Since it was established in 2009, the artist award has been a collaboration between the regional bank, Sparebanken Sør, and the former regional art museum, Sørlandets Kunstmuseum. In its tenth iteration, it now continues in Kunstsilo. With a focus on promoting young talent connected to Agder, the prize has encouraged further development of the artists’ work. Through an exhibition with the nominated artists, we also aim to strengthen the ties between the region and young artists who have often moved elsewhere to study and establish themselves professionally.
The nominees for this year’s award are Finn Adrian Jorkjen (b. 1990, Arendal), Olaf Tønnesland Hodne (b. 1990, Evje og Hornes), Andreas Lian (b. 1991, Kristiansand), and Ingrid Bjørnaali (b. 1991, Kristiansand). Together, they represent a wide range of contemporary artistic practices in terms of the content they work with, their working process and with the use of different types of media and materials, from sculpture, woodcut, and jewelry art to animation video, installation, text and performance.
In addition to the jury’s selection, we invite the visitors to vote for their favorite. The artist with the most votes will receive the Audience Award of 50,000 NOK, also funded by Sparebanken Sør.
The Artist Prize and the Audience Award will be presented at a special event at Kunstsilo on Thursday, January 16th, 2025.
Andreas Lian primarily works with woodcuts and sculpture. He is interested in the tradition of woodcutting, exploring how it can be adapted to a contemporary expression. In his sculptures, he engages in a physical process, allowing the wood material to guide unpredictable and spontaneous decisions toward a finished result.
Lian (b. 1991, Kristiansand) lives and works in Kristiansand, where he has established his own workshop in Mosby, just outside the city. He holds a Bachelor’s degree in art from the University of Bergen with a focus on printmaking.
Finn Adrian Jorkjen uses performance, text, and video to explore our relationship with mass media and to investigate various questions about identity. Jorkjen cuts, stages, and composes different memories and situations together, often in performances driven by intense, ambivalent emotions.
Jorkjen (b. 1990, Arendal) lives and works in Oslo. He studied at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and the Trondheim Academy of Fine Art, NTNU. Besides his individual art practice, he is a member of the performanceduo "Koppen & Jorkjen"
Ingrid Bjørnaali works to document specific biotopes in nature and the various stages they go through. She often uses digital modeling tools based on photographs (photogrammetry) as a starting point for video installations, texts, and sculptures. Bjørnaali is interested in showing how digital technology plays a central role in our knowledge and experience of the world, while also highlighting its limitations when confronted with the complex, material properties of nature.
Bjørnaali (b. 1991, Kristiansand) lives and works in Oslo and was educated at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts (KHIO), with an exchange at the University of the Arts in Helsinki, Finland.
Olaf Tønnesland Hodne works with minerals and jewelry, often combining different objects in larger spatial presentations and installations. He is interested in the material properties of minerals and how geological processes are visibly present in the stones he uses, often questioning the boundary between natural and artificial stones.
Hodne (b. 1990, Evje og Hornes) lives and works in Oslo and is educated at the Oslo National Academy of the Arts and Hiko Mizuno College of Jewelry in Osaka, Japan. He teaches as an associate professor of metal and jewelry art at Oslo National Academy of the Arts.
This year's jury and previous winners
The Nomination Comittee
Cecilie Nissen, leder Kristiansand Kunsthall Agnes Repstad, leder Agder Kunstsenter Daisuke Kosugi, kunstner Hanne Cecilie Gulstad, kurator Kunstsilo
This Year's Jury
Tominga O’Donnell, Senior Curator at Munch Museum
Deise Nunes, film director, performance artist and researcher Frank Falch, Curator at Kunstsilo Trond Skjæveland, (Manager at Sør-Fondet)
Previous winners
2022: Per Kristian Nygård (f. 1987) 2020: Johanne Hestvold (f. 1988) 2018: Sigve Knutson (f. 1991) 2016: Marte Gunnufsen (f. 1980) 2014: Lasse Åriksstad (f. 1983) 2012: Marit Roland (f. 1981) 2011: Preben Holst (f. 1974) 2010: Tori Wrånes (f. 1978) 2009: Jo R. Abusland (f. 1976)