20 December 2018

Will Grohmann Prize 2018 goes to Kolja Reichert

The Akademie der Künste has awarded the 2018 Will Grohmann Prize to art critic Kolja Reichert. The prize, which is worth 6,000 euros, will be presented during the awards ceremony for the Berlin Art Prize on 18 March 2019 at the Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz.

The jury was comprised of Akademie members Birgit Hein and Wulf Herzogenrath, plus the 2014 prizewinner Nadine Fecht. In their justification, they write: 'Kolja Reichert writes texts for and about artists, but he is first and foremost a critic, and it is in this capacity that he engages himself, equally authoritative and committed in articles and lectures as in the virtual space of the virtual media which, decentralised and more openly communicative, is playing an increasing role in steering public debate. He documents the issues, discussions, conflict areas and opportunities that are relevant to the art world of the present - and the future. 'Long live art! – but which? And why?'; 'Whom does art belong to? - everyone and no-one: that's what makes it so exciting. Go into the museum; rewrite the rules; storm the bank'; 'Everyone's a museum' – such titles as these already tell us that art is a market player, space for discussion, and site for extravagance, rebellion and glamour, all to the same extent. From a critical viewpoint, Reichert communicates to the public the contradictions of contemporary artistic creation, its potential to stimulate confrontation, to the general public, as a moment of intensity and utopia.'

Born in Starnberg in 1982, Kolja Reichert is a writer for the arts section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sonntagszeitung. He studied philosophy and new German literature at the Freie Universität Berlin, and from 2006 was a staff writer for the Tagesspiegel. Later he also began writing for Welt am Sonntag, Die Zeit, art, Weltkunst and frieze. In 2015, as part of the Vienna 'curated by' festival, he curated the group exhibition 'Production' at the Gallery "nächst St. Stephan Rosemarie Schwarzwälder". He has held teaching positions at the Berlin University of Fine Arts, the Professional University of North-West Switzerland and the Städelschule, Frankfurt. In 2012 he received the art criticism prize of the German Arts Associations, in cooperation with Art Cologne. From 2014 to 2016 he was a journalist for the art magazine Spike Art Quarterly, and from 2016–2017 he was responsible for the arts section of the Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung.

Recent winners of the Will Grohmann Prize have included Nadine Fecht (2014), Nasan Tur (2012), Jan Wawrzyniak (2011) and Frank Berberich (2009). The irregularity with which the prize is awarded is due to the financial revenues of the prize foundation.
To find out more about the Will Grohmann Prize, visit: https://www.adk.de/de/akademie/preise-stiftungen/W_Grohman_Preis.htm