The Prize of the Böttcherstraße in Bremen is among the leading and highest awards in the field of contemporary art in Germany. The competition features 30,000 Euro in prize money and, in 2016, it will be held for the 45th time.

Since 1985 the prize has been presented in the Kunsthalle Bremen with the support of the Donors’ Circle (Stifterkreis) of the Kunstverein in Bremen (Bremen Art Association). They have also made possible the purchase of a work by each of the prize’s winners. The Kunsthalle Bremen has thus been able to expand its collection through significant works by Martin Honert, Ólafur Elíasson, Wolfgang Tillmans, Tino Sehgal, Ulla von Brandenburg and Thea Djordjadze, among others. Every two years, ten distinguished curators each independently select one artist from the German-speaking area.

This year’s competition exhibition will be presented from 23 April to 18 September 2016 in the Kunsthalle Bremen.
A prominent, five-member jury will determine the winner of the prize during the course of the exhibition. The award ceremony will be held on 28 August 2016 in the Kunsthalle Bremen. In the past, many of the prize winners and nominated artists have pursued significant careers. These artists include, for example, Wolfgang Tillmans and Tomma Abts, who were later awarded the Turner Prize, as well as Dirk Skreber, who received the Nationalgalerie Berlin’s Preis für Junge Kunst.

This year the following ten artists have been nominated for the 2016 Prize of the Böttcherstraße in Bremen:

Julius von Bismarck (born 1983 in Breisach am Rhein, Germany, lives in Berlin)
nominated by Ellen Blumenstein, KW Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin

FORT (artistduo): Alberta Niemann (born 1982 in Bremen, Germany, lives in Berlin) and Jenny Kropp (born 1978 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, lives in Berlin)
nominated by Prof. Dr. Christoph Grunenberg, Kunsthalle Bremen

Franka Kaßner (born 1976 in Oschatz, Germany lives in Leipzig)
nominated by Prof. Dr. Bernhart Schwenk, Pinakothek der Moderne, Munich

Oliver Laric (born 1981 in Innsbruck, Austria, lives in Berlin)
nominated by Susanne Pfeffer, Fridericianum, Kassel

Pauline M´barek (born 1979 in Cologne, Germany, lives in Cologne and Brussels, Belgium)
nominated by the Donors’ Circle of the Prize of the Boettcherstrasse, Bremen

Katja Novitskova (born 1984 in Tallinn, Estonia, lives in Berlin, Germany and Amsterdam, Netherlands)
nominated by Bettina Steinbrügge, Kunstverein Hamburg

Emeka Ogboh (born 1977 in Enugu, Nigeria, lives in Berlin)
nominated by Johan Holten, Staatliche Kunsthalle Baden-Baden

Taiyo Onorato & Nico Krebs (both born 1979 in Zurich/Winterthur, Switzerland, lives in Berlin)
nominated by Dr. Eva Schmidt, Museum für Gegenwartskunst, Siegen

Nora Schultz (born 1975 in Frankfurt am Main, Germany, lives in Vienna, Austria)
nominated by Mario Codognato, 21er Haus, Museum für zeitgenössische Kunst, Vienna

Peter Wächtler (born 1979 in Hannover, lives in Berlin und Brussels, Belgium)
nominated by Hans-Ulrich Obrist, Serpentine Gallery, London

The jury:

Dr. Sabine Breitwieser (born 1962 in Wels): since 2013 Director of the Museum der Moderne in Salzburg, previously founding Director of the Generali Foundation and chief curator for Media- and Performance-Art at the Museum of Modern Art (MoMA) in New York.

Dr. Ulrike Groos (born 1963 in Schlüchtern, Germany): since 2010 Director of the Kunstmuseum Stuttgart, additionally member of the Villa Massimo-Jury für Bildende Kunst and since 2009 member of the Acquisitions Committee of the Kunstmuseum Liechtenstein in Vaduz.

Fabrice Hergott (born 1961 in Sarreguemines, France): since 2006 Artistic Director of the Musée d’Art moderne de la Ville de Paris, previously Director of the Musées de Strasbourg and curator for contemporary art at the Centre Georges Pompidou.

Dr. Thomas Kellein (born 1955 in Nürnberg, Germany): since 2013 independent curator and art advisor in Berlin, previously Director of the Kunsthalle Bielefeld and the Chinati Foundation in Marfa, Texas.

Adam Szymczyk (born 1970 in Piotrków Trybunalski, Poland): Artistic Director of documenta 14, which will take place in 2017, before director at Kunsthalle Basel

A catalogue will be published to accompany the exhibition (€ 18,-).

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www.kunsthalle-bremen.de/