Vordemberge-Gildewart Grant 2021

with Eliza Ballesteros, Paul Czerlitzki, Nicholas Grafia & Mikołaj Sobczak, Frieder Haller, Alesha Klein, Björn Knapp, Harkeerat Mangat, Mira Mann, Donja Nasseri, Murat Önen, Linda Skellington and Ji hyung Song

The Vordemberge-Gildewart Foundation, based in Rapperswil, Switzerland, stands for generous support of young artists: Since 1981, the foundation has been active in the spirit of Ilse Vordemberge-Leda, the widow of the late Friedrich Vordemberge-Gildewart. Every year, it sponsors an exhibition in a European art institution featuring artists from the respective region. In the context of this show, one of them receives a scholarship of currently 60,000 Swiss francs.
The thirteen nominated artists present their works at KIT. They all have or have had their centre of work, study or life in and around Düsseldorf and work in all areas of the visual arts: Sculpture, painting, photography, film and installation, in both classical and time-based media. Thus they represent a representative cross-section of the active and passionate regional art scene.
This year, the jury of the Vordemberge-Gildewart Scholarship decided to award the 2021 scholarship to the Indian-Canadian artist Harkeerat Mangat (*1990). He not only convinced the jury with his film, which was made in a collaborative manner with the residents of Fürstenplatz, but also with its spatial installation.

The exhibition was curated by Gertrud Peters; co-curator was Nantje Wilke.