The Media Art Prize of the Faculty of Art and Design is traditionally conferred during the »summaery« annual exhibition, which took place for what was the thirteenth time in 2021. The two first prizes with prize money of €1,250 were awarded to Eleftherios Krysalis for his thesis »Politics of Listening: Soundscapes from Ramallah, Palestine« and to Paloma Joana Llambias Ottone for her video essay »Chile is burning and I only see blurry images«. Merkur Privatbank donated the prize money for the thirteenth year. Wolfgang Genczler, Head of Corporate Clients SMEs / Director of Merkur Privatbank, congratulated all nominees and prize winners: »We were able to convince ourselves of the creativity, versatility and first-class quality of the work. They speak for the outstanding capabilities and expertise of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar. We feel very strongly about supporting this event as a platform for exchange and the mediation of social values.«

Jury statements:

Paloma Joanna LLambias Ottone »Chile is burning and I only see blurry images»
Out of personal motivation and a desire to connect socially, Paloma Joanna LLambias Ottone decided to embark on a fascinating multifaceted cinematic experiment in which she documents observations of herself. She uses collage techniques to create a video essay from different sources such as mobile phone videos, WhatsApp messages and recordings of video meetings. Through continuous shifts in perspective between personal situations and media realities, the artist provides a striking reminder of the limitations of the promises of the digital world and the social community.

Eleftherios Krysalis »Politicsof Listening«
The audio work »Politics of Listening« by Eleftherios Krysalis addresses a complex political issue in a sensitive and artistically consistent manner. Jury members were impressed by the way the artist never succumbs to the technical possibilities of a multi-channel composition, but rather uses them in a reduced, subtle way to the benefit of the artistic composition. He succeeds in sensitising us to conscious listening and enables us to experience a mood that is under-represented in the prevailing media coverage.

The Bauhaus Film Institute’s Film Promotion Prizes were also awarded, which support film projects or works and concepts that are still in the making with €1,000 each. The successful student film initiative, which continued to support film-making students at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar and to help them to network during the COVID-19 pandemic, as well as the EIGENHEIM Weimar gallery were honoured. Bianka Voigt and Konstantin Bayer’s gallery is celebrating its fifteenth anniversary this year. It has been highly committed to hosting the Media Art Prize for four years now.

The show will remain open beyond the annual exhibition of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar, until 31 July 2021.

A new art funding programme for graduates was announced during the award ceremony – also as a »sign of hope for the time after the pandemic«, according to Professor Wolfgang Kissel, Dean of the Faculty of Art and Design. The art prize that the Thompson family plans to fund was explained by Daniel Thompson, who is himself an alumnus of the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar: from the 2021/22 winter semester, international students from the field of fine art/public art will receive generous support during their final phase at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar with two funding cycles per year.

Media artists nominated in 2021:
Julia Albrecht | Carlos Garcia Fernandez | Eleftherios Krysalis | Paloma Joana Llambias Ottone | Anna Rupp | Andreas von Stosch | Tobias Zimmer
Jury members:
Olaf Bender (multimedia artist, label founder and musician – Chemnitz), Alice Koegel (Exhibition Director / Nationalgalerie Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin) and Robert Sorg (Director, Kunstverein Jena)
Coordinator and curator:
Konstantin Bayer

Location: EIGENHEIM Weimar, Asbachstraße 1 (historical gardener’s house in the Weimarhallenpark)
Exhibition dates: 15–31 July 2021
Opening hours: Thursday to Saturday, 4–7 pm

More information:
www.uni-weimar.de/summaery
www.galerie-eigenheim.de
Konstantin Bayer is happy to answer any questions: konstantin.bayer[at]galerie-eigenheim.de