Pawel Althamer awarded the Aachen Art Prize 2010

The Polish-born artist Parweł Althamer has been announced as the winner of the 2010 Aachen Art Prize.  

Althamer is best known for his use of existing structures and systems as a playground to explore the social and communicative powers of art. Trained as a sculptor, he regularly incorporates the human form in his work (occasionally even including actual parts of the living people they depict - one self-portrait includes the artist's own hair). Key works include Real Time Movie (2007), a 'directed reality' performance in London starring Jude Law, and Common Task (2009), a community-based project involving residents of the Warsaw tower block he lives in, who donned gold 'spacesuits' and travelled to Brussels for a symbolic commemoration of the 20 year anniversary of the end of communism in Poland. In October Balloon (2007), a vast inflatable naked self portrait, could be seen hovering above the city of Brugges as part of the opening celebrations of A Vision of Central Europe a celebration of art and culture this year curated by Belgian artist, Luc Tuymans. 

Presented biannually, the Aachen Art Prize is awarded to visual artists who have had a substantial and lasting influence on the international art scene. Previous winners have included Christian Boltanski (1994), Tacita Dean (2002) and Aernout Mik (2008). A prize of 10,000 Euros is combined with a solo exhibition at the Ludwig Forum.

Althamer's Aachen Art Prize exhibition is currently on show at the Ludwig Forum in Aachen (until 20 February 2011) and presents three new works by the artist: the film The Golden Knight, a sculpture of the same title and a new installation in the neighbouring St Elisabeth church.

Follow the link to the Open Arts Projects site for more images of Althamer's Common Task