Anne Imhof and Franz Erhard Walther are among the artists to receive the awards of the 57th Venice Biennale. The awards were made at a ceremony on Saturday, 13 May, at Ca’ Giustinian in Venice.
Imhof, representing Germany, was awarded the Golden Lion for Best National Participation, for her installation Faust. Imhof’s dystopian work involved a raised glass floor, a troupe of young performers and a perimeter fence guarded by Dobermans, making a bleak comment on power, spectatorship and voyeurism. Alongside Imhof’s win, Brazil’s Cinthia Marcelle was awarded the jury’s special mention.
Alongside the National Pavilion awards, the award for the best artist of curated exhibition, Christine Macel’s Vive Arte Viva!, went to the German Franz Erhard Walther. The Silver Lion for a Promising Young Artist was awarded to the UK-born, Cairo-based Hassan Khan.
The jury also awarded two Special Mentions to Charles Atlas and Petrit Halilaj.
The Jury of the 57th International Art Exhibition of La Biennale di Venezia comprised Manuel J. Borja-Villel, director of Spain’s Museo Reina Sofia, Madrid, critic and academic Francesca Alfano Miglietti (Italy), curator and critic Amy Cheng (Taiwan), writer and journalist Ntone Edjabe (Cameroon), and Tate curator Mark Godfrey (Great Britain).
15 May 2017
