Danner Prize 2020. 100 Years Danner Foundation

Every three years since 1984 the Foundation has awarded the prize (named after it) for outstanding achievements in arts and craftsmanship. Following 1996 this is now the second time that Die Neue Sammlung is hosting the exhibition for the Danner Prize, attesting to the longstanding binds between the two institutions in matters of arts and crafts.

Now, in 2020, one of the most important awards in this field will be bestowed for the 13^th time. The competition promotes new creative ideas and developments in arts and crafts and takes place under the auspices of the Bavarian Minister of Economic Affairs, Regional Development and Energy, Hubert Aiwanger. A jury of international experts  judge the entries for the prize, which this time comes attached with prize money of EUR 20,000 to mark the 100^th anniversary of the Foundation’s inception.
 
Jewelry artist Bettina Dittlmann will receive the Danner Prize 2020 for her magnet brooch Wohin. Bettina Dittlmann makes use of magnets in her jewelry objects in order to lend left-over and poor materials such as tinder, iron dust or iron wire a new form but without creating a final shape. This radical commitment to renewal, involvement and change gives her work a societal and political relevance. In this sense her jewelry is also an invitation to its wearers to actively take on responsibility, as Angelika Nollert expressed it in her eulogy.

Honorary prizes go to Otto Baier for his titanium objects Stromboli and Vulkano, to Peter Bauhuis for four of his objects Skulptur/Kette, to Petra Bittl for her ceramic vessels Paar and Wintergestalt, and to Paul Müller for his delicate candlestick holders.
 
In the course of its 36-year history the Danner Prize has lost none of its attractiveness and importance. Indeed, in 2020 some 200 expert craftspeople took part in the competition. The jury selected the works of 33 other participants it considered worthy of being exhibited in the Danner Prize exhibition.
 
Once again, this year the Foundation was keen to present works of excellent craftsmanship and artistry in combination with current trends in handicrafts. As such, the Danner Prize can be said to embody the goals of the Foundation, namely of promoting both those artisans who are already established alongside young talents and enabling a lively debate on the further development of applied art.
 
Marking the 100^th anniversary of the establishment of the Foundation, Karl Rothmüller, Royal Bavarian Master Goldsmith, will be honored in the exhibition as the driving force behind the creation of the Foundation. Other objects from the Danner Foundation Collection highlight on an almost totally unknown aspect of the Foundation including a piece that has never been shown before by Stanislav Libenský und Jaroslava Brychtová the two founders of the international studio glass movement in Europe.

An exhibition of the Danner Foundation in collaboration with Die Neue Sammlung.


Media conference: 15 Oct 2020, 11 am (For accredited media correspondents only).