TAA

During the award ceremony at Cinerama on 15 July 2016, the best audio-visual works from home and abroad were shown on the big screen. In addition to the jury’s evaluation, the audience got the chance to choose the winner of the Public’s Choice Award. Michiel Ubels of the Academy of Fine Arts, Maastricht won the TAA 2016. Pascal Reinmann of the University of the Arts, Zurich won the Best Foreign Film Award. The Public Choice Award was won by Dinu Comendant of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague.

All works are exhibited for nine weeks at TENT, the platform for 100% contemporary art in Rotterdam. The TAA is a springboard for newly graduated artists, providing them with the opportunity to show their work to a broad, international audience of art and film experts and film enthusiasts.

Dutch and Swiss scouts
The professionals who went scouting at the graduation exhibitions include: Sara Bachour (winner TAA 2015) Arianne Kamsteeg (producer de Appel arts centre), Vincent van Velsen (art critic and curator), Lindy Kuit (art and architecture critic), Marloes de Vries (curator Showroom MAMA), Jan de Vries (co-founder KINO Rotterdam), Noor Kloosterman (independent curator), Isidoor Roebers (producer Fonk Film), Alexandra Stäheli (project leader Atelier Mondial, Basel), Andrea Bellini (director of Centre d’Art Contemporain, Geneva), Georgina Casparis (curator Manifesta 11) Simona Monizza (curator in experimental film EYE), and Johannes Dullin (artist).

Guest country: Switzerland
Every year, TENT invites a different guest country. This year, it was especially interesting for the TAA to invite Switzerland because the eleventh edition of Manifesta, the pan-European biennial, takes place there. Manifesta began as a Dutch initiative with the first edition taking place in Rotterdam in 1996. Now, twenty years later, Manifesta travels to Zurich, Switzerland. Thanks to internationally renowned artists, such as Fischli/Weiss, Pipilotti Rist, and Thomas Hirschhorn, Switzerland is becoming a real paradise for lovers of contemporary art and culture. With its many museums and galleries and music, theatre, and literature festivals, Switzerland entices with an abundance of offerings. Virtually no other country has more museums per capita. In addition, the annual Art Basel art fair attracts a global audience. Internationally, Swiss film is a late bloomer. Among other things, this is due to Switzerland’s cultural identity, with its division into three language regions. All parts – French-speaking, Italian-speaking, and German-speaking Switzerland – are more orientated to their neighbouring countries than each other. Consequently, film history in each part of Switzerland develops in a different manner and at a different pace.

The nominees for the TAA 2016 were:
Heidi Hörsturz – ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Enschede
Michael Ubels – Academy of Fine Arts, Maastricht
Reynaert Vosveld – ArtEZ Institute of the Arts, Zwolle
Dinu Comendant – Royal Academy of Arts, The Hague
Martha Thissen – AKV St. Joost, Den Bosch
Dwight Fagbamila – AKV St. Joost, Breda
Jotte den Dulk – School of the Arts, Utrecht
Lina Kaplan Vieira – Gerrit Rietveld Academy, Amsterdam
Sophie Spendel – Academy Minerva, Groningen
Koen Janssens – Willem de Kooning Academy, Rotterdam