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Media Release Th 27.02.14

Kunstmuseum Bern and Credit Suisse Present the Third "Credit Suisse Förderpreis Videokunst" Award

Announced in Swiss schools of art and design in autumn 2013, this exciting competition, now in its third year, is aimed at students, who use the medium of video in an innovative way. In a unanimous verdict by the jury of five, the Credit Suisse Förderpreis Videokunst – with a prize of CHF 8,000 and a place in the Kunstmuseum Bern collection – has been awarded to Nicolas Cilins for "Stalin’s World."

Established in 2011, as a result of the long-term partnership between the Kunstmuseum Bern and Credit Suisse, this award acts as a springboard for talented young video artists, helping to boost their career. With a prize of CHF 8,000 and a place in the Kunstmuseum Bern collection, this award is aimed at students enrolled at Swiss schools of art and design, who work with the medium of video. Interest is growing all the time, and the competition attracted a total of 56 entries in this, its third year. 

The jury for 2014 is made up of a mix of artists, curators, and art historians: Dr. Kathleen Bühler (chair), film scholar, Curator of the Kunstmuseum Bern, and Member of the Board of the Bernese Foundation for Photography, Film and Video; Mario Casanova, Curator and Director of the Centro Arte Contemporanea Ticino, Bellinzona; Simon Lamunière, artist and independent curator, Geneva; Ursula Palla, video artist, Zurich; Dr. André Rogger, Head of the Art Unit and the Credit Suisse Collection. The jury is looking specifically for a distinctive individual style, precise use of the medium of film, a contemporary theme, and incisive storytelling or portrayal.

Of the 56 videos submitted, six were shortlisted. In a unanimous verdict, the jury has decided to award the Credit Suisse Förderpreis Videokunst 2014 to Nicolas Cilins for "Stalin’s World" (2013, HD video, color, sound, 20 minutes).

This "documentary project," as the artist himself describes it, explores the topical issue of coming to terms with the past in Eastern Europe. How do we relate to the recent past, as those, who were a part of it, gradually depart this world, though the impact of that history is still tangible to this day in the form of nostalgia and memorials? This is the central question that Nicolas Cilins addresses in his video, through a private theme park, where parodies of Stalin's parades are held every year. This park in the south of Lithuania is run by entrepreneur Viliumas Malinauskas, who has collected sculptures from the former Soviet occupation era – now surplus to requirements – and installed them in the middle of a forest. These sculptures are now on display on his land, alongside an assortment of zoo animals, and open to the public. The video artist approaches Malinauskas and his theme park without succumbing to the entrepreneur's charisma or allowing himself to be manipulated. Instead, through his images, he seeks the inconsistencies and ambiguities in this staged production. He observes without judging and, in this way, strings together anecdotes, which coherently illustrate the dilemma between the fictionalization and commercialization of history, and the nostalgic desire for an age in which jobs were still secure.

In order to make this outstanding work accessible to a wider audience, it can be seen in the Kunstmuseum Bern's "Window On the Present" in the PROGR exhibition space/Stadtgalerie from February 27 to March 15, 2014. The winning entry and shortlisted works will also be shown in the Credit Suisse branch at Bundesplatz 2 from 6.00 p.m. to 2.00 a.m. on March 21, 2014, as part of the Museum Night in Bern event. 

Contact person for questions:

Kunstmuseum Bern 
Ruth Gilgen Hamisultane 
Corporate Communications
T +41 31 328 09 19 

Credit Suisse 
Daniel Huber 
Sponsorship Communications 
T +41 44 334 52 58 
daniel.huber@credit-suisse.com