Kunstpreis Delmenhorst addresses graduates of art academies in German-speaking countries, and is awarded every second year by two independent juries. The Kunstpreis Delmenhorst is made possible by general practitioner Calin Pirvu and the Von-der-Heyde-Cordes-Foundation, with additional support from the Freundeskreis Haus Coburg e.V. and the City of Delmenhorst.

The Kunstpreis Delmenhorst 2027 is awarded to Anastasiia Batishcheva, Hemansingh Lutchmun and Ian Waelder.

In the fall of 2026, the jury for the Kunstpreis Delmenhorst con­vened at Haus Coburg and unanimously selected three win­ners from the list of nominees. The jury consisted of Eva Birkenstock (Kestner Gesellschaft, Hanover), Matilda Felix (Haus Coburg, Delmenhorst), Vincent Schier (Skulptur Projekte 2027, Münster), Andrée Sfeir-Semler (Sfeir-Semler Gallery, Hamburg) and Christopher Weickenmeier (Leuphana University, Lüneburg).

The jury was impressed with the high standard of work presented by all fifteen nominees. Their portfolios showed a diverse range of practices from the contemporary artworld, each with a highly individual focus.

Anastasiia Batishcheva studied classical painting in Kiev before transferring to Munich’s Academy of Fine Arts in 2019, and has since worked with time-based media such as photography and film. She examines questions around the type of power images can hold. Her artwork engages the historical contexts and archi­tectural conditions in which political propaganda imagery, reli­gious iconography, scientific illustrations and pornographic de­pictions are embedded. In particular, the jury was struck by the artist’s spatial staging of her photographs. Through unconven­tional hangs and arrangements consisting of furniture, print ma­­­terials and marbles, Anastasiia Batishcheva achieves a form of activation that makes her research accessible in the exhibition space and involves viewers in her explorations.

Hemansingh Lutchmun was born on Mauritius and completed his studies at the Städelschule in Frankfurt am Main. In his artistic prac­tice, extensive research as well as found objects and simple gestures lead to video works, sculptures and installations that stage economies of displacement. Drawing from his own family’s backstory, Hemansingh Lutchmun outlines traces of colonial his­tory in the present day, which affect not only people, but also places, animals and plants. The jury was impressed with the sen­sitivity and complexity of his observations. He successfully com­bines recounted memories with images that develop narrations of their own, thereby provoking the audience to consider the art­work’s more far-reaching implications.

Ian Waelder is also a graduate of the Staedelschule. He works with installations that often generate spaces of their own. His artworks involve recessed ceilings and labyrinthine arrangements that can trigger feelings of unease. A melody on piano, droplets of water and molds of bodily fragments heighten the immersive ex­perience. Ian Waelder pulls these fragments from his own mem­ories – of his grandfather, for example, who fled the Nazis in 1939. Without spelling these recollections out, Ian Waelder creates spaces where personal and shared experience collide and history encounters the present day. The jury highlighted his meticulous approach to materiality and immateriality, his fragmented ref­erences and the omissions he explores and redefines.

Together with these awardees, Matilda Felix will prepare an ex­hibition that will open in summer 2027, presenting questions cen­tral to their artistic practices. Next to the exhibition, the Kunstpreis Delmenhorst also awards each artist with a € 5,000 prize and an individual exhibition catalogue.

Nominated artists Kunstpreis Delmenhorst 2027:
Nura Afnan-Samandari
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Anastasiia Batishcheva
Academy of Fine Arts Munich
Eric Beier
Dresden University of Fine Arts
Lotte Dohmen
Dresden University of Fine Arts
Keta Gavasheli
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Bokyoung Jeong
Academy of Fine Arts Munich
Ja Jess
Kunstakademie Düsseldorf
Swan Lee
Kunsthochschule Mainz
Hemansingh Lutchmun
Städelschule Frankfurt a.M.
Camilla Metelka
Academy of Fine Arts Munich
Michael Mönnich
Academy of Fine Arts Munich
Nicholas Stewens
Städelschule Frankfurt a.M.
Ian Waelder
Städelschule Frankfurt a.M.
Haha Wang
Academy of Fine Arts Munich
Hamid Yaraghchi
Dresden University of Fine Arts

The nomination jury for the award edition 2027 included: Tom Engels (Director, Kunstverein München), Haris Giannouras (Curator, secession Vienna), Susanne Greinke (Curator, Dresden University of Fine Arts), Julia Grosse (Co-founder and Artistic Director of the Contemporary And platform, Berlin), and Rebekka Seubert (Director of the Ludwig Forum, Aachen). In the spring of 2026, each jury member nominated three graduates for the award.