Visual artists Lia & Dan Perjovschi and conductor Yoel Gamzou to receive the fifth ECF Princess Margriet Award
19 March 2013
The Egg
rue Bara 175
Brussels
www.princessmargrietaward.eu
The fifth ECF Princess Margriet Award will be awarded to visual artists Lia and Dan Perjovschi and conductor Yoel Gamzou on 19 March 2013 in the presence of HRH Princess Margriet of the Netherlands. The annual Award recognises cultural change-makers in Europe, reflecting ECF’s greater belief in the power of art as a catalyst of reciprocal cultural understanding and social change. Its aim is to support the work of creative minds who ‘play’ across traditional cultural categories and engage with difference so as to turn it into a creative force.
The ECF Princess Margriet Award will be presented by HRH Princess Margriet of the Netherlands at an official ceremony at The Egg venue in Brussels on 19 March 2013. HRH Princess Laurentien of the Netherlands, President of the European Cultural Foundation, will give the opening speech. The Award includes a sum of 25,000 EUR for Lia and Dan Perjovschi and 25,000 EUR for Yoel Gamzou.
About the laureates
Lia & Dan Perjovschi (Bucharest and Sibiu, Romania) are visual artists who, alongside their renowned independent practices, are committed community builders in the Romanian and international art scenes. The artistic couple has been selected by the ECF Princess Margriet Award Jury for the active role their art has played in building a strong network of cultural agency in Romania and across Europe. Collaboratively, the Perjovschis have turned their studio into the Center for Art Analysis—an accessible, grassroots environment for cultural action and education. Built with little money, yet with untold generosity of time, the centre is an exemplary space of knowledge and resistance.
Yoel Gamzou (Berlin, Germany) is Artistic Director and Principal Conductor of the International Mahler Orchestra and first Kapellmeister and Vice Music Director of the Staatstheater Kassel. The Jury selected Yoel Gamzou for his exceptional talent and energy in inspiring different generations of musicians and audiences across Europe. Gamzou challenges the conventional structures of the classical music genre, and in doing so uncovers its democratic potential.
Join the Perjovschis for a talk in Brussels 19 March or in London 21 March
19 March, The Egg, Brussels at 14:30–16h: Prior to the official Award ceremony Lia & Dan Perjovschi will give a special presentation of their work followed by a conversation moderated by Ann Demeester. This open presentation and conversation is a chance for the public to learn how the artists have turned their studio into the CAA (Contemporary Art Archive / Center for Art Analysis) into a discursive environment for cultural action. To register for the presentation, please send an e-mail to xander [at] deburen.eu.
21 March, Romanian Cultural Centre, London at 18.30–20.30h: Known for their witty critique of social and political issues, the Perjovschis will look at the prevailing negative undercurrent in the British press that bemoans the upcoming change in EU employment restrictions, predicting that floods of Bulgarian and Romanian immigrants will enter the country in 2014. The post-prize celebration and talk will offer a unique opportunity to hear about the extraordinary last 25 years of achievements of Dan and Lia Perjovschi. The presentation will be followed by a Q&A, and will be moderated by Mihaela Brebenel, Visiting Tutor at Goldsmiths, University of London. Register via bookings [at] romanianculturalcentre.org.uk.
About the ECF Princess Margriet Award
The ECF Princess Margriet Award was initiated in 2008 by ECF and named after the foundation’s former President HRH Princess Margriet of the Netherlands, who has shown enormous dedication to culture as a means of understanding and valuing Europe’s diversity. It was established in partnership with the Dutch Ministry of Education, Culture and Science and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. The current ECF Princess Margriet Award jury members are Jan Dibbets, Christian Esch, Maria Lind, Els van der Plas and Rana Zincir Celal. Chris Dercon (Director Tate Modern, London) will join the 2013 jury panel.
Previous laureates have included cultural theorist Stuart Hall, choreographers Jérôme Bel & Pichet Klunchun, dramaturge and activist Borka Pavićević , theatre-maker Stefan Kaegi, artists Kutluğ Ataman and Šejla Kamerić, filmmaker John Akomfrah and curator Charles Esche.
