The open call for the third edition of the Maker Behind the Maker Award has been launched. The Maker Behind the Maker Award honors people whose impeccable craftsmanship and supportive collaboration have been indispensable for a visual artist to best materialize their work. The award is created by Kunstinstituut Melly in collaboration with the Mondriaan Fund, a public fund for visual art and cultural heritage in the Netherlands.
Visual artists with an experience of more than five years of creating artworks and projects are invited to nominate one or more people to this award. Nominations can only be made for a craftsperson living in The Netherlands. The nomination form consists of presenting the craftsperson nominated, by writing a brief statement explaining why or how that person was important in the development of one or several artworks or projects.
The closing date for submitting nominations is 28 May 2023.
For the purpose of this award, the craft can range from manual to intellectual expertise: a craftsperson for a visual artist can be, for example, a fabricator, a technician, an interpreter, an editor, or someone with certain expertise which helps make artworks or projects come into fruition. The nominated person can either work independently or in a company/institution; the person may also be a visual artist; the person may be a one-time hire or a long-standing collaborator. Nominators can present more than one nominee; each nomination has to be presented in an individual form.
This is the third iteration of the Maker Behind the Maker Award. In 2021 the award was presented to Charly van Rest, who has provided or created the sound and music for films and exhibitions by many artists and institutions. Struktuur 68, a studio for ceramics, was presented the award in 2022.
The nominations review and recipient selection are made by a three-member external jury convened in May 2023 by Kunstinstituut Melly. The winner of the Maker behind the Maker Award receives a cash gift of €5,000.