Until 1 June theatremakers, actors, artists and dancers are forced to sit at home. As part of the official measures aimed at keeping the spread of the coronavirus under control, exhibitions are off and performances have been cancelled. What do these measures mean for Piket Art Prizes’ young artists? Part 2: Sara de Greef.
Until 1 June theatremakers, actors, artists and dancers are forced to sit at home. As part of the official measures aimed at keeping the spread of the coronavirus under control, exhibitions are off and performances have been cancelled. What do these measures mean for Piket Art Prizes’ young artists? Part 1: Vanja Rukavina.
Marjolein de Jong, last year’s jury president, considers her presidency a very special experience. She was impressed by the jury members’ expertise and the carefulness of their deliberations. It changed her view. “I have become a different ‘art consumer’.”
Jordan Herregraven (painting), Sara de Greef (dance) and Naomi van der Linden (dramatic arts) are the winners of this year’s Piket Art Prizes. Tim Terpstra was awarded the Piket Jury Prize. The names of the winners were announced during the awards ceremony in Theater Diligentia last Monday. The Piket Art Prizes winners will receive 8,000 Euros and a trophy.
The sixth edition of the Piket Art Prizes awards ceremony is approaching fast: it will take place on Monday 25 November in Theater Diligentia in The Hague. On this festive occasion the members of the jury will reveal the names of the prize winners – three young professional artists who are connected to The Hague and active in painting, dance or dramatic arts. The three lucky ones will receive the 8,000 Euros cash prize and a trophy, designed this year by The Hague artist Peter Zwaan. In addition there will be a special jury prize for exceptional commitment to young artists from the The Hague region.
On Sunday 8 September the nominees for the sixth edition of the Piket Art Prizes were presented at the The Hague Central Library – nine young, promising artists in the fields of painting, dance, and dramatic arts, all in some way related to the city of The Hague. “All of these young talents are special, above average”, says Marjolein de Jong, president of the jury. The names of the three winners will be revealed during the awards ceremony in Theater Diligentia on Monday 25 November.
Peter Zwaan (1968), who made this year’s Piket award, graduated from the Royal Academy of Arts in 1992, and lives and works in The Hague. He was also the winner of The Hague art prize: in 2014 he was awarded the Jacob Hartog Prize, Pulchri Studio’s ‘spring prize’. Peter’s involvement means the Piket award is really ‘in Hague hands’.
Jos Nargy, who carried off last year’s Piket Art Prize in the Dramatic Arts category, looks upon the past winter months with gratification. “Being nominated was wonderful”, he says. “Truly an honour, a token of recognition.’ But winning was terrific, of course. ‘People love winners.” The prize was a genuine ‘picket post’ (‘piketpaaltje’ in Dutch) in Jos’ career and came exactly at the right moment.
“The Piket Art Prizes awards ceremony was a pretty nerve-racking experience”, says Eden Latham, 2018 winner in the Painting category. But of course she is delighted to have won. “Being an artist can be a very solitary business”, she says. Theatre people have applause, but for artists it is much more difficult to find out how their work is received and appreciated. “This is why any kind of recognition in this isolating art-making world is so important – respect from a jury, but also from your peers. In addition, the prize gives me confidence to apply for things.”
At the beginning of this year Kinda Gozo, 2018 winner in the Dance category, joined Compagnie Linga, in Pully, Switzerland. Linga, directed by choreographers Katarzyna Gdaniec and Marco Cantalupo, was founded in 1993, and has the local Octogone theatre as its headquarters. “I am fully immersed in Linga’s new production, WALLS”, Kinda
tells us. WALLS, a production that reflects an alarming zeitgeist, will have its first performance in early May.
