Intro

The Musée de l’Elysée and Parmigiani Fleurier are thrilled to announce that Slovak artist Martin Kollar was selected by an international jury of experts for his project “Provisional Arrangement.” Martin Kollar receives CHF 80,000; half of this sum will go to the production of the project, and the other half to the publication of an accompanying book. He has to complete his work within one year. During this time, his progress will be followed by the Musée de l’Elysée. An exhibition of his project is planned at the museum in Lausanne in September 2016.

About the project: “Provisional Arrangement”
“I grew up during Communism with its key motto ‘With the Soviet Union for all Eternity.’ Back then, we would add, laughing: ‘but not an hour longer.’ This has been, until this day, one of the few experiences I’ve had with eternity.

Since then, my life has been filled with negotiating its many temporary situations and solutions. People of my generation have grown up; we are middle-aged now. Temporariness is slipping out of our hands; we are fighting against endless variations of disintegration and the void left behind the abandoned old dogmas. We find ourselves in a complex world without a sense of permanence and certainty. We surround ourselves with temporary friends, have temporary women, have a temporary tooth replacement, and prefer temporary residencies to permanent addresses. ‘Provisional Arrangement’ is a project concerned with situations containing an element of uncertainty and mystery. This project will be a photographic record capturing the disintegration of permanence into temporary and provisional.”
–Martin Kollar

The Jury of the first edition of the Prix Elysée
Federica Angelucci, Director, Stevenson, Cape Town / Johannesburg
Martin Barnes, Senior Curator of Photographs, Victoria and Albert Museum, London
Elena Foster, Founder and CEO, Ivorypress, London / Madrid
Ramón Reverté, Editor-in-chief and Creative Director, Editorial RM, Barcelona / Mexico City
Tatyana Franck, Director, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne
Jean-Marc Jacot, CEO, Parmigiani Fleurier, Fleurier
Marina Vatchnadze, Sandoz Family Foundation, Manager of the cultural patronage

“The projects of the eight nominees were all of exceptional quality and we are very happy to have contributed to the advancement of their careers. We will now assist Martin Kollar in the preparation of an exhibition and a book”
–Tatyana Franck, Director, Musée de l’Elysée, Lausanne

“In ‘Provisional Arrangement’ Martin Kollar reveals a deeply ironic yet delicate eye through images combining both a sense of rigor and surrealism. The series transcends the specific historical and geographical constraints to become a reflection on the human condition, its inherent transiency and its search for meaning.”
–Federica Angelucci, Director, Stevenson, Cape Town/Johannesburg

“The winner shows a magnificent potential for developing a coherent and serious work. He has done an interesting and a complex series, with an original and particular approach to the subjects chosen. He has already shaped in it his own voice, although assuming his mentors, their influences and certain important key parts of the history of contemporary photography. The Prix Elysee is the prize that any contemporary photographer would wish to win.”
–Elena Foster, Founder and CEO, Ivorypress, London/Madrid

About the Prix Elysée
Result of a partnership between the Musée de l’Elysée et Parmigiani Fleurier, the Prix Elysée offers financial help and curatorial guidance to artists with a passion for photography and books, so they can take a decisive step in their career. The second edition of the Prix Elysée will be launched in January 2016. For more information please visit www.prixelysee.ch.
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