Young Talent Award

Jury Statement 2024:

Daan Sonnemans – Kantamanto Social Club

Daan understood the major social issue and shaped it into a system change. He lets Western countries that dump their fast fashion in Africa, buy back their junk through an existing market with designers who turn it into new clothing. As an artist and not just an activist, he shows the system’s absurdity with his created platform but also offers an alternative. Daan operates like a David who takes on Goliath and does not shy away from the duel. His work fits seamlessly into a development in which designers provide new directions instead of ending with a question.

In the second place, we put the work of Dorothy Hendriks: First Church of the Estra-Terrestial. We see Dorothy as a true artist who creates artworks with exceptional quantity and quality. This work was born from a necessity. As a trans woman, she challenges the existing uniformity by taking up space: trans women are insufficiently represented. Love for life is accompanied by love for yourself, which is why Hendriks claims her place in this world. However, in the existing system, this does not happen without a struggle – and we see this struggle in her imagery: young innocence mixed with figurative aggressiveness. Work where the jury was not always able to keep a dry eye.

In third place: MAI by Maraya Ivanova. A work that puts water-guzzling data centers on the agenda. By linking four different software programs, she challenges technological complexity and reduces it to simplicity. AI programs linked to physical containers of water: the user asks an avatar questions and receives answers, but not without seeing how much water the AI uses. MAI is a true politician and knows how to turn almost every question into an activist answer. Impressive: as an artist, Maraya has delved deeply into the complex world of AI systems, while we as consumers use AI out of convenience. In her work she ironically challenges this concept.