2021 Winners

"It is very difficult to know what, in the abundance of today's photography, is "Avant-garde". Only the future shall provide the answer to this. I preferred to seek to the curiosity that seemed to me to underlie the works and look for the promises they seemed to carry."

"The winners offer a variety of concepts, styles and executions. The standard is high. The expressive, graphic treatment from the art inspired by the the Yamanas people of Tiera del Fuego is excellent. The creatures in 1001 Creatures are great individually and together as a lively pattern. The character of each animal is carefully considered. The Lawon x Graenn Recycled Fabric Calendar is conceptually elegant and totally original. I assume that no two calendars are alike due to the random nature of the designs. The winner I selected in the editorial category is delightfully smart. It reminded me of an ancient Egyptian frieze with it’s flat orientation. Gravity is not an especially visual subject."

"In judging a wide variety of works, there is always a question of what criteria to use. While the Museum has proposed a wide range of criteria, I have focused on works that show an inventiveness in their approach, technique or medium, and a mastery of visual language. In one way or another, the winning works, while only falling into a limited number of categories, all expressed bold, clear and engaging approaches worthy of recognition. From the beautifully designed brochure for Theater Erlangen in its evocative, surreal imagery, to The Living Sea exhibition, cleverly tuning design principles to dramatically engage the visitors, to What if… web design of simplicity and impact, these projects showcase their own original visual language, unexpected play on scale, type and photography to create brilliant pieces. In poster design category SOS Neubad uses a highly unusual, intriguing and memorable image, while The Components of an Exploding Pressure Cooker (aimed to raise funds for those affected by the Beirut port explosion), brilliantly pairs a powerful image of the “exploded” pressure cooker with text in both Arabic and English. These two projects equally deserved to be awarded and many others reveal great talent and interesting execution."