ars viva 2025 winners' exhibition at Kunsthalle Bremen

Kunsthalle Bremen is pleased to announce ‘Wisrah C. V. da R. C. Celestino, Helena Uambembe, Vincent Scheers,’ a group show featuring the three winners of the ars viva 2025. Since 1953, the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e.V. (Association of Arts and Culture of the German Economy at the Federation of German Industries e.V.) has awarded the ars viva Prize of Visual Arts to exceptional young artists living in Germany, whose works of art demonstrate an independent formal language and an awareness of contemporary issues. In this period, more than 350 artists have been recognized, including Georg Baselitz, Katharina Sieverding, Albert Oehlen, Rosemarie Trockel, Candida Höfer, Wolfgang Tillmans, Thomas Struth, Jochen Lempert, Jeanne Faust and Omer Fast. The 2025 ars viva prize winners are Wisrah C. V. da R. Celestino (*1989), Vincent Scheers (*1990) and Helena Uambembe (*1994). This year, the prize will be presented in an exhibition at the Kunsthalle Bremen (12 October 2024 – 26 January 2025) and the Haus der Kunst in Munich (26 June – 28 September 2025). A catalog of the exhibition in German and English will be published by Kerber Verlag. The exhibition at Kunsthalle Bremen is curated by Min-young Jeon, Maren Hüppe & Eva Fischer-Hausdorf. ABOUT THE WINNERS Wisrah C. V. da R. Celestino was born in 1989 in Buritizeiro, Brazil, and currently lives and works in Berlin, Germany. Through score, sculpture, 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 Galerie Molitor (Germany), Kunsthal Nord (Denmark), Museu Nacional da República (Brazil), Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen (Germany), Curitiba Biennial (Brazil), and Oscar Niemeyer Museum (Brazil). In addition to being awarded the ars viva 2025, Celestino was previously granted numerous other grants, prizes, residencies, and fellowships, amongst them the Pampulha Grant, Brazil (Belo Horizonte Municipal Foundation for Culture); Ducato Prize, Italy; Hochschule für Bildende Künste Braunschweig, Germany (Ministry of Science and Culture of the Lower Saxony); La Becque, Switzerland (The Swiss Arts Council Pro Helvetia); PACT Zollverein, Germany (JUNCTIONS); British Council, UK; and Pivô, Brazil. Their 2024 exhibitions include a solo show at Kunstverein Kevin Space (Austria) and group shows at Kunstverein Braunschweig, Kunsthalle Bremen (both Germany), Kunsthal Charlottenborg (Denmark), Centro Cultural do Banco do Brasil (Brazil). Vincent Scheers (b. 1990) is a belgian artist currently living and working in Munich, Germany. After finishing his studies Printmaking (BA) and Fine Arts (MFA) at the Royal Academy of Antwerp in Belgium he graduated in the sculpture department of the Akademie der Bildenden Künste München in the class of Alexandra Bircken. His works investigate systems of oppression and the relation between humans and nature, often utilising the embrace of temporality as a possible antidote against conservatism. He participated in international group exhibitions and has had solo exhibitions at Gallery Jos Joos (Brussels), Forbidden City (Antwerp), Kunstverein St. Georgen (DE), Sharp Projects (Copenhagen) and Paulina Caspari (DE). In 2024, he was awarded the prestigious ars viva prize, granted annually to outstanding young artists by the Kulturkreis der deutschen Wirtschaft im BDI e.V. The prize is associated with exhibitions at Kunsthalle Bremen (DE), Haus der Kunst in Munich (DE), and an artist’s residency on Fogo Island (CA) in the following year. 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). Helena Uambembe was awarded the DAAD Visual Arts Fellowship, Berlin, Germany (2023), the Baloise Art Prize, Basel, Switzerland (2022), and the David Koloane Award, Johannesburg, South Africa (2019).