Birgit Jürgenssen Prize 2007 awarded to Björn Kämmerer

Award ceremony | 27 April 2007, 6.00 pm
Welcoming speech | Stephan Schmidt-Wulffen, Rector of the Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Ceremonial address in memory of Birgit Jürgenssen |  Brigitte Felderer, curator, cultural theorist, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Eulogy for the award-winner | Dorit Margreiter, artist, professor for Video and Videoinstallation, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Presentation of the award | Johannes Hörhan, Head of the Department Film, Media Art and Photograhy in the Austrian Federal Ministry for Education, Arts and Culture

© Björn Kämmerer, "escalator", photo by Thomas Müller, Kunstverein Braunschweig, 2006

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.

© Björn Kämmerer, "drive by", photo by Lisa Rastl, Demonstrationsraum, 2006

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 2,000 euros will thus be awarded in remembrance for the artist for the second 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 Brigitte Felderer, Dorit Margreiter, Peter Noever, and Peter Kogler, has unanimously decided to award this year's Birgit Jürgenssen Prize to Björn Kämmerer.

© Björn Kämmerer, Filmstill  "dawn", 2007