Jass Kaselaan, Square of Dolls, 2014 (fragment of the installation)
On Friday, May 30 the winner of the Köler Prize 2014 was announced. This years Grand Prix went to Jass Kaselaan, Johannes Säre won the People´s Choice Award.
An international panel of judges will choosed the winner of the Köler Prize based on the works in the exhibition of nominees, the film introducing the artists, their portfolios and the disuscussion round with the nominees. Members of the Köler Prize 2014 jury were: Jaanus Samma, Estonian artist and the winner of Köler Prize 2013; René Block, German gallerist and curator, currently the director of Kunstall Moen44 in Denmark; Taru Elfving, director of the FRAME Foundation in Helsinki and the curator of Finnish Pavillion at the Venice biennale in 2015; Mari Laanemets, researcher at the Estonian Academy of Arts, art historian and curator currently living and working in Basel, Switzerland and the head of the jury, Magda Kardasz, Polish curator working at the Zacheta gallery in Warssaw, Poland.
The Jury was impressed of the way Kaselaan masters the form of sculpture and combines it with sound and other media creating powerful spatial installations: “He has recognizable style and artistic language that reaches the depth of critical content and communicates affectivley its complexity. His work reflects and embodies supressing social structures underlying our daily existance.He seems to have an ability to reactivate the tradition of sculpture and the symbolism in it, tranlslating it into contemporary context.” The jury was convinced of the considerable promise that Kaselaan’s practice holds.
Every year since 2011 the Board of EKKM nominates five artists or groups of Estonia or of Estonian descent for the Köler Prize. Each artist or group presents two works at the nominees´exhibition – one from previous three years and one specially made for the exhibition. This year´s nominees were Jass Kaselaan, Kiwa, Kärt Ojavee, Johannes Säre and Visible Solutions LLC. International jury selects the Grand Prix winner, visitors of the exhibition choose the winner of the People´s Choice Award.
The exhibition if nominees at the EKKM (Põhja pst. 35, Tallinn, Estonia) remains open until June 15. Open: II-VII 1-7 pm
