Call for entries for the Hans and Lea Grundig Prize 2021

A prize named in commemoration of the artists Hans Grundig (1901–1958) and Lea Grundig (1906–1977), under the patronage of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation will be awarded for artistic and art historical achievement, as well as for achievement in the communication of art. Applications should be submitted by March 31, 2021.

A diasporist lives and paints in two or more societies at once. Diasporic art is contradictory at its heart, being both internationalist and particularist. It can be inconsistent, which is a major blasphemy against the logic of much art education, because life in Diaspora is often inconsistent and tense; schismatic contradiction animates each day.

(R.B. Kitaj’s “Diasporist Manifesto”, 1988)

In commemoration of the artists Hans Grundig (1901–1958) and Lea Grundig (1906–1977) and under the patronage of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, the Hans and Lea Grundig Prize will be awarded for artistic and art historical achievement, as well as for achievement in the communication of art.

The category Artistic Projects welcomes completed and already exhibited contemporary art contributions (painting, drawing, prints, photography, sculpture, installation, film and video art) that relate to concepts of R.B. Kitaj’s diasporist philosophy: Contradiction, resistance, migration, flight, and exile — ever more people live simultaneously in multiple societies and create art that is political in its radicalness.

The category Art Historical Works welcomes research that focuses on the analysis and exploration of the diasporic in the work of artists who have personally experienced persecution and forced exile. Especially welcome are contributions on the themes “Proletarian Revolutionary Art”, “Verism in the 20th century”, “Art of exile in Palestine/Israel”, as well as “Jewish Artists in divided Post-war Germany”.

The category Communication of Art welcomes submissions addressing curatorial projects that communicate research and works concerned with socio-critical art practices of the 20th and 21st century. Given the current constraints on the communication of art during the Covid-pandemic, special attention will be given to curatorial projects that developed new ways to invite their audience to engage with their exhibition.
The award consists of 10,000 Euros in total, which may be bestowed in all three of the aforementioned categories. The jury will reserve its right to decide on how the prize money should be distributed.

Only completed or published works will be considered for the prize.

Applications should be submitted in digital form in German or in English by March 31, 2021 to: info@hans-und-lea-grundig.de.

Please include a personal statement about your entry of max. 1.500 signs. Please submit your work digitally, with data of OVER 3 MB per link.

Any recourse to courts of law is excluded.

The prizes will be awarded at the The Jewish Museum Frankfurt am Main on December 12, 2021.

The Jury
Members of the jury are: Dr. Thomas Flierl (freelance historian of architecture, author and publicist, Berlin), Dr. Eckhart Gillen (freelance art historian and curator, Berlin), Henning Heine (Department of Political Communication at the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Berlin), Kathleen Krenzlin (art historian and head of the Galerie Parterre Berlin and Kunstsammlung Pankow), Dr. habil. Rosa von der Schulenburg (art historian and Head of Fine Art Collection, Akademie der Künste, Berlin), Luise Schröder (artist and art educator, Leipzig, Berlin, Paris), Rachel Stern (Director of The Fritz Ascher Society for Persecuted, Ostracized and Banned Art, New York City, prize winner 2017), Dr. habil. Angelika Timm (analyst for Middle Eastern affairs, Liaison Lecturer of the Rosa Luxemburg Foundation, Berlin), Dr. Ines Weizman (theorist and historian of architecture, Director of Centre for Documentary Architecture, Head of PhD Programme, Royal College of Art, London, prize winner 2015).

Co-ordination: Dr. Oliver Sukrow (art historian, PostDoc research assistant, TU Wien, Austria).