Lingen Art Award
The Lingen Art Award has been awarded to young talents in the field of painting since 1983: from then until 1992 it was awarded annually, since 1994 then every two years, so that since then 13 female and ten male artists have been honoured. The initiative for this award is due to the former director of the Kunsthalle Heiner Schepers. Although the circumstances surrounding the application, selection and awarding of the prizewinners have changed over the 25 years of its existence, the Lingen Art Award still stands for young, emerging art, which is offered a stage in the Kunsthalle.
1983 to 1992
“To create a forum for young artists to present their work, to give them a piece of the way in the broad field of art” – with this goal the Lingen Art Award was first announced in 1983. Prize winner Reinhard Wieczorek from Bottrop received DM 5,000 and a solo exhibition in the foyer of the Wilhelmshöhe Theatre. Until 1992 the prize is offered annually. The competition is open to young painters who have not yet established themselves in the free art market as master students at an art academy and have not yet reached the age of 35. Each year, a jury of eleven members on average decides on the portfolios submitted. By 1992, almost 2000 artists had applied for the Lingen Art Award, and Heiner Schepers visited a total of 54 artists in their studios during this period, who made it to the final selection. More than 35,000 visitors see the group exhibitions of the applicants and the individual exhibitions of the prize winners. Their works range between figurative and abstract painting, between monochrome geometric forms and organically blurring colours. A catalogue is published for each exhibition.
1994 until today
Since 1994 the Lingen Art Award has been awarded every two years. Since then, the selection of candidates is no longer based on personal applications, but on proposals: Until 2004, a committee of five experts was formed for this task; only artists who had completed their studies at least five, but no more than ten years previously were allowed to apply. At the same time the age limit of 35 years was abolished. The prizewinners now receive prize money of DM 15,000, a solo exhibition with catalogue in the Kunsthalle, which opened in 1997, and, a tradition since the Kunstpreis was established, the purchase of a work by the city of Lingen. In 2004, the selection procedure changed once again: 12 galleries are each asked to submit two proposals, which are then evaluated by a jury of six, including three members of the Lingener Kunstpreis Circle of Friends, founded at the same time, two representatives of the art scene and the respective directors of the Kunsthalle – until 2008 Heiner Schepers, since 2009 Meike Behm. In 2004 the prize was endowed with 7,777 euros, since then the prize money has been 7,500 euros. Since 2010, candidates must have completed their studies for at least three years in order to be nominated.
2016: Éder Oliveira
2014: Marieta Chirulescu
2012: Kim Nekarda
2010: Birgit Megerle
2008: Julia Oschatz
2006: Anne-Lise Coste
2004: Cornelius Völker
2002: Amalia Theodorakopoulos
2000: Matthias Kanter
1998: Antje Majewski
1996: Andrea Scrima
1994: Karin Kneffel
1992: Rolf Bier
1991: Barbara Steppe
1990: Jochen Twelker
1989: Ildefons Höyng
1988: Beate Spalthoff
1987: Thomas Jessen
1986: Dagmar Demming
1985: Annette Venebrugge
1984: Henning Rethmeier
1983: Reinhard Wieczorek