Juror - Ralph Waltmans

Ralph Waldman is the Director of Cultural Affairs for the city of Esch-sur-Alzette, Luxembourg. Among his many accomplishments is leading his city to be designated as the European Capital of Culture in 2022, as well as serving on the board of the very successful art project Art2cure (https://www.instagram.com/art2cure/?hl=en).

A few words about the Grand Prize winners

Freedom Baird: Robot church

The cold white light in this space — this church — immediately attracts the attention of the spectator. The icy light refers to eternal light, of course, but it also reminds us of a very sterile, technical space. Alongside artificial intelligence, the artist mixes digital art with different media and materials in a very refined way, offering viewers all the tools to indulge in this new “religion.” Yet at the same time, it poses troubling questions about religions and the use of artificial intelligence, and thus sits directly in the intersection of technologies and society. Its profound strength rests in its ability to offer all the elements to provoke discussions, while also offering the tools to reflect upon our contemporary world.

Barbara Revelle: Couples

Having the initial appearance of a captivating snapshot, the viewer quickly realizes the composition of the photo was carried out in a very skillful way. It is the woman who, with her stoic gaze, first attracts our attention. In the background of the image, a painting of a naked couple makes us think that the couple is on a museum tour. But what are the two people thinking? And what are they doing there? They don't seem to be having fun, unlike the couple in the painting. What is the man saying to the woman? Or was he speechless? And we — aren't we also speechless in front of the photo? So many emotions in a single image. We will never know what happened. We will remain spectators, moved. It's up to us to invent the story and choose the perspective of this image of the two couples, one young, naked, before or after mating, the other, united or separated in emotion in front of this painting. The photo is burned on my retina.

Bill Psarras: 2423 (to face a surface is to surface a face)

The performance operates on many revelatory layers of initiation. We know — and yet fear we do not know — what is being revealed. There is a funereal solemnity: the sense of a body washed for burial, recalling gypsum’s bone-dust texture. We feel in our own fingertips the delicate, inexpressible delight of peeling plaster. We almost forget, and then suddenly remember, that this is no lament at all. We are revealed in the revealing, startled at our own indulged senses, and look finally away with the awareness we’ve learned an untranslatable truth about life, death, and love.