Credit: © ESAL / Emile Hengen
On Monday 24 October 2022, the Edward Steichen Awards were presented to Eva L'Hoest and Nika Schmitt in the presence of Her Royal Highness the Grand Duchess of Luxembourg and Luxembourg's Minister of Culture, Sam Tanson, amongst other guests and speakers, at MUDAM (Musée d'Art Moderne Grand-Duc Jean) in Luxembourg city.
The Edward Steichen Luxembourg Award is a biennial event supporting emerging European talents in the field of contemporary art. The Edward Steichen Award European Resident has been designed for European artists living and working in Luxembourg and a greater geographical region around Luxembourg while a second award, the Edward Steichen Luxembourg Resident in New York, was added in 2011 specifically for artists of Luxembourg origin or artists living and working in Luxembourg.
The laureate of the Edward Steichen Award European Resident is hosted for a six months residency in New York City, at ISCP, while the Edward Steichen Luxembourg Resident in New York is granted a four months residency at the same facility.
Eva L'Hoest, born in 1991 in Belgium, explores how all types of mental images, in particular memory and reminiscence, are able to reappear in a technological form. She is interested in exploring memory and its infinitesimal and strange lingering reality.
"Eva L'Hoest has been creating a delicate dystopian universe for several years. Between fictional and real ruins, the moving images of her films and installations explore the meanders of memory - human and nonhuman - reminiscent of larger economic and environmental issues", said curator and writer Antoinette Jattiot. Eva L’Hoest was nominated by Marie du Chastel, the Artistic Director of KIKK Festival, Namur.
Nika Schmitt, born in Luxembourg in 1992, works and lives in Rotterdam, the Netherlands. "In her work with rhythm and patterns,... Nika Schmitt shows how data is formed in contact with other data and how this interactive relationship is connected to one's own sensory experiences", said Sandra Schwender (Centre national de l'audiovisuel - CNA) and Carl Rethmann. Nika Schmitt was nominated for the residency by Marc Scozzai of Rotondes and Sandra Schwender.
