Brief einer Preisträgerin (Stine Eriksen)

Im März 2016 wurde Stine Eriksen für das Video Choreography # 2 (2015) mit dem Credit Suisse Förderpreis Videokunst ausgezeichnet, der dieses Jahr bereits zum fünften Mal in Kooperation von Kunstmuseum Bern und Credit Suisse verliehen wurde. In einem Brief an eine Freundin berichtet die Künstlerin von ihren Eindrücken zum Wettbewerb und wie es sich für sie als junge Künstlerin anfühlt, einen solchen Preis zu erhalten.

Hello, my dearest!
I received your letter today. It is always nice reading from you and your trips through the world! How funny that you came across Choreography # 2 during the hours you spent in Bern waiting for your next train connection. Yes, PROGR is indeed very close to the train station and I agree that it is better to use that time to visit some exhibitions rather than to sit in a characterless chain-cafeteria.
I am glad that after following the long production process you finally had the chance to see the video in the frame of an exhibition. I don’t know why it took me so much time to finish it. Maybe it was because Choreography # 1 (2010) was still very present and I wanted to keep the style but not be redundant. Words are tricky… how to trust them when they are always changing their meanings!
Do you remember when we shot the video on that hot summer day? It was not easy for Sergio (the cameraman, do you recall him?) to shoot this 7 minutes long sequence since the location was all but a plain terrain. He almost fell in one hole during one of the shots! But we really had fun, didn’t we? After the sequence was filmed I had to continue with the postproduction. I cannot tell you how many times I re-wrote the text. I could do a Decalogue rather than a trilogy! Yes, you are right, I reduced the text in this second part, I think this reinforces the hypnotic rhythm I was looking for.
Finally I finished the video for the January jury at the Ecole cantonale d’art du Valais, where I am attending the Master Arts in the Public Sphere. It was not publicly showed, just for the teachers and then it remained in my hard drive for some months. When I received the open call for the Credit Suisse Förderpreis Videokunst, I submitted the video without much hope. There are so many great video artists in Switzerland! Imagine my surprise when I received the call with the news that the video was selected for the second round! (I almost missed that but this is another story!) I was so happy! Some days later the jury decision was there: Choreography # 2 was awarded with the Credit Suisse Förderpreis Videokunst, and therefore it would be presented at the Kunstmuseum Bern, belong to its collection and showed during the Night of the Museums in Bern at the Credit Suisse subsidiary! The very first time my work was shown in Switzerland and already in such a frame! I don’t know if you can imagine what it means for me: institutional recognition and simultaneously that it is accessible for a wider public. Besides, that the video belongs to the collection ensures its permanence and give me the guarantee that it will always be presented in very good exhibition conditions! It is awesome when your work receives such recognition. You can imagine that it is not easy for young artists to get it, so it is a great deal from this award to support them.
In February I traveled to Bern for the award ceremony (such a pity that we missed each other just for some days! It would have been nice to meet you again and listen to your comments personally). I was quite nervous before the ceremony, but all the people involved in the award were very supportive. And you cannot deny that the video looks wonderful in the PROGR space! It is as if one would be inside that former train garage.
You asked me what I plan to do with the prize money. Well, I have to start working on the third part of the trilogy! But before that I need to process all this incredible experience. Now, two months after the award I realize that besides being a great motivation to go on with my work this price is a sort of responsibility: it means a kind of quality level that all my next artworks should keep or even surpass! Not an easy thing to achieve.
As I mentioned you during the shooting of the second part, I think Choreography # 3 will only have one character. I am researching about different possibilities of camera traveling… but I don’t want to reveal too much. You will see it once it is ready!
Please keep me posted about your trips!

 Yours,
Stine

Stine Eriksen, Choreography #2, 2015, Full-HD-Video, Farbe, Ton, 7‘06‘‘ (Ausschnitt Videostill), Kunstmuseum Bern, Schenkung der Credit Suisse

Weitere Informationen zu Stine Eriksen und den vorjährigen Gewinnerinnen und Gewinnern sind auf der Website des Credit Suisse Förderpreis Videokunst einsehbar.
Die Ausschreibung zur nächsten Wettbewerbsrunde erfolgt im Herbst 2016.

Veröffentlicht unter Allgemein, Gastbeitrag
Schlagwörter: Bern, Credit Suisse, Gastbeitrag, PROGR, Videokunst