Statement des Preisträgers

​

My artistic practice is informed by an interest in the logistical systems and modes of work of post-industrial society - how personal and private spheres of life are woven into and shaped by systems created by economic logic. My practice unfolds at the intersection of a relational track and a studio-based sculptural track, which are methodologically distinct but help to inform each other on a discursive and thematic level.

In my relational practice, I am investigating value creation and alternative economic organization e.g. by creating "functioning pseudo business-models”. For example, I am running the art handling company Solkim, and most recently I was participating at documenta fifteen with the work The Pawn Shop. In short, the installation was a backdrop of a pawn shop in the basement of the exhibition platform ruruHaus. I created the work in collaboration with architect Lauge Floris and artist M.B. Pedersen all dressed up to work in the shop during its opening hours. During the 100 days of the exhibition we facilitated collaborations with over 30 local initiatives from Kassel and the surrounding area, and the installation gradually transformed into becoming a platform for discussion groups, performances, concerts and more.

In 2022, I finished my training as a commercial truck driver to learn more about logistical systems and the physical and intellectual labour involved in being part of the supply chain. I use this actively in my project Solkim Art Handling, 2020-, which is a hybrid form between an artwork and a functioning art transport business.

As a queer person, I grew up in a rural working class environment. I have always wondered about the disproportionate recognition of different types of work based on social class and context. As a sculptor, I engage with these themes and related contradictions. An example of this is my work Consignment No 13 (Earthly Delights) (part of the consignment-series): The sculpture depicts a two-dimensional domestic setting, with an ergot-infected rye-grain engraved into the backdrop-mirror. The sculpture's outer frame is a tarsia-wood carving mixed with an acrylic glass mosaic. The faces of the two “missing” people is suggesting a narrative element as if an underlying psychedelic substance were controlling the situation. The Prints are two framed intaglio type prints both depicting an edited version of the social realist Danish painter L.A. Ring’s work “A Rye Field near Ring Village” - a deserted rye field near his childhood home. The title of the work is borrowed from Hironymous Bosch, and this is a good example of how I work with visual collages of personal and (art-)historical components.

- Villiam Miklos Andersen

​