Note · 18 September 2026
[ku]48/26Art
Art Prize of the SPD Parliamentary Group of Lower Saxony: photos from the jury session
The photos from the jury session arrived today. Looking at them, the feeling of that day was right back: coffee, bread rolls, a long table and an exchange that felt really good.
At the table
Today photos arrived from the jury session for the Art Prize of the SPD parliamentary group of Lower Saxony. Taken on July 2 in the state parliament, now sent by the parliamentary group to the whole jury. Eleven weeks later I see myself sitting there, hand on my chin, and the feeling of that day is right back. I walked out of that session with a really good feeling.
What a session looks like
The parliamentary group had gone to a lot of trouble. There was coffee and tasty bread rolls, and the atmosphere was simply friendly. Long tables, a microphone at every seat, water, juice and piles of papers in between. Anyone who could not come to Hanover joined via Microsoft Teams and sat at the table from the large screen on the wall. You raise your hand, speak, let others finish and wait for the sound to arrive from far away.
What surprised me was how constructive and appreciative this exchange was. I would not have thought we could agree on so much in such a short time. What exactly was discussed stays within the jury. I am very happy with the decision.
I would not have thought we could agree on so much in such a short time.
Who was on the jury
It was a really wonderful jury. It included Anne Prenzler, curatorial director of the Städtische Galerie KUBUS in Hanover, who chaired it, and Dr. Anna Heinze, director of the Landesmuseum Kunst & Kultur Oldenburg. Eva Birkenstock, director of the Kestner Gesellschaft Hanover. Ina Grätz, scientific director of the Kunsthalle Emden. Nils-Arne Kässens, director of the Museumsquartier Osnabrück. Christoph Platz-Gallus, director of the Kunstverein Hannover. Carolin Knüpper of the Kunstverein Wolfenbüttel. Prof. Anette Haas of the Institute for Design and Representation at Leibniz University Hanover, Prof. Dr. Rahel Puffert of the Braunschweig University of Art and Prof. Dr.-Ing. Monika Steinberg, dean at Hochschule Hannover. And me, for the BBK Lower Saxony.
Why I was there
I was not on this jury as a private person but as a representative of the BBK Lower Saxony, the Bund Bildender Künstlerinnen und Künstler, the professional association of visual artists. The state association has existed since 1946. Around 800 artists belong to it, in eleven district groups, one of them here in Celle. It campaigns for regulated exhibition fees, for improvements in artists’ social insurance and for harmonised copyright and resale rights across Europe. And it is free of party political ties, which matters to me all the more with a prize awarded by a parliamentary group.
A jury brings together people who show, collect, teach and communicate art. The association brings the view of those who make it. When I say something there, it is not about my taste. It is about making sure the work of many colleagues in Lower Saxony reaches the table at all.
A group photo that isn’t one
The photo below looks like a group photo, but it isn’t really one. It only shows the three of us who were still there at that point: on the left Dr. Anna Heinze, in the middle Anne Prenzler, on the right me. The jury was much larger.
On October 6 the prize will be presented to Leyla Yenirce at the Sprengel Museum in Hanover. I am really looking forward to it. More pictures from the session and more about my colleagues are in the magazine.
Read the whole story in the magazine →