December 3, 2023 – February 11, 2024

Art Prize »junger westen« 2023
Sculpture and Installation

The art prize »junger westen« is the oldest municipal award for art after 1945 in Germany. Founded in 1948 by the city of Recklinghausen, it has been publicly announced every two years in changing categories since 1956. The 2023 jury named Mona Schulzek as the winner and also selected 22 artists (from 532 applications) for the exhibition: Eliza Ballesteros, Noémi Barbaglia, Rebekka Benzenberg, Marta Dyachenko, Fabian Friese, Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann, Isabella Fürnkäs, marc norbert hörler, Lucia Kempkes, Ju Young Kim, Maria Clara Kulemeyer, Julia Miorin, Esper Postma, Moritz Riesenbeck, Miriam Schmitz, Tatjana Stürmer, caner teker, Tatjana Vall, Emil Walde, Denise Werth, Karla Zipfel. All of the works submitted are exemplary of artistic practices that provide contemporary impulses for what goes beyond conventional sculptural categories. As such, "junger westen 2023" shows new paths for space-related art, whether aesthetic, social or political.

As introduced for the first time in 2021, the award winner will be given the entire upper floor of the Kunsthalle as a venue for a solo presentation.

For the jury, Mona Schulzek's work exemplifies what a sculptural practice in the categories 'sculpture and installation' can achieve today: to give contemporary impulses for what we try to understand as space. Mona Schulzek's works touch on discourses immanent to the art system but reach beyond it into various areas of life. In her installations, she makes use of various media and disciplines, such as photography or the natural sciences. This can be seen, for example, in her 'Outer Space Transmitter' since 2021. In it, Schulzek works with a space that surrounds us, which both actually exists and addresses the imaginary: outer space. Her art is all-encompassing, from the construction of a transmitter as a sculptural object, to the development of an 'extraterrestrial alphabet', to obtaining a certified radio licence. She is thus remarkably consistent in her sculptural and conceptual practice.

Mona Schulzek completed her studies at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 2023 as a master student of Gregor Schneider. She was already awarded a prize for her Outer Space Transmitter in 2022 and received the Max Ernst Scholarship in 2019. Her works are represented in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Bochum and the Max Ernst Museum Brühl. She has already had solo exhibitions at home and abroad, including France, Austria and Spain, among others.

The members of the jury this year were: Prof.in Dr. Martina Dobbe (Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf), Dr. Stefanie Kreuzer (Exhibition Director and Curator of Contemporary Art, Modern Art Collection, Kunstmuseum Bonn from October 2023 Director of the Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr), Max Leiß (Sculptor, Art Prize Winner »junger westen« 2017), Dr. Sandra Beate Reimann (Curator Museum Tinguely Basel), Christoph Tesche (Mayor of the City of Recklinghausen), Holger Freitag (Chairman of the Committee for Culture, Science and City History of the City of Recklinghausen), Dr. des. Nico Anklam (Director of the Museums of the City of Recklinghausen) and as a substitute Kerstin Weber (Research Associate, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen).

The art prize »junger westen« is awarded by the City of Recklinghausen with the support of the Cultural Foundation of the Stadtsparkasse Recklinghausen. Thanks to additional support from the Rotary Club Recklinghausen and the Ulrike and Bernd Tönjes Foundation, the former amount of 10.000 EUR could be increased this year for the first time to 20,000 EUR. This increase will remain for the next competitions until 2031.

A catalogue will be published.

The exhibition will be opened with an award ceremony on Saturday, 2 December 2023 at 5 pm in the Kunsthalle, and will then run from 3 December 2023 to 11 February 2023.

Guided tours every Sunday at noon.
New Year's guided tour with Nico Anklam on January, 1 at noon.

December 3, 2023 – February 11, 2024

Art Prize »junger westen« 2023
Sculpture and Installation

The art prize »junger westen« is the oldest municipal award for art after 1945 in Germany. Founded in 1948 by the city of Recklinghausen, it has been publicly announced every two years in changing categories since 1956. The 2023 jury named Mona Schulzek as the winner and also selected 22 artists (from 532 applications) for the exhibition: Eliza Ballesteros, Noémi Barbaglia, Rebekka Benzenberg, Marta Dyachenko, Fabian Friese, Gerrit Frohne-Brinkmann, Isabella Fürnkäs, marc norbert hörler, Lucia Kempkes, Ju Young Kim, Maria Clara Kulemeyer, Julia Miorin, Esper Postma, Moritz Riesenbeck, Miriam Schmitz, Tatjana Stürmer, caner teker, Tatjana Vall, Emil Walde, Denise Werth, Karla Zipfel. All of the works submitted are exemplary of artistic practices that provide contemporary impulses for what goes beyond conventional sculptural categories. As such, "junger westen 2023" shows new paths for space-related art, whether aesthetic, social or political.

As introduced for the first time in 2021, the award winner will be given the entire upper floor of the Kunsthalle as a venue for a solo presentation.

For the jury, Mona Schulzek's work exemplifies what a sculptural practice in the categories 'sculpture and installation' can achieve today: to give contemporary impulses for what we try to understand as space. Mona Schulzek's works touch on discourses immanent to the art system but reach beyond it into various areas of life. In her installations, she makes use of various media and disciplines, such as photography or the natural sciences. This can be seen, for example, in her 'Outer Space Transmitter' since 2021. In it, Schulzek works with a space that surrounds us, which both actually exists and addresses the imaginary: outer space. Her art is all-encompassing, from the construction of a transmitter as a sculptural object, to the development of an 'extraterrestrial alphabet', to obtaining a certified radio licence. She is thus remarkably consistent in her sculptural and conceptual practice.

Mona Schulzek completed her studies at the Düsseldorf Art Academy in 2023 as a master student of Gregor Schneider. She was already awarded a prize for her Outer Space Transmitter in 2022 and received the Max Ernst Scholarship in 2019. Her works are represented in the collection of the Kunstmuseum Bochum and the Max Ernst Museum Brühl. She has already had solo exhibitions at home and abroad, including France, Austria and Spain, among others.

The members of the jury this year were: Prof.in Dr. Martina Dobbe (Professor of Modern and Contemporary Art History, Kunstakademie Düsseldorf), Dr. Stefanie Kreuzer (Exhibition Director and Curator of Contemporary Art, Modern Art Collection, Kunstmuseum Bonn from October 2023 Director of the Kunstmuseum Mülheim an der Ruhr), Max Leiß (Sculptor, Art Prize Winner »junger westen« 2017), Dr. Sandra Beate Reimann (Curator Museum Tinguely Basel), Christoph Tesche (Mayor of the City of Recklinghausen), Holger Freitag (Chairman of the Committee for Culture, Science and City History of the City of Recklinghausen), Dr. des. Nico Anklam (Director of the Museums of the City of Recklinghausen) and as a substitute Kerstin Weber (Research Associate, Kunsthalle Recklinghausen).

The art prize »junger westen« is awarded by the City of Recklinghausen with the support of the Cultural Foundation of the Stadtsparkasse Recklinghausen. Thanks to additional support from the Rotary Club Recklinghausen and the Ulrike and Bernd Tönjes Foundation, the former amount of 10.000 EUR could be increased this year for the first time to 20,000 EUR. This increase will remain for the next competitions until 2031.

A catalogue will be published.

The exhibition will be opened with an award ceremony on Saturday, 2 December 2023 at 5 pm in the Kunsthalle, and will then run from 3 December 2023 to 11 February 2023.

Guided tours every Sunday at noon.
New Year's guided tour with Nico Anklam on January, 1 at noon.