(openPR) Berlin, 26 June, 2021. The Institute for Art and Innovation (IFAI) in Berlin today announced the winners of the third Social Art Award.
With this year’s edition on the topic of “New Greening“, the IFAI and its partners have been looking for visionary works from artists (co-)creating positive futures, communicating compelling ideas, concepts, narratives, practices and visions of coexistence. Based on the belief that humanity can only solve the complex global problems with openness, inclusiveness, and interdisciplinary collaboration, applications were welcome that provide hopeful prospects towards climate change, resource saving, environmental protection, ecosystem recovery, water conservation, biodiversity, resilient cities etc.
700+ submissions from 147 countries, ranging from concepts for regenerative environments over public installations like solarbike performances or floating upcycling islands to NFT and AI based works to support environmental organizations were entered for this year’s open call. Through a public voting two winners each received a wildcard for the award’s shortlist. The 11-headed international and interdisciplinary jury (see members list here) selected the final winners based on the award’s criteria: Inspiration, Media, Relevance and Collaboration.
Out of the shortlist consisting of works by Joy Lohmann (DE), Leroy Brothers (FR), Milan Rai (NP), Romy Snijders (NL), Rosalind Lowry (UK), Nikolina Butorac (HR), Mo Langmuir (UK), Cedric Carles (global), Avinash Pramla & Mahesh Shivsharan (IN), Adrian Baker (CA), CULTURANS (MX), Jos Volkers (NL), Lihidheb Mohsen (TN), and wildcard winners Gibran Tabash (CR) and Michelle Vazquez Sanz (MX), the following winners were identified:
The first prize of the Social Art Award 2021 goes to Joy Lohmann for his international co-creative and collaborative work reflecting on climate change and sea level rising „Flowgarden“.
Rosalind Lowry with „Blue Eyed Grass on the Boglands of Ireland“, a kinetic land art installation presenting endangered species to the public, receives the 2nd prize.
Mo Langmuir with „Mapping Greenness“ is the 3rd prize winner based on his participatory project with pupils in the city of Nottingham to imagine greener futures for the city.
In cooperation with the Zero Waste Berlin Festival, Jos Volkers is awarded the Social Art Award - Special Prize for his work „Bioremediating Missile“, a rocket full of seeds to restore European biodiversity, being the most provocative. The Social Art Award - Special Prize, in cooperation with the Art for Future Lab, goes to Romy Snijders’ „Symbiotic Futures“ for being the most visionary work as she proposes to learn the language of trees. An Honorable Mention for the most locally impactful work goes to Milan Rai for „White Butterflies“, a public art intervention as a peaceful protest in Nepal against deforestation.
Check out this year’s winners and their works here.
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This year’s edition is accompanied by a rich program to form multi-stakeholder initiatives and to bring positive futures alive. Workshops to transfer knowledge about the SDGs as well as Future Prototyping workshops were organized monthly. For the conferences New Greening Day I + II experts from art, science, tech and innovation together with the international audiences exchanged on best impactful practices such as how to communicate new narratives and establish new collaboration formats.
Now we look ahead to a diverse program at the Zero Waste Berlin Festival, taking place from 17th to 19th September 2021, at Malzfabrik, Bessemerstraße 2-14, 12103 Berlin. During this festival we will host the exhibition of the Social Art Award 2021 winners and facilitate workshops and panels at our booth.
Moreover, the Social Art Award 2021 - Official Book presenting the Top 100 will be launched there as well on 18th September at 16:00.
The New Greening project is supported by many changemakers and organisations that join forces to accelerate the urgently needed sustainable transformation.
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Social Art is any artistic expression that aims to create social impact and change. This definition delineates the intention of the artist as crucial. Art engages in questioning and rethinking existing systems and paradigms. Artists are visionaries, utopists, agents for change, with the ability to affect society by creating emotionally captivating experiences. It is aesthetic revolution that preludes societal revolution.
The goal of this award that was launched in 2017 is to invigorate the rise of social art. We need more people to inspire zest for transformation – even if this approach dissents from the widely claimed autonomy of art. The award explores and clusters the field, and seeks to raise attention for social art. Furthermore, the award aims at strengthening the recognition of social artists and the value of their work. Thus, promoting the importance of social art for society and its action-oriented participatory projects.
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The Institute for Art and Innovation (IFAI) strongly credits the arts to enhance our humanity, to stimulate us to action, and to connect people from around the world. The organization specializes in the facilitation of interventions and collaborations at the intersection of art, science, technology and innovation to co-create thought-provoking visions and to drive impact. Its interdisciplinary projects together with a global network provide: intelligent innovative strategies, enriching ideation and research, reach for new audiences, and knowledge transfer, all while fostering tangible results. The Institute is an independent, not-for-profit, non-governmental organization based in Berlin, Germany.
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