With prize money of 10,000 euros, the Art Prize is awarded biannually to an artist whose works have continually given new impetus to the international art scene. As part of the prize a solo exhibition will be held in the Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst.
Born in Newcastle, England, in 1944, Phyllida Barlow invariably works primarily with sculptures. The materials Barlow uses match an aesthetic of the rough and simple. Plaster, cement, plastics, wood as well as textiles are amongst her favorite working materials. These support a working out of fundamental opposites, for example between soft and hard, full and empty, which Barlow explores as creative and substantial contrasts.
Barlow’s works are characterized by a forceful connection to place. Her sculptures and their specific setting in a site always provoke a reaction, an attitude, an emotion, or indeed prompt action. In this way the forms exert a political or social effect. Through their body-like dimension and materiality the objects directly establish contact with viewers. A distanced view of her works is hardly possible. Instead, we have an immediate, physical experience. The artist sees the act of destroying most of her works once an exhibition ends as a means to revalue and enhance the aspect of presence.
The award ceremony and exhibition opening will take place on Sunday, May 13, 2012 in the Ludwig Forum.
The jury of the Aachen Art Prize for 2012: Marion Ackermann (Director, Kunstsammlung NRW, Düsseldorf), Chris Dercon (Director, Tate Modern, London), Dr. Brigitte Franzen (Director, Ludwig Forum, Aachen), Ernst Höhler (Chairman of the Verein der Freunde des Ludwig Forum), and Dirk Snauwaert (Director, Wiels Centrum voor Hedendaagse Kunst, Brussels).
The Aachen Art Prize is donated by the Verein der Freunde des Ludwig Forum für Internationale Kunst and is made possible by a cooperation with the City of Aachen and Aachen business and industry.
Previous winners of the Aachen Art Prize:
Pawel Althamer (2010), Aernout Mik (2008), Roman Signer (2006), Andreas Slominski (2004), Tacita Dean (2002), Michael Asher (2000), Richard Tuttle (1998), Katharina Fritsch (1996), Christian Boltanski (1994), On Kawara (1992), Ilya Kabakov (1990), Richard Long (1988), A.R. Penck (1985), and Luciano Fabro (1983). – www.ludwigforum.de
