The French-Albanian artist Anri Sala has been announced as the winner of the Vincent Award 2014, the European contemporary art prize. Sala was shortlisted for the 50,000 euro prize along with Pierre Huyghe (France), Manfred Pernice (Germany), Willem de Rooij (Netherlands), and Gillian Wearing (UK).
The artist was presented with the award during a ceremony at the Gemeentemuseum in The Hague. Benno Tempel, chairman of the international jury, said: “Sala succeeded the best in creating an installation where the viewer is constantly challenged by image, sound and movement. It is a poetic and at the same time conceptual work. He presents the idea of gone ideologies and the possibilities this creates for the future on an individual level.”
Sala combined three works to create a single installation for the Vincent Award exhibition. His films Le Clash and Tlatelolco Clash – which feature renditions of The Clash song Should I Stay or Should I Go – are linked by a third film, Doldrum, with the artist exploring the notion of failed ideologies and including imagery of derelict Modernist architecture near the Plaza of Three Cultures in Mexico City. The work will be on display at The Hague’s GEM Museum of Contemporary Art until 2 February 2015.
The Vincent Award was launched by the Broere Foundation in 2000. Previous winners were Deimantas Narkevičius, Wilhelm Sasnal, Pawel Althamer, Neo Rauch and Eija-Liisa Ahtila.
