The nominations for the Piket Art Prizes, THE prize for young professional artists with a relationship with the The Hague region, were officially announced on Tuesday 14 September. Sam Hersbach, Isa van Lier and Narges Mohammadi were nominated in the Painting category; Poernima Gobardhan, Katarina Van den Wouwer and Goda Žukauskaitė in the Dance category. Lars Brinkman, Koen Verheijden and Emma Vermeulen are this year’s Dramatic Arts nominees. The names of the winners in each category will be revealed in late November.
“We are all looking forward to the day everything will be ‘normal’ again,” says Jury President Winnie Sorgdrager. “But I don’t think everything will be just as it was before Covid. Not immediately, in any case. This is why the Piket Art Prizes are so important: they provide recognition of what is, and encouragement for what, hopefully, is yet to come.”
“At first I was amazed and confused,” says visual artist Narges Mohammadi. “But after a while I began to feel grateful and happy.” Poernima Gobardhan, who specializes in the classical Indian dance style Bharata Natyam, was equally surprised. “I create dance in order to connect and if my work has been noticed by a jury or a committee, it means I succeed in my mission.”
Koen Verheijden sees the nomination as “a great incentive”. “I graduated right in the middle of the Covid crisis and was genuinely afraid that it would be impossible to be visible or get opportunities to develop.”
The jury
A professional jury, always on the look-out for outstanding young talent, selects the nominees and winners in each category. This year the jury consists of President Winnie Sorgdrager (former cabinet minister, former president of the National Cultural Council), Martine Gosselink (director Mauritshuis), visual artist Joncquil de Vries, Stacz Wilhelm (artistic advisor Nederlandse Dansdagen), Isabelle Chaffaud (MEYER-CHAFFAUD), John de Weerd (programmer Zaal 3 and De Parade), and Antoinette Jelgersma (actress Het Nationale Theater).
Video Painting jury
Video Dance jury
Video Dramatic Arts jury
Award ceremony
If the Covid situation permits, the names of the winners in each category will be announced on Monday 22 November in the Scheveningen Lourdeskerk. They will receive an 8,000 Euros cash prize, and an award: a bronze plume made by the The Hague artist Yke Prins. “In this way, the winners can just simply put a feather in their own cap,” the sculptress says about the award.
De Piket Award van 2021. Foto Wisse van de Guchte
About the Piket Art Prizes
Since 2014, the Piket Art Prizes are awarded annually to young artists who have a relationship with the The Hague region, either because they flourished there or because their work provides a stimulating contribution to the local cultural environment. The prizes are named after Frederik Hendrik Piket (1927–2011), a solicitor and member of the Dutch Senate, who was also a great art lover. After his demise, a foundation was established with the aim to annually provide prizes to three promising young professional artists, who are still in their twenties..
Picture jury: Hessel Waalewijn
