Anne Imhof wins the Preis der Nationalgalerie 2015, Bastian Günther is awarded the Förderpreis für Filmkunst. BMW as exclusive partner.

Berlin. On the evening of September 18, 2015 in the presence of State Minister of Culture Monika Grütters the winner of the Preis der Nationalgalerie was announced in an award ceremony at the Hamburger Bahnhof – Museum für Gegenwart – Berlin.

The Jury with Bernard Blistène, director of the Musée National d’Art Moderne, Centre Pompidou, Paris; Manuel Borja-Villel, director of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía, Madrid; Elena Filipovic, director of the Kunsthalle Basel; Udo Kittelmann, director of the Nationalgalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin und Gabriele Knapstein, head of exhibitions at Hamburger Bahnhof, decided after intensive discussions to award Anne Imhof (born 1978 in Gießen, lives and works in Frankfurt/Main and Paris) with the prize.

 With the award Anne Imhof receives the commitment to have a solo show in one of the Nationalgalerie’s location next year as well as an extensive publication about her work and the exhibition.

Jury statement :

“After a lively discussion of both the work presented here and the overall oeuvre of the four nominees the jury voted for Anne Imhof. The complexity of her works grounded in different sources and media – among them cinema, visual art and performance – involves the audience in a flow of images and the experience of a distinct temporality. Between theatricality and image making Anne Imhof articulates a new position which has convinced the jury.”

In cooperation with the Deutsche Filmakademie the Förderpreis für Filmkunst was awarded for the third time. Bastian Günther (born 1974 in Hachenburg, lives and works in Berlin and Austin, Texas) wins the award with his 80 minute long hybridfilm California City and receives 10.000 Euro for future projects.

The jury with Marius Babias, director of the n.b.k., Berlin; Fritzi Haberlandt, member of the Deutsche Filmakademie; Fred Kelemen, member of the Deutsche Filmakademie; Eva Kraus, director of the Neues Museum, Nuremburg; Polly Staple, director of the Chisenhale Gallery, London, selected the winner out of six candidates from the shortlist.

 Jury statement:
“Documentary, or feature film?

Political film, or metaphysical drama about the loneliness and forsakenness of the human being in this world, inhospitably contrived and ravaged by humans themselves? Never mind. This film is not a narrow either-or, rather it moves within the intellectual-artistic sphere of the broader as-well-as. Its categorical unclassifiability unsettles; the precision of its form and the composition of its images does this too. Thus they deny a monopolising and banal interpretation. An important film which raises awareness and unsettles and clears the head for that which is worth telling and considering; by a director, Bastian Günther, who without a doubt deserves this prize for his film “California City”, and who, together with his team, has earned the appreciation and recognition expressed here.”

As a symbolic prize Iris Berben and Edward Berger (both Deutsche Filmakademie) as well as Bernard Blistène handed over the signed multiple Intuition by Joseph Beuys from 1968 to Anne Imhof and Bastian Günther.

The awarded film California City and the exhibition of the four shortlist candidates are on show at Hamburger Bahnhof until January 17, 2016.

The scriptwriter and actress Anna Brüggemann was leading through the award ceremony. More than 800 invited guests and members of the Verein der Freunde der Nationalgalerie, along with its longstanding partner BMW celebrated the two winners.
The Preis der Nationalgalerie is made possible by the Verein der Freunde der Nationalgalerie and supported by BMW.

For more information and images to download, please visit the press room on www.preis2015.de or the BMW PressClub (www.press.bmwgroup.com).

For further questions please contact:

Dr. Thomas Girst

BMW Group Corporate and Governmental Affairs

Head of Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49-89-382-24753

For further information please contact BMW Group Cultural Engagement:

Telephone: +49 151 601 51468

Internet:  www.press.bmwgroup.com

Mail: presse@bmw.de

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For more than 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100 cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the main focus of its long-term commitment on modern and contemporary art, jazz and classical music as well as architecture and design. In 1972, three large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard Richter specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group's Munich headquarters. Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Zubin Metha, Daniel Barenboim and Anna Netrebko have co-operated with BMW. The company has also commissioned famous architects such as Karl Schwanzer, Zaha Hadid and Coop Himmelb(l)au to design important corporate buildings and plants. In 2011, the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a global initiative of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the Guggenheim Museum and the BMW Group celebrated its world premiere in New York. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all the cultural activities it is involved in for granted – as this is just as essential for groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a successful business. 

Further information: www.bmwgroup.com/culture and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview 

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