ars viva 2025

Since 1953, the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e. V. has awarded the annual ars viva prize for visual arts to outstanding young artists based in Germany. The award honours work that demonstrates a distinct language of form and an awareness of contemporary issues. The ars viva prize 2025 will be awarded to Wisrah C. V. da R. Celestino (b. 1989), Vincent Scheers (b. 1990) and Helena Uambembe (b. 1994).

Text by Erik Bordeleau, Eva Fischer-Hausdorf, Haris Giannouras, Min-young Jeon, Peju Oshin, Ana Teixeira Pinto, Kitty Scott.

Text in English and German.

Wisrah C. V. da R. Celestino was born 1989 in Buritizeiro, Brazil. Through score, sculp-ture, text, photography, sound, and video, the artist addresses the remaining structures of the transatlantic colonial project, focusing on institutional critique, language, and objecthood. Their work has been shown in Germany and internationally, including exhibitions at Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Denmark), Galerie Molitor (Germany), Kunsthal Nord (Denmark), Museu Nacional da República (Brazil), Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Ger-many), Curitiba Biennial (Brazil), and Oscar Niemeyer Museum ( Brazil). Vincent Scheers was born in 1990 in Duffel, Belgium and now lives and works in Munich. After studying Printmaking (BA) and Fine Arts (MFA) at the Royal Academy of Antwerp in Belgium he was a Sculpture Meisterschüler in the class of Alexandra Bircken at Akademie der Bildenden Künste München. His works have been shown in Belgium, Germany, Italy, and the UK, in museums and galleries like Beacon (Munich), Tom Reichstein Contemporary (Hamburg), Circolo Lia Mostra d’Ert (Urtijëi, Italy), The Pool (Düsseldorf) as well as Kunstpavillon (München), Antwerp Tower (Antwerpen, Belgium), Jacques Gorus Founda-tion (Antwerpen, Belgium). Helena Uambembe was born in 1994 in Pomfret, South Africa and now lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Her work has been shown in Africa, Switzerland, and Germany, including solo exhibitions at Jahmek Contemporary Art (Luanda, Angola), Jahmek Contemporary Art (Basel, Switzerland), The Cultural Institute of Radical Contemporary Arts (CIRCA, Cape Town, South Africa) and FNB Art Joburg (Johannesburg, South Africa). Furthermore, she was part of group exhibitions in Galerie im Körnerpark (Berlin, Germany), INCCA (Johannesburg, South Africa) as well as La Biennale de Lubumbashi VII: Toxicity, Democratic Republic of the Congo and Goethe-Institut South Africa (Johannesburg, South Africa).