The Kunststiftung NRW foundation in Germany has revealed its shortlist for the 2018 Nam June Paik Award, which comes with €25,000 (about $29,000) and is given out every other year to an artist working with moving images and new technology. The nominees are Andreas Angelidakis, Melanie Bonajo, Antoine Catala, Hanne Lippard, and Sondra Perry. This year, the Westfälischer Kunstverein has been selected as the institution that will present a group show of all five nominees this fall—with a winner to be announced in November.
In a statement, Ursula Sinnreich, the secretary general of the Kunststiftung NRW, said that the award is meant to “take a sounding of the current status quo in the world of contemporary media art”—a topic that’s taken on new significance in “an era in which the fusion of digital and real, physical worlds continues apace.”
The selection committee for the award included Kristina Scepanski, the director of the Westfälischer Kunstverein; Hanne Mugaas, the director of the Kunsthall Stavanger; and Anne-Claire Schmitz, the director of La Loge in Brussels. Past winners have included Lawrence Abu Hamdan (2016), Camille Henrot (2014), and Cevdet Erek (2012).