BMW Awards the Prize for Artists under the Age of 35 Years to Till Nowak at KINO DER KUNST in Munich

Munich, 30-4-2013 — /europawire.eu/ — On Sunday, after four days and over 5,000 visitors, the KINO DER KUNST in Munich, a festival exclusively for the films of visual artists, culminated with the presentation of the two main awards.The first prize went to Almagul Menlibayeva, an artist from Kazakhstan and the other one to Till Nowak from Germany. Both awards were for €10,000 each and were donated by the Goetz Collection and BMW. Omer Fast, an Israeli artist now living in Berlin received the Audience Award worth €5,000. Egyptian artist Wael Shawky won the Award for the Filmic OEuvre. He was regarded as one of the most important newcomers at last year’s dOCUMENTA (13).

The international jury with actress Amira Casar, museum director Defne Ayas and the artists Cindy Sherman and Isaac Julien praised Transoxiana Dreams by Almagul Menlibayeva as a “personal and intimate vision of everyday life in an environmentally damaged landscape” as well as a “nomadic shamanesque revival through punk and surreal staged tableaux vivants.”

For the second main award, donated by BMW, which is presented to artists under 35, the jury wrote: “In The Centrifuge Brain Project by Till Nowak, the visions of mad scientist’s vision meets a child’s vision of an amusement park ride in a uniquely convincing and smooth use of computer generated images. The work is a both witty and uncanny scientific mockumentary of television reportages.”

Special mention was given by the jury of the International Competition to Andro Wekua for his short film Never Sleep with a Strawberry in Your Mouth. Katarina Stanković from Serbia received the KINO DER KUNST Project Award for her Circle with Four Corners.

Festival director Heinz Peter Schwerfel was delighted at the interest that the festival aroused in Munich. Besides the around 90 films from 31 countries which appeared on the large screen, there were also numerous multichannel installations on view at various museums and galleries.

Overview of the Awards and Prizewinners

Main Award KINO DER KUNST, donated by Ingvild Goetz (Goetz Collection), €10,000; Prizewinner: “Transoxiana Dreams“ (KAZ 2011, 23’) by Almagul Menlibayeva

Main Award KINO DER KUNST, donated by BMW, €10,000 Euro; Prizewinner: “The Centrifuge Brain Project” (DEU 2011, 6’35’’) by Till Nowak

Award for the Filmic OEuvre, donated by Louis Vuitton, €10,000; Prizewinner: Wael Shawky (EGY)
Audience Award, donated by the Biehler von Dorrer Stiftung, €5,000; Prizewinner: “5000 Feet is the Best” (USA 2011, 31’) by Omer Fast

KINO DER KUNST Project Award, donated by ARRI Film & TV Services GmbH,In kind with a value of €10,000; Prizewinner: “Circle with Four Corners” (SRB, 30’) by Katarina Stanković

About BMW’s Cultural Commitment

For more than 40 years now, the BMW Group has initiated and engaged in over 100 cultural cooperations worldwide. The company places the main focus of its long-term commitment on modern and contemporary art, jazz and classical music as well as architecture and design. In 1972, three large-scale paintings were created by the artist Gerhard Richter specifically for the foyer of the BMW Group’s Munich headquarters. Since then, artists such as Andy Warhol, Roy Lichtenstein, Olafur Eliasson, Jeff Koons, Zubin Metha, Daniel Barenboim and Anna Netrebko have co-operated with BMW. The company has also commissioned famous architects such as Karl Schwanzer, Zaha Hadid and Coop Himmelb(l)au to design important corporate buildings and plants. In 2011, the BMW Guggenheim Lab, a global initiative of the Solomon R. Guggenheim Foundation, the Guggenheim Museum and the BMW Group celebrated its world premiere in New York. The BMW Group takes absolute creative freedom in all the cultural activities it is involved in for granted – as this is just as essential for groundbreaking artistic work as it is for major innovations in a successful business.

Further information: www.bmwgroup.com/culture and www.bmwgroup.com/culture/overview

The BMW Group
The BMW Group is the leading premium manufacturer of automobiles and motorcycles in the world with its BMW, MINI and Rolls-Royce brands. As a global company, the BMW Group operates 28 production and assembly facilities in 13 countries and has a global sales network in more than 140 countries.

In 2012, the BMW Group sold about 1.85 million cars and more than 117,000 motorcycles worldwide. The profit before tax for the financial year 2012 was euro 7.82 billion on revenues amounting to euro 76.85 billion. At 31 December 2012, the BMW Group had a workforce of 105,876 employees.

The success of the BMW Group has always been built on long-term thinking and responsible action. The company has therefore established ecological and social sustainability throughout the value chain, comprehensive product responsibility and a clear commitment to conserving resources as an integral part of its strategy. As a result of its efforts, the BMW Group has been ranked industry leader in the Dow Jones Sustainability Indexes for the last eight years.

Award presentation of KINO DER KUNST (April 28, 2013): Festival team, partners, members of the jury and award winners in the Academy of Fine Arts Munich

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For questions please contact:

Dr. Thomas Girst

BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental Affairs

Head of Cultural Engagement

Telephone: +49 89-382-24753, Fax: +49 89-382-10881

Antonia Ruder

BMW Group Corporate and Intergovernmental Affairs