Gideon HORVÁTH, the artist duo Karina MENDRECZKY and Katalin KORTMANN-JÁRAY and Dominika TRAPP are the three winners of the Esterházy Art Award 2023. This year, for the first time, an audience award will also be presented, with the result announced on 22 February.

Gideon HORVÁTH, the artist duo Karina MENDRECZKY and Katalin KORTMANN-JÁRAY and Dominika TRAPP are the three winners of the Esterházy Art Award 2023. This year, for the first time, an audience award will also be presented, with the result announced on 22 February.

A jury of experts nominated 18 positions from 262 applications. These works will be shown from 15 December 2023 to 3 March 2024 under the title Breaking the Frame – Making Future at the Ludwig Museum – Museum of Contemporary Art in Budapest.

Breaking the Frame – Making Future
In 2009, the Esterházy Private Foundation established the Esterházy Art Award. The award is an updated continuation of the artistic patronage pursued by the Princes Esterházy over four centuries.

The exhibition related to the award is held every two years at the Ludwig Museum in Budapest and has become the most significant overview of the art scene of young Hungarian talents.

The prize itself is honoured with 5,000 euros and is awarded to up to three artists. This year, for the first time, we're announcing the Esterházy Art Award Audience Prize. The artist who receives the most votes will participate in the Esterházy Art Award winners' exhibition opening in April 2024 in the White Hall of the Esterházy Castle in Eisenstadt (Austria). The aim of the Award is to promote the greatest talents and their cross-border exchange.

Numerous artists have already used the prize as a springboard to the international art scene. The most recent examples include Zsófia Keresztes and Márton Nemes, who were honoured with the Award in 2017 and 2019 respectively. Both were selected to show their works at the prestigious Venice Biennale. Zsófia Keresztes presented her work in the Hungarian Pavilion in 2022, while Márton Nemes will present his work in Venice in 2024.

In 2023, 18 works were shortlisted from 262 applications. The title of the exhibition, Breaking the Frame – Making Future, refers to the fact that a striking number of the positions on show break with the conventional, "autonomous" image formats or replace them with series, groups of works or spatial installations. The artists' motivations and topics vary greatly; the exhibition shows very powerful installations and there are several positions that deal with vulnerability and nostalgia.



Nominees for the Esterházy Art Award 2023:
BEDE Kincső, BERNÁTH Dániel, BIRKÁS Mona, EMBER Sári, GALLOV Péter, HORVÁTH Gideon, KIRÁLY Gábor, KIS RÓKA Csaba, KRISTÓF Gábor, LŐRINCZ Áron, MENDRECZKY Karina – KORTMANN-JÁRAY Katalin, OLÁH Norbert, PAP Gábor, PINTÉR Gábor, SÜVEGES Rita, TOLLAS Erik, TRAPP Dominika, VÉKONY Dorottya

esterha2023
Photo:  Dániel Végel

After several run-offs, the jury agreed on the following winners of this year's Esterházy Art Award:
Gideon HORVÁTH, Karina MENDRECZKY and Katalin KORTMANN-JÁRAY and Dominika TRAPP.
The prize, worth a total of EUR 15,000, will be awarded to them in equal shares.