2015

Max Pinckers

The photographic work of Max Pinckers is of profound strength and cohesion, and proposes a convincing argument for a new approach to documentary photography. Staged fiction merges with reality as he questions the traditional idea of the documentary photographer as a discrete observer who captures and translates reality without interfering. Pinckers, on the contrary, affirms his presence and his authorial stance. He frames and directs the world around him, making it appear in a cinematic light.

Reflexions about display and dissemination prolong the photographic act, and Pinckers shows refinement also in the presentation of his work. Particular attention is given to the form of the book. Here, elegantly edited sequences interweaving images and text are in dialogue with the materiality of the physical object.

In designating Max Pinckers as its Laureate of 2015, the Edward Steichen Award committee wants to make a meaningful contribution to the career of a highly promising artist, and to provide an opportunity to develop new work in an expanded geographic range.

Max Pinckers was nominated by Michèle Walerich, CNA Luxembourg, and Christophe De Jaeger, BOZAR, Brussels.

Jeff Weber

Jeff Weber’s practice is experimental and revolves around what he refers to as his attempt to develop a personal epistemology. “How do we know? How do we understand? What part do images play in the construction of meaning and knowledge?” These are the questions that underlie and motivate his art.

Weber’s answers are visual: carefully framed and selected, black and white photographs. The image and its potential as an epistemic medium are central to his research. However, a photograph is not an isolated object, but it is enmeshed in a complex tissue of social relations which crystallise in the image itself. Therefore, in 2014, Weber established the Kunsthalle-Leipzig, a project in the form of a gallery space, which prolongs his own photographic practice by prompting encounters with fellow artists.

Jeff Weber was awarded the 2015 Edward Steichen Luxembourg Resident in New York prize to foster new explorations and developments in his visual construction of knowledge and understanding of the world.

Jeff Weber was nominated by Michèle Walerich, CNA Luxembourg.

The 2015 Award Ceremony was celebrated on Friday, November 20th at MUDAM Luxembourg, in the presence of Her Royal Highness the Grand-Duchess, and Minister of Culture, Maggy Nagel. Special guest, French artist Sylvie Blocher addressed the audience in a solemn allocution stressing the important role of art in creating bridges between cultures and civilisations.