The first nine years of the Live Art Prize in pictures
The very first winner of the ANTI Festival International Live Art Prize was the Canada-born, US-based artist Cassils in 2014. They identify themself as a visual artist working in live performance, film, sound, sculpture and photography.
The jury for the first Live Art Prize was formed by artist Anssi Kasitonni (FI), architect Juhani Pallasmaa (FI) and director Ruth Mackenzie (UK) as the chair. In this picture Mackenzie and Pallasmaa (left) are accompanied by the festival directors Gregg Whelan and Johanna Tuukkanen (on the right). In the middle is the winner, Cassils.
The prize enabled Cassils to return to Kuopio in 2015 with their new work, Inextinguishable Fire. The work, which combines live performance and film, has subsequently been performed at the National Theatre in London as part of the SPILL Festival of Performance and at the Sundance International Film Festival.
In 2015 the prize was awarded to Australian artist, writer and curator Willoh S. Weiland. In 2010–18, Weiland was the artistic director/CEO of the artist-led experimental arts organisation Aphids in Melbourne.
The 2015 winner of the ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art was chosen by a jury of three: curator Tang Fu Kuen (TH), architect Sami Rintala (FI/NO) and director of Kiasma Museum of Contemporary Art, Leevi Haapala (FI) as chair. In this picture Weiland is surrounded by the jury, the festival directors and a delegate from Saastamoinen Foundation after receiving the prize.
Weiland and her working group returned to Kuopio to work on Artefact, a new commissioned work for ANTI – Contemporary Art Festival. It was a memorial ceremony for obsolete technology. It gathered together hundreds of local participants in Kuopio, and it was edited into a remarkable film that was screened in both the 2017 iteration of the ANTI festival and the Australian Centre for the Moving Image in Melbourne. The Artefact saga continued in 2020, when the 12 tonne stone that was buried in the wasteland of Kuopio needed to be removed due to a building project in the area.
The third artist to receive the Live Art Prize was the Finnish visual artist Terike Haapoja. Based in New York, Haapoja’s work investigates the existential and political boundaries of our world, with a specific focus on issues arising from the anthropocentric worldview of Western traditions.
Haapoja with the ANTI festival director Johanna Tuukkanen and the prize jury of 2016, curator Eva Neklyaeva (FI/IT/DE) and theatre director Mikko Roiha (FI). Professor Heike Roms (UK/DE) was also a member of the jury.
Terike Haapoja, the winner of the 2016 ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art, returned to Kuopio in 2017 with a series of new works: an exhibition called Gravitation, the sound installation Studies on Freedom I and a one-on-one encounter Studies on Freedom II. Gravitation has been exhibited several times – e.g. in Paris and Berlin – after its launch in Kuopio.
The winner of the 2017 ANTI Festival International Live Art Prize, Tania El Khoury, is a live artist whose work focuses on audience interactivity and its political potential. She creates installations and performances in which the audience is a witness and an active collaborator. She's originally from Lebanon, but is also active in the UK and the US.
The jury for the 2017 Live Art Prize was formed by the former program director of the Sydney Festival, Fiona Winning (AU), as chair, founding member and longtime executive director of the Live Art Development Agency Lois Keidan (UK) and artist and curator River Lin (TW). River Lin and the winner Tania El Khoury pose in the picture.
Tania El Khoury returned to Kuopio with her new commissioned work, The Search for Power (co-commissioned with Shubbak Festival), as well as – to the joy of the Finnish art audiences – her touring hit As Far As My Fingertips Take Me!
In 2018, Helsinki-based artist Sonya Lindfors was awarded the Live Art Prize. The winner was decided by a jury formed by philosopher Jacques Rancière (FR), contemporary choreographer and dancer Eisa Jocson (PH) and, for the second year, Lois Keidan (UK).
In 2019, Canadian live artist Dana Michel became the sixth artist to receive the ANTI Festival International Live Art Prize. In their works, Michel interacts with the expanded fields of improvisation, sculpture, hip-hop, comedy, cinematography, dub and social commentary in order to create a centrifuge of experience.
The jury consisted of the artistic director and chief executive of Norfolk & Norwich Festival Trust, Daniel Brine (UK), author and theatre director Saara Turunen (FI) and professor of Dance at Duke University, Thomas F. DeFrantz (US).
With the support of the prize money, Dana Michel launched a live film project called VANESSA VECTOR WILLIAM DODGER with fellow Canadian artist Tracy Maurice. The film was one way to approach the possibilities of international live art during COVID-19 restrictions.
In 2020, the Live Art Prize went to the Australian live and performance artist Brian Fuata. Due to COVID-19 restrictions, Fuata wasn’t able to visit Finland, but he performed – and received the prize – online.
The jury of this exceptional year was formed by visual artist Kira O’Reilly (IE/FI), in the picture with Fuata), curator João Laia (PT/FI) and, for the second time, Fiona Winning (AU).
It took until 2022 that the audience of the ANTI festival in Finland got the chance to experience Brian Fuata’s performance live. Intermission was a feature-length, structured improvisation framed by a theme of the other within.
Artist and choreographer Alex Baczynski-Jenkins (PL/UK) was awarded the Live Art Prize in 2021 at the ANTI festival. His practice is concerned with the mediation of queer embodiment and relationality, through choreographies of affect, empathy and intimacy. Baczynski-Jenkins was selected as the winner by a jury composed of curator, writer and educator Maria Lind (SE), professor Jennie Klein (US) and artist, writer and pedagogue Dr. Pilvi Porkola (FI).
With the support of the prize, Baczynski-Jenkins presented a new work Unending love, or love dies, on repeat like it’s endless in Kuopio the following year. After its premiere, the performance has been presented on several leading stages for contemporary dance and live art in Europe.
The latest winner of the Live Art Prize is Latai Taumoepeau (AU/TO). Her faivā (body-centred practice) hails from her homelands, the Kingdom of Tonga and her birthplace Sydney, land of the Gadigal.
The 2022 jury was formed by artist, writer, educator and curator Robin Deacon (UK) as chair, dramaturge/curator Anna Teuwen (DE) and artist, educator, curator and curatorial director Gabi Ngcobo (ZA).
With this body I remember, with this body I re-wild is a new work created by Latai Taumoepeau, winner of the ANTI Festival International Prize for Live Art 2022, commissioned by the ANTI festival for its 2023 edition.
The saga of the ANTI Festival International Live Art Prize continues in 2023. Four amazing artists – Tiziano Cruz (Argentina), Autumn Knight (United States), Jota Mombaça (Brazil) and Joshua Serafin (Philippines/Belgium) – are once again nominated for the shortlist and one of them will be named the winner and receive an award of €30 000. The hard decision this year is to be made by Cassils together with Adelaide Bannerman and Giovanna Esposito Yussif.
Photos: Pekka Mäkinen 2014-2021 / Akseli Muraja 2022
Live Art Prize 10 Years Publication – Index:
Jennie Klien: The ANTI Festival International Live Art Prize: A Brief History in 3 Parts
The first 9 years of Live Art Prize in pictures
Anna Teuwen: The radicality of opening up – introducing Jota Mombaça, Joshua Serafin, Autumn Knight and Tiziano Cruz
Kaino Wennerstrand: We have not earned a thing