Award for independent, strong-willed and exceptionally well-written art criticism.The art scholar and independent critic Jörg Scheller will be honored with the Prize for Art Criticism 2016. The 3,000 euro prize is awarded by the Arbeitsgemeinschaft Deutsche Kunstvereine (ADKV) in cooperation with the ART COLOGNE and is meant for independent journalists.

By selecting Jörg Scheller the jury has chosen a critic who expresses his wide and unorthodox art historical interests in a language that is as sensitive as it is virtuosic and precise, while also formulating political analysis with great lucidity.

The jury statement elaborated further: “Scheller represents a critical position which doesn’t see writing about art as the dissemination of established opinions but rather as making use of linguistic innovation in order to maintain as large a distance as possible from too often dominating languages of commercialization and affirmation. Whether it is outside art, the aesthetics of protest movements, or the conflict with art institutions, Scheller makes use of his unconventional variety of research interests, including body building, heavy metal or popular culture, in order to resist cliches and dogmatic thinking with knowledge and passion. He has developed an original, critical narrative voice without patronizing his audience.”

Since 1999 the prize has been offered by AKDV and since 2006 it has been given out in cooperation with ART COLOGNE, also a sponsor of the prize money. The prize recognizes the dedication of independent art critics working in the specialized and daily press or other media that deals with contemporary art and its social context.

The members of the jury for 2016 are: Marius Babias (critic, curator and director of n.b.k. Berlin); Gerrit Gohlke (critic, curator and board member of the ADKV); Stefan Kobel (independent critic, prize winner Prize for Art Criticism 2015); Dominikus Müller (critic and chief editor at frieze d/e); Tobias Timm (Journalist, editor in Feuilleton from DIE ZEIT).

Previous prize winners: Stefan Kobel (2015); Barbara Buchmaier and Christine Woditschka (2014); Astrid Mania (2013); Kolja Reichert (2012); Jens Kastner (2011); Jennifer Allen (2009); Rudolf Schmitz (2008); Ludwig Seyfarth (2007); Catrin Lorch (2006); Dominic Eichler (2005); Gregory Williams (2004); Raimar Stange (2003); Renate Puvogel (2002); Jan Verwoert (2001); Stefan Römer (2000); Hans-Christian Dany (1999).

The prize will be conferred together with the ADKV-ART COLOGNE Prize for Kunstvereine on Saturday, April 16th, 2016 at 15 o’clock in the TALK LOUNGE in hall 11.3 of the ART COLOGNE.