transmediale Award 2007
Tonight the transmediale Awards 2007 were announced at the Akademie der Künste in Berlin. The international jury awarded a first prize and two second prizes: The Belgian artist Herman Asselberghs received the first prize (4.000 Euro), the second prize was split (2.000 Euro each) between Antoine Schmitt from France (installation 'still living') and Tim Shore from the UK (video 'Cabinet').
Asselberghs 'Proof of Life' is a sound movie: The video image shows the interior of an empty, open space, where human presence can only be felt through the adjoining sounds; a male voice recalls horrendous TV-images, a popular disaster movie, a long-term imprisonment or hostage-taking. The radical rift between sound and image brings the described scenes uncomfortably close to the visitor.
From the jury’s statement: 'Proof of Life' is testament to the power of art in bringing its audience into the present. Its layering of meaning and the interplay between different times and spaces, mirrors current multiple realities saturated in images of terror where the viewer is impotent and in a perpetual state of emergency.
1030 artistic works from 59 countries were submitted for this year’s competition. The international jury comprised of Inke Arns (Dortmund), Eva de Groote (Ghent), Miguel Leal (Porto), Ellen Pau (Hong Kong) and Mike Stubbs (Melbourne) nominated three works for the transmediale Award 2007; while five further works received an honorary mention.
transmediale Award 2007
1. Prize:
Herman Asselberghs (be) - 'Proof of Life', video (30'), 2005
2. Prizes:
Antoine Schmitt (fr) - 'still living', installation, 2006
Tim Shore (uk) - 'Cabinet', video (18'20'') 2006
