Annually since 1953 the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft awards  young artists with the ars viva price of Visual Arts.

In 2019 the ars viva Prize for Visual Art will be awarded to Karimah Ashadu (*1985), Thibaut Henz (*1988) und Cemile Sahin (*1990).

This year’s award includes exhibitions at the Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig and the Kunstverein in Hamburg as well as an artist residency on Fogo Island (Canada). Each artist receives a 5,000 Euro stipend. In addition, the Kulturkreis will produce a bilingual catalogue published by Kerber Verlag. The jury selected this year’s awardees from 49 nominated artists under the age of 35.

The jury, chaired by Ulrich Sauerwein, consisted of members of the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft’s Committee for Visual Arts along with cooperating partners Julia Schäfer (Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig), Bettina Steinbrügge (Kunstverein in Hamburg), Zita Cobb, Willem de Rooij and Nicolaus Schafhausen (Fogo Island Arts), and Dr Franziska Nentwig and Mathilda Legemah (Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft). Dr Stephanie Rosenthal (Gropius Bau) served as an adviser.

The exhibition of this year’s ars viva prize winners will open on October 12, 2019 at Galerie für Zeitgenössische Kunst Leipzig. A second iteration will take place at Kunstverein in Hamburg.