“With his competition and prize, Henkel wants to make a contribution to the process of European integration and a cultural understanding of the CEE region. We are happy and very proud that this prize has gained such a distinguished reputation. Nine years ago we started with close to 180 entries. In the meantime, we had more than 1,000 participants this year”, says. Günter Thumser, President of Henkel CEE.

Precisely 1,060 works of art were submitted by young artists to be evaluated, a new record for the Henkel Art.Award. An international jury of experts consisting of museum specialists, art experts, renowned curators and gallery owners decided to name Maksymilian Cieślak, the Polish artist born in Tomaszow Lubelski, as the winner of the Henke Art.Award. 2010.

"With Maksymilian Cieślak, a representation of a whole new generation of young artists won this year’s Henkel Art.Award. I look forward to having Maksymilian Cieślak exhibit his works of art in an individual presentation here at MUMOK next year”, says the jury chairperson Karola Kraus, Director of MUMOK in Vienna, explaining the reasons for selecting the young Polish artist.

The cinematic works of Maksymilian Cieślaks are characterized by a high level of narrative intensity and originality. Cieslak works with the tools offered by silent films, the aesthetics of amateur movies on YouTube as well as the elements of found footage. In this regard, he is able to approach film as a medium in a completely undogmatic and sometimes humorous manner. He uses the history of motion pictures, myths of media history such as Yuri Gagarin’s flight in space or a Doors concert as material to create a highly unconventional cinematic language. Some of his works, such as Doctor Faustus or Cloud Nine, can be seen as extremely angry satires on the art scene.

The Young Artist’s Prize Austria for young, up and coming Austrian artists was also granted for the fifth time at the Henkel Art.Award. gala ceremony. This year the prize went to Susanna Flock. The Styrian-born artist convinced the jury with her clear examples of graphic art and the way she handled space, artistically manipulating and changing it with the simplest methods. The fact that she had created such a large number of art works, although she is still a student, was only one of the many reasons why she received the Young Artist’s Prize Austria.

On the other hand, the Croatian artist Nina Kurtela won the Young Artist’s Prize CEE awarded to young artists from Central and Eastern Europe taking part in the Artists-in-Residence Program of KulturKontakt Austria, the longstanding cooperation partner of Henkel. After completing her studies at the Academy of Fine Arts Zagreb, Nina Kurtela began to intensively deal with contemporary dance. The language of dancing was integrated into her video works, adorning them with a special rhythm and lightness. The Henkel Young Artist’s Prize CEE in connection with the scholarship financing a three-month working stay in Vienna will enable the young artist to show her works of art in Austria and get to know people in the local art scene.

The works of all the nominees as well as the award winners will be exhibited from November 26-28, 2010 at the MUMOK in Vienna (Museum Quarter, Museumsplatz 1, 1070 Vienna, opening hours 10:00 a.m. – 6:00 p.m.)

Further information is available at http://artaward.henkel.at  or at www.facebook.com/HenkelArtAward.