The Deutschen Akademie Rom Villa Massimo Rome Prize is the highest award German artists can receive abroad. The prize includes a ten-month residency at Villa Massimo and supports exceptionally qualified and gifted artists in developing their artistic talent through an extended stay in Italy. The residency is meant to allow artists to focus on their inspirations without financial constraints.

The scholarship holders work in the fields of visual arts, architecture, literature and music composition. As part of the award, they are provided with studios at Villa Massimo. Works created during the residency will be presented to the public in a joint final exhibition. Prof. Dakić’s residency will begin on 5 September 2022 and will conclude on 30 June 2023. Tobias Zielony, Liza Dieckwisch (art), Fabian Wagner and Alfredo Thiermann (architecture), Olga Martynova and Arne Rautenberg (literature), as well as Ondřej Adámek and Marcus Schmickler (Musik) will also be joining Prof. Dakić in the Villa Massimo studios in Rome in September 2022.

»This is an incredible and well-deserved honour for our colleague Danica Dakić«, said a delighted University President Prof. Winfried Speitkamp, congratulating her on behalf of the entire university. »This award is a testament to Prof. Dakić’s international reputation. We are excited about her project in Rome and wish her continued success in this endeavour«.

Prof. Dakić elaborated on her plans for the residency, saying, »The Villa Massimo Rome Prize holds tremendous significance to me. I am looking forward to the project and my time in Rome, as well as to the associated exchanges, encounters, discussions and projects. Together with local protagonists and photographer and cinematographer Egbert Trogemann, I plan to create a cinematic and photographic narrative, in which Rome become a stage and filming location, a space for the imagination and production of images and stories. I also intend to use the Rome Prize to act as an ambassador for the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar«.

Danica Dakić was born in Sarajevo in 1962. Much of her work--often created in intense collaborations with actors--takes up motifs from (art) history and questions cultural memory, identity, language and role models and their constant state of flux and their utopian potential. Prof. Dakić has been a professor at the Bauhaus-Universität Weimar since 2011 where she directs the international »Public Art and New Artistic Strategies« Master's Degree Programme. Her solo work has been exhibited at the Bosnia-Herzegovina Pavillion at the 58th Venice Biennale (2019); the Lehmbruck Museum, Duisburg (2017); the Museum für Moderne Kunst (MMK), Frankfurt (2013); Hammer Museum, Los Angeles (2011); Kunsthalle Düsseldorf (2009); as well as in group exhibitions including documenta12, Kassel (2007); the 8th and 11th Istanbul Biennale (2203, 2009); Sydney Biennale (2010); and São Paulo Biennale (2014).

For the first time, this year’s selection process was carried out digitally and the organisational support was provided by the Kulturstiftung der Länder. The jury for the award in the category of visual arts was made up of Prof. Katharina Grosse, Achim Hochdörfer M.A., Dr. Anette Hüsch, Dr. Eva Huttenlauch and Dr. Stefan Kraus.

Further information can be found under:

www.villamassimo.de