KVOST STIPENDIUM & CLAUS MICHALETZ PREIS . MAGDALENA CIEMIERKIEWICZ

KVOST is very pleased to announce Magdalena Ciemierkiewicz as this year’s recipient of the KVOST Scholarship and the Claus Michaletz Preis 2024, endowed with 10,000 euros. The artist was selected from 132 applications.

The Polish artist Magdalena Ciemierkiewicz (1992*) addresses the unique culture of the Ukrainian-Polish border region at the intersection of different national, religious and ethnic identities. She carefully and poetically addresses their often repressed and forgotten histories. In her works, which include video, sound, textiles and installations, she incorporates authentic traditional patterns and objects into a contemporary context. Some of her works revolve around the Stryvihor Museum, which was founded in Przemyśl in 1932 to represent the marginalized Ukrainian folk art of the region. After the museum was forced to close in 1945, its collection went to Polish institutions and is still not accessible to the public today. Magdalena Cierniekiewicz reinterprets the exhibition and brings it out of its obscurity.

Magdalena Ciemierkiewicz was born in Subcarpathia (PL) and lives in Jarosław. She is a graduate of the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw (2016) and the History of Modern Art at the Institute of Art of the Polish Academy of Sciences (2020). She is currently a PhD candidate at the Academy of Fine Arts in Warsaw.

This year, the jury consisted of Monika Branicka (art historian and curator), Dr. Christine Heidemann (collection curator for contemporary art and dependent foundations at the Berlin Stadtmuseum), Thomas Florschuetz (artist), Nathalie Hoyos and Rainald Schumacher (curatorial team with a focus on Eastern and South Eastern Europe), Dr. Silke Manske and Corinna Reuter (Secco Pontanova Foundation) and Stephan Koal (curator and director of the art association).

In addition to the KVOST scholarship – an artist residency in Berlin followed by a solo exhibition at KVOST during Berlin Art Week 2024 – Magdalena Ciemierkiewicz will receive the Claus Michaletz Preis, which is endowed with 10,000 euros. In memory of the publisher and founder of the Secco Pontanova Foundation, the prize has been awarded to artists from Eastern Europe since 2020. The full amount of the prize money goes to the scholarship holders.