Image: Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst, Cottbus
Maren Strack, Peter Rohn and Gabriele Konsor will receive the three principal awards of the Brandenburg Art Prize 2026, while Christa Jeitner is to be honored with the Minister-President’s honorary prize for lifetime achievement. The early-career award from the state’s culture minister will go to the Congolese-German artist duo Lydia Schellhammer and Christ Mukenge. A presentation of the prizewinning artists will be held at the Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst’s Dieselkraftwerk in Cottbus from 6 to 20 September 2026.
The awards recognize artistic positions connected with Brandenburg, whether through the artists’ lives and working practices or through the region’s role as a starting point for their work. The accompanying exhibition is intended to show a broad range of contemporary practice in the state, bringing together five distinct positions across painting, drawing, text, sculpture, performance, film, participatory projects and multimedia installation.
Strack’s practice combines sculpture, performance, dance, film and sound in a visual language shaped by movement and rhythm. Rohn, who has lived in Potsdam since 1960, works across painting, drawing and text. His color-intensive works connect personal experience with social observation and move between reality, memory and dreamlike scenarios. Konsor focuses particularly on rural areas, using drawing, installation, actions and photography to develop perspectives on rural culture, community and social relations in collaboration with others.
Jeitner, who lives in Ahrensfelde, has developed seam drawing as an independent artistic form since the 1960s. Her work brings together graphic art, painting and textile materials. The prize material identifies society, memory and engagement with the crimes of the Nazi era among her central subjects, alongside international artistic exchange.
The Nachwuchsförderpreis will recognize the collaborative practice of Mukenge/Schellhammer, formed by Schellhammer and Mukenge. Their work combines different cultural experiences and painting traditions, bringing painting, drawing, video, performance and installation into a shared visual language. The presentation describes their practice as connecting traditional visual worlds with questions associated with the post-digital era.
The Brandenburgisches Landesmuseum für moderne Kunst operates exhibition sites including the Dieselkraftwerk in Cottbus, where the award exhibition will take place. The museum’s Cottbus venue is at Uferstraße/Am Amtsteich 15 and is open Tuesday through Sunday from 11 a.m. to 7 p.m. The prize ceremony and formal celebration are scheduled for 6 September, with the event and all exhibitions at the Dieselkraftwerk free of charge that day. The exhibition remains on view through 20 September 2026.
