Anne Imhof and Franz Erhard Walther Win Golden Lions at 57th Venice Biennale

The jury of the Fifty-Seventh Venice Biennale has announced the winners of the prizes for the 2017 exhibition. The Golden Lion for national pavilion goes to Germany for Anne Imhof’s Faust. The jury called it “a powerful and disturbing installation that poses urgent questions about our time. It pushes the spectator to a state of anxiety. An original response to the architecture of the pavilion, Imhof’s work is also characterized by precise decisions about objects, images, bodies and sounds.” Imhof also recently won a 2017 Absolut Art Award.

The Golden Lion for best artist in Christine Macel’s exhibition “Viva Arte Viva” went to Franz Erhard Walther, while the Silver Lion for promising young artist went to Hassan Khan, whose special project for Artforum, “Trusted Sources,” appeared on the cover of the magazine’s October 2013 issue. The same issue also featured an Openings by Victoria Camblin on Imhof’s first institutional solo exhibition at Frankfurt’s Portikus.

The jury awarded a special mention for national participation to Cinthia Marcelle of Brazil. Charles Atlas and Petrit Halilaj also received special mentions for their work in “Viva Arte Viva.”

The jury consisted of the Museo Nacional Centro de Arte Reina Sofía’s director, Manuel J. Borja-Villel (president of the jury, Spain); curator and writer Francesca Alfano Miglietti (Italy); cofounder of TheCube Project Space, Amy Cheng (Taiwan); Chimurenga publication founder Ntone Edjabe (Cameroon); and Tate Modern’s senior curator of international art, Mark Godfrey (Great Britain).

https://www.artforum.com/news/id=68406