Esther Strauß awarded the Paul Flora Prize 2022 – Südtirol News
Innsbruck – This Tuesday evening, Tyrolean Minister of Culture Beate Palfrader and her South Tyrolean counterpart Philipp Achammer awarded the Tyrolean performance and language artist Esther Strauß with the 2022 Paul Flora Prize. The presentation of the prize, which is endowed with 10,000 euros, took place in the Taxispalais Kunsthalle Tirol in Innsbruck.
“The Paul Flora Prize, established by the two states of Tyrol and South Tyrol in 2010, is a clear commitment to contemporary fine arts. We want to use it to help promote young artists from Tyrol and South Tyrol. The work of this year’s award winner, Esther Strauss, is an impressive example of how art can change and broaden one’s own perspective in the long term, how art can help us deal with our history, and how effectively art can intervene in reality,” emphasized the state councilor Palfrader in her speech. “At the same time, the awarding of this prize is always a commitment to cross-border cultural cooperation and, last but not least, an appreciation of the artistic personality Paul Flora, who could have celebrated his 100th birthday this year.”
“In her works, Esther Strauss deals with existential themes – such as dealing with death and memory. Frighteningly up-to-date parallels can be drawn to our present,” said South Tyrol’s Provincial Councilor for German Education and Culture. “Her works are challenging and at times disturbing, they don’t provide answers but raise painful questions and provoke controversial reactions. In her performances and texts, Strauss deliberately uses gaps and secrets. What their works hide is just as important as what they reveal.”
Esther Strauss, born in 1986, comes from Tarrenz. She lives and researches in Vienna, Linz and London. The artist subsequently studied at the art universities of Linz and Bristol and received a diploma in performance and cultural studies. Since then she has been researching through performances, exhibitions and in laboratories at the Sigmund Freud Museum London, Perdu Amsterdam, Fabbrica del Vapore Milan, Albertina Vienna and La Marelle Marseille, among others. They have received several prizes, most recently the State Scholarship for Fine Arts in 2021, the Theodor Körner Prize 2020, the “Lentos Award” 2018, the Promotional Prize for Contemporary Art from the State of Tyrol in 2018, the Hilde Zach Scholarship from the City of Innsbruck in 2016 and the RLB Promotional Prize 2014. Since In 2015, Strauss taught language arts at the University of Art and Design Linz.
From: mk