Prix de Rome Architecture
For the Prix de Rome Architecture 2022 the Mondriaan Fund collaborated with the Creative Industries Fund NL and Het Nieuwe Instituut. The central theme this year was Healing Sites; diverse locations dealing with social trauma. An international jury selected 4 shorlist nominees: Arna Mačkić, Dividual (Andrea Bit and Maciej Wieczorkowski), Lesia Topolnyk, and Studio KIWI (Kim Kool and Willemijn van Manen).
They have spent 4 months researching the fraught history of these places, the healing potential of spatial design, and the role they themselves play in society as architects, landscape architects and urban planners. Each tries to work in a way that restores their chosen building site, despite – or perhaps because of – its oppressive legacy. The 4 interpretations of Healing Sites are exhibited at Het Nieuwe Instituut until 9 April 2023.
On 1 December 2022 we announced the winner of the prize: Lesia Topolnyk!
Exhibition teaser Prix de Rome Architecture 2022
Winner Prix de Rome Architecture 2022: Lesia Topolnyk
On 1 December 2022 Lesia Topolnyk received the prize from State Secretary Gunay Uslu (Culture and Media). Lesia received the disctinction for her proposal ‘No Innocent Landscape’ on the crashsite of MH17. The prize consists of €40,000 and a choice of residency.
With her design No Innocent Landscape, Topolnyk shows how the landscape that forms the backdrop to such an event is not innocent in itself, but represents a complicated interplay of global and local histories. In this case, Hrabove is not only the site of the attack on MH17, but also of illegal mining activities which negatively impact the region’s nature and environment. Topolnyk uses narrative and construction techniques to deconstruct this relationship in her dark, oppressive design. She argues that trauma processing and reconstruction in such a place can take place only after such a deconstruction, and that architecture can mediate in this.
Exhibition
Until 9 April 2023
Het Nieuwe Instituut, Museumpark 25 Rotterdam
www.hetnieuweinstituut.nl
The 2022 Prix de Rome is accompanied by a publication by Jap Sam Books.
The jury
An international jury selected a shortlist of 4 nominees from a list of 53 architects who have applied for the prize. The jury of the Prix de Rome Architecture 2022 consists of: Afaina de Jong (founder and director AFARAI); Alessandra Covini (co-founder and co-director of Studio Ossidiana, Prix de Rome 2018 winner); Carson Chan (Emilio Ambasz Institute Director at MoMA); Dirk Sijmons (founder of H+N+S Landschapsarchitecten); Jan Jongert (founding partner Superuse Studios); Syb Groeneveld (CEO Creative Industries Fund NL, technical chair).
Prix de Rome Visual Arts
Visual artists from the Netherlands and the Caribbean part of the Kingdom could apply for the open call of the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2023. Unlike other years, there is no longer an age limit.
At the end of April 2023, it will be known which artists have been selected by the jury for the shortlist. They are invited to create new work that will be presented from mid-October 2023 in a group exhibition at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. Based on the new work, the jury selects a winner, who receives an amount of 40,000 euros and a residency of their choice.
The Prix de Rome Visual Arts is organised by the Mondriaan Fund on behalf of the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science.
The jury
The members of the Prix de Rome Visual Arts jury in 2023 are: Ann Demeester (Director of Kunsthaus Zürich), Ahmet Polat (photographer and filmmaker; founder and Director of Studio Polat), Robbert Roos (Director of Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort), Femke Herregraven (visual artist and 2019 nominee), Christina Li (freelance curator and writer) and Eelco van der Lingen (Director of the Mondriaan Fund), who is the non-voting Chair.
Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2021
In 2021, artists Mercedes Azpilicueta, Alexis Blake, Silvia Martes and Coralie Vogelaar were selected for the shortlist. They created new work especially for the prize, which was on display at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam until 24 April 2022. Visual artist Alexis Blake won the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2021 for her performance Rock to jolt [ ] stagger to ash.
More information
About Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome is the oldest award in the Netherlands for visual artists and architects under the age of 35. The award dates back to 1808 when Louis Napoleon introduced the Prix de Rome in the Netherlands to promote the arts. Although the award adopted various guises over the years, the aim has always been to trace talented artists and promote their further development and visibility. Since January 2012, the organisation and funding of the award is handled by the Mondriaan Fund. The Fund does so with due respect for the Prix de Rome’s long history and with the express wish to guarantee its status as an independent award.