Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prize 2018 awarded to Viltė Bražiūnaitė

Welcoming speech: Eva Blimlinger , Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna

Laudatory speech in honour of the Birgt-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner: Vanessa Joan Müller, dramaturge, Kunsthalle Wien, Constanze Ruhm , artist and professor for art and digital media

Presentation of the award: Gudrun Schreiber , The Austrian Federal Chancellery, Division Arts and Culture

Jury: Mona Hahn , artist and professor of art in public space; Vanessa Joan Müller, dramaturge, Kunsthalle Wien ; Peter Noever, designer and exhibition organizer; Constanze Ruhm , artist and professor of art an digital media; Gabriele Schor , director Sammlung Verbund

Jury chair: Andrea B. Braidt , vice-rector for art and reasearch

As a teacher and member of various academic boards, Birgit Jürgenssen was closely bound up with the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna and, throughout many years, had a determining influence on the institution. From the early 1980s on, she was involved in establishing an interdisciplinary platform forging a link between painting and photography in the context of the master class of Arnulf Rainer and, subsequently, that of Peter Kogler. Until her untimely end, the relationship and contact with her students remained a crucial concern for her as a teacher.

For her work as an artist which, going far beyond the boundaries of a single medium, comprises such different forms of expression as drawing, performance, photography, video, and objects, Birgit Jürgenssen received the Federal Chancellery's award in recognition of her merits as a photographer shortly before her death. She could not be present at the award ceremony, and it is thanks to her partner Hubert Winter's wish that the amount of 11,000 euros awarded to her was donated to the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna as a prize for students.

According to an agreement between the Federal Chancellery, the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna, and Hubert Winter, the Birgit Jürgenssen Prize amounting to a sum of 5,000 euros will thus be awarded in remembrance for the artist for the 15th time this year. It is awarded annually to a student of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna for her/his achievements in the media sphere, taking works of artistic photography, video and (digital) media art into special consideration.

The jury, which comprises Mona Hahn, Vanessa Joan Müller, Peter Noever, Constanze Ruhm, Gabriele Schor and Andrea B. Braidt (jury chair), has unanimously decided to award this year's Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prize to Jennifer Mattes.

Viltė Bražiūnaitė (b. 1991, Vilnius, Lithuania)
2015 Fine Art, Akademie der bildenden Künste Wien, Austria
2010-2014 BA in Photography and Media Art,
Vilnius Academy of Art, Lithuania

Tomas Sinkevičius (b. 1991, Birštonas, Lithuania)
2014-2016 MFA, Konstfack, Sweden
2010-2014 BA in Photography and Media Art,
Vilnius Academy of Art, Lithuania

Birgit-Jürgenssen-prizewinners:

Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2004: Pirmin Blum
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2005: Marlene Haring
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2006: Andreas Duscha
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2007: Björn Kämmerer
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2008: Ulrike Köppinger
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2009: Susanne Miggitsch
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2010: Nathalie Koger
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2011: Toni Schmale
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2012: Bernadette Anzengruber
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2013: Antoinette Zwirchmayr
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2014: Jennifer Mattes
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2015: Daniela Grabosch
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2016: Cana Bilir-Meier
Birgit-Jürgenssen-Prizewinner 2017: Johannes Gierlinger