Shortlist Announcement Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2023

Artists Ghita Skali, Jonas Staal, Josefin Arnell and Michael Tedja have been nominated for the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2023. The Prix de Rome jury has selected these four artists for the shortlist for the prestigious incentive award for talented visual artists. The shortlist was announced today by the Mondriaan Fund, which organises and finances the Prix de Rome award.

The four nominees receive a working budget to create new work, which will go on display at the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam from Saturday 14 October 2023. The jury will select the ultimate winner based on the new work. The winning artist will be rewarded with a € 40,000 contribution and the opportunity to participate in a residency of their choice.

The jury selected Skali, Staal, Arnell and Tedja from 321 artists who registered for the award. In a change to previous editions, no age limit was in place for applicants. The jury believes that each nominee shows great promise for the future. The selection of artists made in the framework of this edition stresses the idea that artistic relevance and urgency does not only depend on the development of new, unexpected ideas proposed by hitherto unknown artists but can also be found in a consistent artistic practice that is seen or shown in a new light and a changing context.

Jury
The members of the Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2023 jury are: Ann Demeester (Director of Kunsthaus Zürich), Ahmet Polat (photographer and filmmaker; founder and Director of Studio Polat), Robbert Roos (Director of Kunsthal KAdE, Amersfoort), Femke Herregraven (visual artist and 2019 nominee), Christina Li (freelance curator and writer) and Eelco van der Lingen (Director of the Mondriaan Fund), who is the non-voting Chair.

About the Prix de Rome
The Prix de Rome is the pre-eminent incentive award for talented visual artists from the Netherlands and/or the Caribbean part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. The aim of the Prix de Rome is to stimulate the development of highly talented artists and to boost their visibility, thereby ensuring that the visual art field remains topical. The Mondriaan Fund has organised and financed the award since 2012. The Prix de Rome Visual Arts 2023 is being organised in collaboration with the Stedelijk Museum Amsterdam. An accompanying publication will also be produced.

The shortlist

(left) Ghita Skali. Photograph: Henna Hyvärinen. (right) Ghita Skali, Ambition for the Best (film still), 2020.

Ghita Skali
Casablanca, Morocco, 1992, lives and works in Amsterdam

Ghita Skali has a multidisciplinary practice that encompasses installations, videos and interventions. Ghita uses odd news, rumours and propaganda to disrupt institutional power structures, such as the Western contemporary art world, state oppression and government politics. Her work blends humour and critique, and reaches beyond the art world.

The jury praises Ghita Skali’s ability to connect the personal and the fictional with political and factual within a spectrum of forms. The work is light-hearted, but never superficial. Ghita uses clever interventions to question reality, both inside and outside of the museum. The artist has a talent for conveying crucial messages, even when using a single object only.

(left) Jonas Staal. Photograph: Ruben Hamelink. (right) Radha D’Souza and Jonas Staal, Court for Intergenerational Climate Crimes, 2021. Framer Framed Amsterdam. Photograph: Ruben Hamelink.

Jonas Staal
Zwolle, the Netherlands, 1981, lives and works in Rotterdam

In his work, Jonas Staal explores the relationship between art, propaganda and democracy. The artist analyses and questions the world of today, and its dominant power regimes. Using artistic and theoretical manifestations – including public interventions, exhibitions, video studies and publications – Jonas simultaneously presents new democratic models to help create a more solidary world.

The jury believes that Jonas Staal’s oeuvre is systematic and rigorous, while giving space to new visual storylines. The members of the jury appreciate how the artist consistently connects global and local themes, while working on the development of a new discourse. Jonas allows personal reflections and new conceptual and visual methods to enter into his work. Alongside his continuing interest in designing new models for the future, the jury acknowledges his growing interest in the critical examination of models from the past.

(left) Josefin Arnell. Photograph: Lukas Heistinger. (right) Josefin Arnell, Wild Filly Story, 2021. UKS Oslo. Photograph: Vegard Kleven.

Josefin Arnell
Ljusnedal, Sweden, 1984, lives and works in Amsterdam

Josefin Arnell’s primary medium is film, but she often diverges into physical disciplines including drawing, performance and installation art. Her work straddles the boundary between documentary and fiction, with protagonists finding their way in a contemporary world with impossible demands. Josefin often uses personages without acting experience in her films, capturing the rawness of unattainable desire, perfectionism and control.

The jury praises Josefin Arnell’s artistic voice, which is both bold and distinct, within the contemporary visual arts and is enthusiastic about the mixture of references to high and popular culture in her oeuvre. With her expressive installations and films, Arnell creates a space where people feel invited and involved. She explores the boundaries between the purely personal and idiosyncratic and a collective, communal experience.

(left) Michael Tedja. Photograph: Miek Hoekzema. (right) Michael Tedja, The Color Guide Series, 2022. Museum de Fundatie. Photograph: Peter Tijhuis.

Michael Tedja
Rotterdam, the Netherlands, 1971, lives and works in Amsterdam

Michael Tedja has a multidisciplinary practice that combines images and text in paintings, drawings, poetry and installations. His work is expressive and conceptual at the same time. It is bursting with symbolism and autobiographical elements. Michael’s work often takes the form of a series, either intimate or monumental in size. Unexpected elements of collage and assemblage frequently return in his work.

The jury is enthusiastic about Michael Tedja’s singular visual language, and the mix of ingredients within his multi-faceted practice that encompasses visual art and literature, the lyrical and the political. The members of the jury praise the non-binary position that Michael adopts in relation to his artistic identity. His authentic, consistent and recognisable oeuvre features a range of artistic values and positions, which are relevant for the development of contemporary visual art.