Community as our central theme
The concept of community is omnipresent. But where does this desire for more community come from? Is it the answer to an increasingly complex world that is becoming more fragmented and anonymous? But while communities can strengthen cohesion and identity, they can also lead to divisions and conflicts, perpetuate stereotypes, and exclude. Politics, digitalization and, more recently, the pandemic and war have affected our perception of and behavior in communities in various ways. Thus, the theme of “Community” was at the heart of this year’s call for entries for the Art Vontobel Contemporary Photography Prize A New Gaze 4. Young artists from across Europe were invited to submit a project proposal revolving around this theme. The Vontobel Prize is awarded every two years, with each edition focusing on a different geographical region and a new, currently relevant topic.
Jury statements
Andreas E.F. Utermann, Vontobel Chairman Board of Directors and President of the Vontobel Art Commission: “With the fourth edition of our art prize A New Gaze, we are—for the very first time—jointly honoring two artist projects. The jury thus acknowledges the quality of two highly committed artists who facilitate an expanded sense of seeing and thinking through their projects. Augustin Lignier and Emidio Battipaglia successfully take on the given theme of ‘Community’ by addressing associated societal evolutions in varied yet complementary ways.”
Florian Ebner, Head of the Photography Department at Centre Pompidou, Paris (Jury Member): The selection of conceptual proposals by Augustin Lignier and Emidio Battipaglia will succeed in creating an exciting dialogue between two different worlds: the physical space of the city and the virtual space of artificial (and natural) intelligence beyond the human. With his project Wink Piece, Augustin Lignier simultaneously takes up the programmatic performances of the 1970s and expands the old genre of street photography, in which he finds a subtle and playful analogy in urban space for our practice of “likes” that has become commonplace. With his experimental approach, Emidio Battipaglia attempts to juxtapose two seemingly unrelated worlds in his work Synaptic Dialogues: the organic information of plants and the structures of artificial, neuronal networks. The Italian artist’s experimental arrangement, which has yet to be developed, will also be read as an invitation to understand organic perception beyond the human, as a New Gaze on our physical and virtual reality.
Jury
- Ann-Christin Bertrand, curator, author and lecturer in photography, Head of Programme BA Camera Arts at Lucerne University (guest expert and jury member)
- Georgina Casparis, Head & Curator Art Vontobel (jury member)
- Florian Ebner, Chief of Photography at Centre Pompidou (guest expert and jury member)
- Urs Stahel, independent curator, author and lecturer, and external advisor to Art Vontobel (jury member)
- Andreas E.F. Utermann, Chairman Board of Directors and President of the Vontobel Art Commission, plus other members of the Art Commission
About A New Gaze – Art Vontobel Contemporary Photography Prize
Mirroring the Art Vontobel Collection, the prize—awarded every two years since 2017—reflects its various core focal points: on the one hand, its international scope and dedication to supporting and promoting the works of young and emerging artists and, on the other, the attention on addressing key questions concerning contemporary society by collecting works that revolve around the presentation of humanity and our actions in the present. As such, each edition of A New Gaze focuses on a new geographical region and socially relevant topic. In addition to the prize money, the award also includes the production of the winning projects, an exhibition and an accompanying publication.
Previous winners:
