Marianne.von.Willemer Prize for digital media 2018 awarded to Viennese artist starsky
press release as PDF
Fotoalbum auf Flickr
Prize awarded on November 15 at the Ars Electronica Center:
Marianne.von.Willemer Prize for digital media 2018 awarded to Viennese artist starsky
(Linz, 14.11.2018) The Viennese artist starsky has won this year’s Marianne.von.Willemer Prize for digital media. The city of Linz awarded her the prize, which comes with 3600 euros, for her project “niemand mischt sich ein” (“nobody gets involved”). The official award ceremony will take place on Thursday, November 15, at 18:00 in the Sky Loft of the Ars Electronica Center in Linz. “I’m pleased to be able to recognize starsky as an artist who stands for feminism and social criticism and takes these principles into the public realm through large-scale projections and photo installations,” said Eva Schobesberger, the city councilor for women.
niemand mischt sich ein
“niemand mischt sich ein” is a participatory art project about social and cultural politics. It strikes a blow for democracy, human rights, self-determination, the common good, and fairness. The project was prepared and implemented between April 26 and May 19, 2018 at the Vienna Künstlerhaus. An open workspace was set up for visitors and equipped with minimalist workstations including paper, pens, PCs, printers, and projectors. The floors and walls were gradually covered with sketches, plans, and plots. Animated text projections were also shown from various guerrilla interventions by starsky and the “nobody team.” A variable, open team provided a running series of spur-of-the-moment talks, workshops, and educational programs for visitors to the exhibition as well as activists, NGOs, social organizations, and school classes. The climax of the whole drama was the “Guerrilla Tour” on May 9, 2018. The team projected provocative texts onto architecture, properties, and people at select locations of power throughout Vienna. These ephemeral texts then found a place in the exhibition space at the Künstlerhaus as artefacts and documents.
Note: “nobody” stands for a multiple personality that anyone can take on. Anybody can become nobody and participate. At the same time, nobody means all the people who are not somebody and therefore have no voice, no weight and no visibility in the realm of public discourse.
starsky
starsky is a pioneer of projection art. Her multifaceted work comprises imposing large-format projections, extensive slide installations, polymedia live performances and urban text interventions. What they all have in common is the fusion of image, language, communication and space into a Gesamtkunstwerk that aims to create epiphanies in the observers‘ emotional memory that are as sudden as they are fleeting. starsky unapologetically blurs the boundaries between sub-, pop-, and high culture, submerging anything and everything in color, shape, words, and light: architecture, landscapes, structure and public space. starsky lives and works in Vienna.
Jury votes unanimously for “niemand mischt sich ein”
After considering all submissions for this year’s Marianne.von.Willemer Prize, the jury explained its decision as follows: “With the mobile projection Guerrilla Tour in Vienna, the renowned media artist starsky expands the contents and dramaturgy of a demonstration. With texts such as ‘zu den waffeln ! wir worten zurück !!’ she intervenes in public space with media devices, increasing the intensity of sociopolitical concerns.”
50 submissions for the 2018 Willemer Prize
A total of 50 projects were submitted to the Marianne.von.Willemer Prize in 2018. Each one was critically evaluated by a jury of experts consisting of Mag. art. Dagmar Schink (Chair of the jury and manager of the VALIE EXPORT Center Linz), Prof. (FH) Mag. art. Rosa von Suess (PhD, instructor at the St. Pölten University of Applied Sciences, Department IT & Media) and Prof. Mag. art. Gitti Vasicek (Professor for Time-Based Media at the University of Art and Design Linz).
Official Award Ceremony on November 15
On Thursday, November 15, at 18:00, the Willemer Prize will be officially awarded in the Sky Loft of the Ars Electronica Center. Admission is free. City councilor for women Mag. Eva Schobesberger and Artistic Co-Director of the Ars Electronica Festival, Dr. Christine Schöpf, will provide remarks. Following introduction of the jury, a speech in the winner’s honor, and the presentation of the winning project, there will be interviews with the winner and the award will be conferred. The moderator for the evening will be women’s officer for the city of Linz, Mag. Jutta Reisinger, with music by DJ La Oona.
The Marianne.von.Willemer Prize for digital media
The Marianne.von.Willemer Prize for digital media is awarded by the city of Linz in support of women who use digital media as a means of artistic expression. It also gives them an opportunity to present their work to the public. The award is issued every other year by the Women’s Office of the City of Linz in cooperation with Ars Electronica and with support from dorf TV.
The prize is named for Marianne von Willemer, born in Linz in 1784. At age 14, she moved to Frankfurt with her mother, where she met Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In 1819, Goethe‘s “Westöstlicher Diwan” was published and it was only when Marianne von Willemer had been dead for nine years that the world learned some of the most beautiful poems in the book were from her pen. Her achievements as an author receive little or no recognition from scholars.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/44043885800/
niemand guerilla tour durch wien / Fotocredit: Tiana Wirth / Printversion / Album
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/45811092222/
niemand guerilla tour durch wien / Fotocredit: Tiana Wirth / Printversion / Album
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/44044631060/
niemand guerilla tour durch wien / Fotocredit: Tiana Wirth / Printversion / Album
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/32004087238/
Gruppenfoto mit starsky / Fotocredit: Ars Electronica – Robert Bauernhansl / Printversion / Album
http://www.flickr.com/photos/arselectronica/30936154127/
Press Conference Marianne.von.Willemer-Preis für digitale Medien 2018 / Fotocredit: Ars Electronica – Robert Bauernhansl / Printversion / Album
