The fourth edition of Unseen Photo Fair and Festival opens with new talents. Several awards and project funds founded to foster the careers of emerging artists were presented during the first days of Unseen. These include the ING Unseen Talent Award, the Outset | Unseen Exhibition Fund, the Meijburg Art Commission, and the Unseen Dummy Award.
The ING Unseen Talent Award.
Sophie Jung (b. 1982, Luxemburg) received a project fund of €10,000. In addition, Lara Gasparotto (BE) was announced as the winner of the Public Prize, which was determined through online voting. Gasparotto received a commission to create new work for the ING Collection.
The Meijburg Art Commission
Anouk Kruithof (b. 1981, Netherlands) was selected as the winner of the Meijburg Art Commission. Talented up-and-coming artists competed for the Meijburg Art Commission by submitting a proposal for a unique artwork with a focus on photography. All are participating Unseen artists aged 35 and under. Anouk Kruithof will be given a project fund to produce a site-specific work for the Meijburg & Co office. The artwork will subsequently be added to the art collection of Meijburg & Co.
According to the jury*: “Through her experimentation with new materials, Kruithof truly pushes the borders of photography. In this site-specific commission for Meijburg & Co, the artist will create a unique work of art that not only encompasses the company’s history, but that also engages with its employees and visitors through its sculptural, three-dimensional qualities. Kruithof’s ‘photographic sculpture’ promises to be more than just an artwork; it promises an experience, a proper welcoming at Meijburg & Co.”
*The international jury made up of Wiebe Cnossen (Partner Meijburg & Co), Kim Knoppers (Curator, Foam Fotografiemuseum Amsterdam) and Peter Puklus (artist), during the Unseen Photo Fair & Festival. Nominees for this year’s Meijburg Art Commission are: Sjoerd Knibbeler, Inka & Niclas, Noemie Goudal and Melinda Gibson.
The Outset | Unseen Exhibition Fund
After two successful editions of Outset | Unseen Exhibition Fund at Unseen Photo Fair last year, the institutional platform for emerging talent is back. The curatorial committee* selected Vincent Delbrouck (b. 1975, Belgium) as the recipient of the 2015 Outset | Unseen Exhibition Fund. At Unseen Photo Fair 2015, Delbrouck is presenting two projects, which both span the last ten years. The pictures are taken in Cuba and Nepal, locations that Delbrouck often revisits, hereby reassessing his own work. The aesthetics of his works are influenced by the environments he operates in; whereas the images of Nepal evoke a certain stillness, the Cuba images are dynamic and eclectic. Delbrouck makes use of analogue photography, texts and found objects. Moreover he employs collage, photographs as objects, and superimposed images. Installation and improvisation are core to the presentation of his work. Next to that his self-published books reveal a highly intuitive and personal practice.
The jury* said: “The work of Vincent Delbrouck struck us as an interesting opposition to the clean aesthetics that are so predominant in the digital realm. While combining the physicality of the analogue imprint with an intuitive and instinctive way of working, Delbrouck creates installations as a flux of life.”
*The jury comprising of Eva Eicker (assistant curator at The Photographers’ Gallery), Joachim Naudts (curator & editor of photography at FoMu & Punctum), and Sena Çakırkaya (head of photography department at Istanbul Modern).
The Unseen Dummy Award
An international jury came together at Unseen and selected Tiger 2 by Yoshinori Masuda as the winner of the 2015 Unseen Dummy Award. The Unseen Dummy Award, an initiative of Unseen and Lecturis, will give the winning artist an entry into the international photography industry. The final announcement was made at a special event that took place at the Unseen Living Room. Last year’s winning dummy by Simon Rimaz was launched simultaneously.
This year’s members of the jury, Paul van Mameren (Managing Director, Lecturis), Simon Baker (Senior Curator, International Art (Photography), Tate), Paul Kooiker (artist) and Anna-Alix Koffi (Founder, Off the Wall), state: “The diversity and quality of submissions this year were very high. We were looking for books that combined original and technically sophisticated approaches to photography with a sense of the value of sequencing and design so important for photo books. We were also looking for something completely new, something ‘unseen.’ The shortlist reflects very well on these criteria and priorities, with great contrast in approaches to the photographic image, either found or taken, and to book making as a practice. In the final four books we find aesthetic experimentation and innovative uses of design, sequencing and production, but also radical uses of the book format in both political and conceptual terms. The winning book Tiger 2, is a strange, daring and challenging book, which literally stages and re-stages the act of looking from its front cover to its last page. It was, given the high quality of both the long-list and shortlist, inevitably a controversial choice, but it is certain to be an instant classic!” .
INFORMATION
Unseen Photo Fair
Amsterdam
The Netherlands
http://unseenamsterdam.com
