FOR EMERGING WOMEN VISUAL ARTISTS

The Niemeijer Fund and the Van Abbemuseum are jointly organising the Theodora Niemeijer Prize an incentive prize for emerging women visual artists. It is the only Dutch visual art prize for woman artists only. In 2021 the prize will be awarded for the fifth time. The three nominees of this fifth edition are the duo Razia Barsatie | Marjet Zwaans Silvia Martes and Buhlebezwe Siwani. The project proposals were selected by the jury led by Hedy d’Ancona from a record number of 111 submissions. On Monday 27 September 2021, the recipient of the Theodora Niemeijer Prize 2021 will be announced. 

SILVIA MARTES

Silvia Martes (Eindhoven, 1985) studied at the Gerrit Rietveld Academy Amsterdam (Bachelor Fine Arts, Audiovisual) from September 2009 to July 2013. Her film She that comes from the green forest on a Tuesday was nominated for the Graduation Prize Gerrit Rietveld Academie Fine Arts Award Work. From January 2019 to May 2021, she was an Artist in residence at the Rijksakademie Amsterdam. In her proposal, which deals with the conflict between isolation and exposure, she responds to the pandemic: “In 'Het Oog’, I want to build a film set with a house that is predominantly made of glass, safely quarantined between the walls of the museum. Since the house on the movie set mostly consists of glass windows, the concept of privacy is hard to come by. A house that is safely sheltered within a barricade, where everything can be seen: from the first screw that is drilled up to the quality of the bedding."

ABOUT THE THEODORA NIEMEIJER PRIZE

The Theodora Niemeijer Prize is an incentive prize for emerging women visual artists. The aim of the prize, which has been in existence since 2012, is to contribute to the development of talent and the promotion of equal opportunities between male and women artists in the art world. It is the only Dutch visual art prize for woman artists only. The prize, worth € 10.000, is awarded once every two years to the artist who makes the best project proposal for Het Oog ("The Eye"), an oval patio in the Van Abbemuseum in Eindhoven. The winner will not only receive a cash prize but will also get the opportunity to present her project to the public in the museum. The artists who finish in the second and third place will also receive a check, of € 2500 and € 1500 respectively.