15 Oct 2015

AVEK Award for artist Anna Estarriola

The winner of this year's AVEK Award is Artist Anna Estarriola (b. 1980). The award for media arts, worth €15,000, was presented in September at the season opening of AVEK, the Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture. The AVEK Award is the most significant accolade in the field of media arts in Finland.

Estarriola's works combine media installations, performing arts and sculpting. In the last few years, Estarriola has produced installations that combine sculptures and moving images with dance, dramaturgy and technology. Nevertheless, the focus of the works is always on a person who both fascinates and discomfits the artist. The themes of Estarriola's works are related to the perception of reality, emotions, the behaviour of individuals and communities as well as communication.

The AVEK Award jury was particularly pleased with the versatile works displayed in the artist's latest private exhibition, Related to Glory. The works on display at the exhibition included a ventriloquist dummy that looked like the artist and engaged in dialogue with its maker, a naked human population living in a Petri dish under a microscope, a woman doing housework in a retable as well as a parkour artist giving his all. According to the jury, 'Estarriola's works utilise a personal approach, magical realism and the history of media art in a fresh way, giving the viewer access to various worlds that focus on issues regarding the art work's ontology and the relationship between the art work, the artist and the viewer.'

Estarriola, who was born in Catalonia, has lived and worked in Finland since 2004. In addition to Finland and Catalonia, her works have been on display in Germany, Iceland and Norway. By choosing Estarriola, the award jury wished to highlight the important role of foreign media artists who have relocated to Finland as developers of the art field and providers of new perspectives. 'As an artist, Estarriola moves not only between different media, combining them in creative ways, but also between physical boundaries and cultures, enriching her artistic expression with various traditions and cultural perspectives.'

Some of Estarriola's works will be featured at the Cinematic Senses exhibition at the Exhibition Laboratory (Merimiehenkatu 36, Helsinki) from 11 September to 4 October 2015. The group exhibition is curated by students in the Praxis Master's Programme in Exhibition Studies. Estarriola will put on a performance at Gallery Sinne in October and she will hold an exhibition at Forum Box in Helsinki in February 2016.

The AVEK Award jury comprised Museum Director Leevi Haapala from the Museum of Contemporary Art Kiasma, who served as the chairperson of the jury, Cinematographer Jussi Eerola, Media Artist and Researcher Kari Yli-Annala and Media Artist Elena Näsänen, who also works as the commissioner for media art at AVEK. The recipient of the award was decided by the AVEK board of directors, based on a statement from the jury. The AVEK Award was awarded for the twelfth time.

RECIPIENTS OF THE AVEK AWARD 2004–2014
Media Artist Heidi Tikka (8 September, 2004)
Media Artist Hanna Haaslahti (6 September, 2005)
Media Artist Pekka Sassi (7 September, 2006)
Artist Adel Abidin (6 September, 2007)
Artist Pia Lindman (11 September, 2008)
Artist-curator Juha Huuskonen (10 September, 2009)
Artist Jani Ruscica (9 September 2010)
Artists Lea and Pekka Kantonen (8 September, 2011)
Artists Tellervo Kalleinen and Oliver Kochta-Kalleinen (6 September, 2012)
Media Artist Erkka Nissinen (5 September, 2013)
Artist Annette Arlander (4 September 2014)

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AVEK
The Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture (AVEK) operates within the copyright organisation Kopiosto and uses copyright remuneration to promote audiovisual culture. Its assets are mostly based on copyright remunerations. AVEK grants funds for the cultural exportation and development of different kinds of film genres, the advanced training and further education of employees and organisations in the audiovisual industry as well as the organisation of festivals and events. AVEK also supports the production of short films and documentaries, animations and media art.

AVEK grants funds for the development of cultural content and cultural entrepreneurship through the Ministry of Education and Culture's DigiDemo and CreaDemo grants.

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Additional information:
Juha Samola, General Secretary of AVEK, +358 (0)9 4315 2351, juha.samola@avek.kopiosto.fi

Anna Estarriola, +358 (0)44 099 4414, anna.estarriola@gmail.com
www.annaestarriola.com

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Jury's statement: AVEK Award 2015

The 2015 AVEK Award, granted by the Promotion Centre for Audiovisual Culture (AVEK), has been awarded to Anna Estarriola (b. 1980). Estarriola is a media artist born in Catalonia and currently living in Helsinki, whose work combines media art, performing arts, sculpting and dance in a surprising way. The jury's interest was piqued by the artist's way of crossing boundaries in her media art, combining approaches from the traditions of various fields with her personal starting point of expanding her activities as an artist in various areas. The viewer is kept captivated by the way Estarriola's works directly speak to the viewer and her ability to stage situations and use narrative methods in her works. The works directly address the fundamental issues of existence, such as human relationships, emotions, physicality and death. The works reflect a positive attitude towards and trust in people's ability to survive and act alone and together in today's world.

The members of the jury have followed the artist's work in various ways, and they were particularly pleased with the versatile works displayed in the artist's latest private exhibition, Related to Glory, at Huuto Gallery. Estarriola's works utilise a personal approach, magical realism and the history of media art in a fresh way, giving the viewer access to various worlds that focus on issues regarding the art work's ontology and the relationship between the art work, the artist and the viewer. The significance of the performance space and situation are particularly emphasised in performance pieces in which the artist herself is the performer. The works on display at the exhibition provided perspectives through a ventriloquist puppet that looked like the artist and engaged in dialogue with its maker; a naked human population living in a Petri dish under a microscope; a woman doing housework in a retable as well as a parkour artist giving his all. Estarriola's open way of observing social situations and shaping them in various ways to form a work of art raises questions regarding the meaning of socialisation and, on a wider scale, the meaning of a community.

This year, the AVEK Award jury wishes to highlight the important role of foreign media artists who have relocated to Finland as developers of the art field and providers of new perspectives. As an artist, Estarriola moves not only between different media, combining them in creative ways, but also between physical boundaries and cultures, enriching her artistic expression with various traditions and cultural perspectives.

Estarriola has lived and worked in Helsinki since 2004, and she has actively participated in exhibition activities in various countries. She graduated with a Master's degree in Fine Arts from the Department of Sculpture at the University of Barcelona in 2004 as well as from the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts' Department of Time and Space Arts in 2009. Estarriola was first introduced to Finnish media art as an exchange student at the University of Art and Design Helsinki, the current Aalto University, where she studied for her first degree in the Degree Programme in Art. During that time, she visited Media Lab, where she got to know students of the Finnish Academy of Fine Arts. She has also studied contemporary dance in Barcelona and Helsinki and worked with theatre directors and choreographers. In summer 2015, Estarriola's works were featured at a summer exhibition in Purnu as well as Galerie Pleiku in Berlin. Her works will next be on display at the Cinematic Senses group exhibition that will be held at the Exhibition Laboratory in Helsinki from 11 September to 4 October. Gallery Sinne in Helsinki will hold a performance in October, and Estarriola will also have an exhibition at Forum Box in Helsinki in February 2016.

On behalf of the jury, chairman Leevi Haapala

Members of the jury: Jussi Eerola, Leevi Haapala, Elena Näsänen, Kari Yli-Annala and Juha Samola as the secretary.