Nicky Assmann receives Art+Technology Award 2020

Artist Nicky Assmann wins this year’s Witteveen+Bos Art+Technology Award. The Witteveen+Bos Art+Technology Award was first presented in 2001 and is awarded as oeuvre prize to a visual artist who combines the art and technology disciplines in his/her work in a special and deserving way. 

Nicky Assmann (1980) earned a bachelor’s degree in Filmmaking at Amsterdam University and a master’s degree in ArtScience at the interfaculty of the Royal Conservatory and the Royal Academy of Art (KABK) in The Hague. Nicky lives and works in Rotterdam. At the end of 2019, her large LED light sculpture the ‘Wervel’ was opened in the parking garage of the Groningen Forum. Assmann is fascinated by the immaterial and elusive character of light, whereby colours and synesthesia play a large role in her work. On the basis of her fascination with cinematography she develops screens, among other things, consisting of various materials, such as soap bubbles, copper plates, metal grids and plexiglass. No classic projection screens: instead of being the image carriers, the screens themselves become the image through means of light. The movement you see is the transformation of the screen itself for which she creates compositions. In addition to developing an individual oeuvre, she also forms part of the Macular Collective, which researches the relationship between art, technology, science and perception.

Because the current corona measures make the physical presentation of the award impossible, we are taking a somewhat different approach this year:

In addition to the prize money of €15,000, the publication of a book concerning the work of the winning artist also forms part of the prize. The publication of this book, the nineteenth in this series, is expected in the first half of 2021. This way, in spite of current limitations, Witteveen+Bos, precisely in these times, aims to continue to draw attention to creative professions with an important social value.

The jury that nominated Nicky is independent and consists of Maria Verstappen, artist and winner of the 2013 Prize together with Erwin Driessens, Arie Altena, publicist at V2_, and Robbert Roos, Director of Kunsthal KAdE. The jury is especially impressed by the beauty of Nicky Assmann’s work and how, with the aid of technology, she manages to create engaging sensory experiences that enchant and surprise the observer.

Nicky Assmann is the 19th winner of the Art+Technology Award and succeeds the artistic duo Domnitch and Dmitry Gelfand.