monday 25 October. The awards were presented in front of a large crowd at Mudam, and in the presence of . Born and working in Brussels, contemporary artist Eva L'Hoest was announced as the winner of the "Edward Steichen Award Luxembourg”, while the Luxembourg artist Nika Schmitt was awarded the "Edward Steichen Luxembourg Resident in New York Award".
Eva L'Hoest and Nika Schmitt will now be offered an artist residency of six and four months respectively and a monthly grant of $4,000 each to work in New York City, where Edward Steichen worked and lived for years. They’ll attend the International Studio and Curatorial Program (ISCP) in Brooklyn, a renowned residency-based contemporary art centre hosting artists and curators from all around the world.
“Eva L’Hoest has been creating a delicate dystopian universe for several years. Between fictional and real ruins, the moving images of her films and installations explore the meanders of memory - human and nonhuman - reminiscent of larger economic and environmental issues”, says the Belgian curator and writer Antoinette Jattiot.
Nika Schmitt, who was born in 1992 in Luxembourg, works and lives in Rotterdam. “In her work with rhythm and patterns, Nika Schmitt shows how data is formed in contact with other data and how this interactive relationship is connected to one’s own sensory experiences”, write Sandra Schwender (Centre national de l’audiovisuel, CNA) and German visual artist Carl Rethmann.
The Edward Steichen Award takes place every two years to support emerging European talent in the field of contemporary art. It was initiated to create an opportunity for young practitioners to expand their horizon, as well as to contribute to establishing networks between international artistic communities. A particular emphasis is put on links between the art communities of Luxembourg and New York, where Edward Steichen gained artistic prominence.
The Jury was composed by Susan Hapgood (ISCP, NYC), Anett Holzheid (Zentrum für Kunst und Medien Karlsruhe), (MUDAM, Luxembourg) and Michèle Walerich (Œuvre Nationale de Secours Grande-Duchesse Charlotte).