The Prince Claus Awards recognise and encourage exceptional achievements in the field of culture and development. The awards are presented annually to artists and intellectuals working in the field of culture and to organisations engaged in cultural research or the promotion and dissemination of culture. Recipients are based in Africa, Asia, Latin America and the Caribbean. The awards acknowledge not only the quality of the artistic, academic or critical work of a laureate - this is a sine qua non - but also, and in particular, its wider cultural or social significance. The Prince Claus Awards recognise artistic and intellectual qualities that are alive today. The aim is to make a laureate known to a wider public, thereby increasing the impact of his or her work and inspiring others.
The 1998 laureates are all artists and intellectuals of great creativity and innovative spirit. They promote elements which otherwise receive little attention, value things which are scarcely appreciated by others, make links which have never been made before, preserve what has almost been lost and say what otherwise would have remained unsaid. They deserve our highest esteem for their commitment to their work and to bringing about positive changes in their own surroundings. They have shown great courage and perseverence.
This year, the Prince Claus Fund approached nearly 150 nominators throughout the world, all experts on the various regions and disciplines of interest to the Fund. These persons nominated over 80 candidates for the 1998 Prince Claus Awards. The laureates were then selected by the 1998 Prince Claus Awards Committee, consisting of Chairman Adriaan van der Staay (Professor of Cultural Politics and Cultural Critique at Erasmus University, Rotterdam, the Netherlands, and a member of the Board of the Prince Claus Fund), Charles Correa (architect and planner, Mumbai, India), Emile Fallaux (script-writer and President of the Hubert Bals Fund, Amsterdam, the Netherlands), Mai Ghoussoub (artist and Director of Al Saqi Bookshop and Publishing House, London, UK, and Beirut, Lebanon), Gaston Kaboré ( filmmaker, Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso) and Gerardo Mosquera (art critic and curator, Havana, Cuba, and New York, USA). The 1998 Prince Claus Awards Committee presented its selection to the Board of the Prince Claus Fund, which finalised the list of the following sixteen 1998 laureates.
The Principal 1998 Prince Claus Award of USD 100,000 goes to the Art of African Fashion.
Contemporary fashion design in Africa forms a bridge between tradition and avant-garde, and between 'low' and 'high' culture. Fashion plays an important role in the expression of identity; fashion, hair and textile design are therefore of great social significance. Moreover, thanks to the efforts of leading African designers, African fashion is now playing an increasingly conspicuous role in the international fashion world. The work of these designers has boosted the economic potential of the fashion industry in Africa. Three designers who outstandingly represent the social and economic significance of African fashion are Alphadi (1957, Timbuktu, Mali), Oumou Sy (1952, Podor, Senegal) and Tetteh Adzedu (1949, Odumasi Krobo, Ghana).
Alphadi, based in Niamey, Niger, designs couture with an international appeal. He takes ancient textile techniques and forms and combines them with new elements. His commitment to African fashion is manifested in his chairmanship of the Fédération des Créateurs de Mode (federation of fashion designers), a trade union which plays its part in the organisation and professional development of the fashion industry in Africa. In November 1998 Alphadi also organised the first Festival International de la Mode Africaine (International Festival of African Fashion) in Agadez, Niger. At this festival African and non-African designers from all over the world showed each other their collections.
Oumou Sy is another designer seeking to create the infrastructure so far lacking in African fashion. In 1997 she opened the cultural centre and cybercafé Metissacana in Dakar. She also plans the annual Semaine de la Mode [Fashion week] in Dakar, when designers from various African countries are able to show their work to other designers, purchasers and sellers. Work by Oumou Sy ignores the boundaries between fashion design, textile design and costume design. Her clothes are theatrical couture, combining history and traditions with modern forms. Oumou Sy's work is highly regarded not only on the catwalk but also on the streets of Dakar. This could be seen in the carnival procession, which she organised for the first time in 1998.
Tetteh Adzedu's work is concerned with the preservation and reappraisal of African clothing traditions and the adaptation of these traditions to create contemporary fashion. He was trained first as a tailor and then as a fashion designer. His label 'Adzedu of Shapes' reflects his passion for aesthetics. He has a keen eye for technique but does not lose sight of the social dimensions of clothing. He is committed to the promotion of fashion in Africa and to the achievement of a healthy economic position for the fashion sector. This is manifested in his work as a teacher of young talent, in his position as Chairman of the Ghana Fashion Designers Association and in his achievements relating to fashion export.
Thirteen Prince Claus Awards of USD 20,000 each, go to the following laureates:
Rakhshan Bani-Etemad (1954, Tehran, Iran) was one of the first women to make films after the Iranian Revolution of 1979. She is now the foremost woman director in her country, enjoying both national and international renown. Bani-Etemad extends the boundaries of officially permitted imagination. Her work appeals to women in her own country and beyond, subtly researching and presenting womanhood and moving people's hearts and minds. While never alienating the mainstream audience, her films have a distincly female perspective, a strong sympathy with the feminist cause and a preoccupation with female sensibility and the role of women in love and society. But Bani-Etemad does not want to be called a feminist, since she fears being confined by ideology. She is an artist first, and she needs the freedom to explore and explain positions that may not be placed high on the feminist agenda. The result is a true change of attitude through art.
The work of artist Heri Dono (1960, Jakarta, Indonesia) includes drawings, paintings, installations and performances. It adresses social and political issues through absurdist imagery. His work displays great openness towards art forms, which are outside the accepted disciplines of the visual arts: he uses cartoon-like elements taken from the wayang kulit, the Indonesian shadow theatre. However wild, exaggerated and grotesque his figures may become, given such influences, they still refer to and serve as a comment on reality, a reality which is often horrific. Heri Dono addresses a wide variety of issues, from famine in Africa to unemployment, drugs, ecological hypocrisy and political violence. His work has its origins in the Indonesian situation but considers phenomena, which are recognised worldwide. Heri Dono is - in the positive sense of the word - a rebel with a cause, a successful angry young man.
Ticio Escobar (1947, Asunción, Paraguay) is a leading figure in the contemporary cultural debate in Latin America. Despite the isolated position of his country and the difficult political conditions, he has remained in Paraguay, carrying out his work in the field of cultural theory, cultural history, art criticism and education - work which crosses borders and opens up new horizons. Ticio Escobar plays a leading role in shaping avant-garde art, in recognising indigenous art and in the cross-fertilisation of these two art forms. In 1979 he founded the Museo del Barro in Asunción, a non-profit, private effort seeking to preserve and promote Paraguayan vernacular culture. In the same year he founded the Indigenous Art Museum, to which he donated his own collection. He still runs this museum. His work for the indigenous population has never been confined to their art: together with other activists he has also supported them in their fight for their legal status and for their entitlement to land.
Jyotindra Jain (1943, Indore, India) is a brilliant scholar and an innovater in the field of museology. Since taking over the directorship of the Crafts Museum in Delhi in 1984, he has used it as the vehicle for an extraordinary task: reviving traditional arts and handicrafts of India, including those from the tribal areas. He has instituted a programme of fellowships at the Museum, inviting to Delhi traditional artists and craftsmen from all over India and presenting their work in pioneering exhibitions, according them the same honour and attention as 'modern' artists generally receive. Jyotindra Jain breaks down prejudices concerning crafts and art, tradition and modernity, 'low' and 'high' culture. He criticises the Indian cultural infrastructure - a model extending far beyond his own country - which shows appreciation only for 'modern' academy-trained artists. Jain proposes and practices a different model, in which traditional and folk art coexists and mingles with the modern, industrial present.
Jean-Baptiste Kiéthéga (1947, Yako, Burkina Faso) is one of the first generation of West African archaeologists. He has successfully worked for the advancement of archaeological and historical scholarship in his country and has so far trained roughly 40 young academics in his field. He argues that archaeological research and the appreciation and conservation of cultural heritage is by no means a luxury. This is an argument which he successfully puts into practice. He makes known the results of his research not only in academic circles, including at international level, but equally in local museums. For Jean-Baptiste Kiéthéga culture is a dynamic concept: there is more to it than scholarship and there is more to it than history. He has given Burkina Faso a new view of it past and in this way he has bestowed confidence in the future, particularly to the young people in his country.
The painter David Koloane (1938, Alexandria Township, Johannesburg, South Africa) has an important voice both in the South African art world and in South African society. He devotes himself to fostering and encouraging the talents of young artists. He taught at the Johannesburg Art Foundation, the only art academy which was open to black students during the years of apartheid, and he was the stimulator of many of the workshops which offered an opportunity to black artists under apartheid. Both in his art and in social aspects he concentrates his attention, also in present-day South Africa, on the tenacity and resourcefulness of people. David Koloane´s respected views are drawn from a long and persistent involvement with the making of art against his background. His unwavering focus upon areas of life easily disregarded indicates that he has kept the humility of a survivor, while constantly developing his own outstanding talents as one of South Africa's leading painters.
Baaba Maal (1953, Podor, Senegal) is an inspiring musician who has a great influence on the development of music in Senegal. He combines African musical elements and instruments in work which has an appeal far beyond Africa. His texts demonstrate his firm commitment to the recognition of the many different cultures in Senegal and beyond. Baaba Maal is one of the Haalpular, a people in the Saint Louis region of Senegal with a rigid social order based on the caste system. Baaba Maal himself belonged to the very low social group of fishermen. In many different ways - in his texts or with his goodwill concerts - Baaba Maal is like an older brother to young musicians in Senegal. (These concerts, which also sponsor charitable activities, turn into tremendous popular festivities). He is an authoritative role model for young people and a key figure in the emancipation of women and the socially disadvantaged. He offers self-respect at a time when large-scale, threatening changes are occurring.
Carlos Monsiváis (1930, Mexico City) is esteemed and feared as the cultural conscience of Mexico. He succeeds, in a unique manner, in combining intellectual and ethical analysis with an uncompromising, vitriolic and humorous approach. He continuously and inescapably turns his critical attention to all matters relating to the current cultural and social situation in his country and beyond. His oeuvre may be seen as a blueprint for his country; his sharp comments cover an amazing range of subjects and issues, from politics to literature, from society to music, from cultural behaviour to film, from history to TV, from vernacular culture to the cultural industry, from religion to AIDS. Carlos Monsiváis is concerned mainly with the local context of the issues which he addresses. He discusses local subjects and analyses themes of wider relevance from a local perspective. He legitimises many aspects of 'low', vernacular culture and has succeeded in challenging conservative views on culture.
Redza Piyadasa (1939, Kuantan, Malaysia) devotes himself both to the practice and to the theory of art. During the sixties and seventies he filled a serious vacuum, at a time when there was scarcely any debate in his country on the subject of art history or art criticism. Partly due to his persistent efforts, the situation is now quite different. In his many publications, both in English and in Malay, in his countless articles in the Malaysian press and also in his work as an artist, he examines the contexts of art and their significance for the construction of artistic traditions and artistic values. His interest is centred on modern Asian art, which he places in relation to traditional Asian art forms and Western contemporary art. Piyadasa's art - such as the collage-like 'Malaysian Series', which he has been working on since 1980 - and his art criticism are his answer to neo-nationalistic, Islamic and globalisation currents in Malaysia, which have threatened to marginalise minority groups and alternatives.
Rogelio Salmona (1929, Bogotá, Colombia) is an architect and a classic representative of Latin American modernism. He plays a leading role in the research by the group of avant-garde Colombian architects who go 'back to the future' He looks for typologies which can be regarded as depositaries of an identity and then seeks to recreate this identity, in order to obtain a contemporary form of architecture. He is a master of the interaction between architecture and its context; he shows great respect for the character of traditional architecture on his continent and for its environment, natural or otherwise, thus contradicting modernist arrogance. Nature and light play a determining role in his designs, as part of a heritage that must be used and incorporated. In view of the unbridled, unorganised expansion which has taken place in Latin American cities during this century, one of his major concerns is the quality and rehabilitation of urban life and the development of Latin American architecture and urban design.
Kumar Shahani (1940, India) makes films of great integrity. His cinema is complex, demanding, uncompromising and avant-garde. Shahani has worked on the language of cinema through a continuous exploration of the traditional art forms, such as classical music and dance, the classical Indian epic, the modern epic and contemporary literature. His 'cinematic construct' is based on a reclamation of Indian cultural history and also on a reconsideration of iconographies, forgotten and then found by a post-colonial anthropology. Kumar Shahani is a survivor in an environment which is becoming more and more hostile. Increasingly in India, as in the rest of the world, genuine culture is having to yield to market pressure. Despite this, Kumar Shahani still holds on to his idealism and on his own honest views on modernity and globalisation.
Tian Zhuang Zhuang (1952, PR China) is a courageous film director. He belongs to what is known as the Fifth Generation of Chinese film-makers, which launched a new wave of cinema in the mid-eighties. Tian Zhuang Zhuang explores the boundaries of Chinese cultural space; his films are concerned with and reflect real life. He has made ethnic dramas about the peoples of Inner Mongolia and Tibet, stark and realistic portrayals of tribal life. Tian justifies the production of films that might not suit mass tastes. He speaks his mind and acts according to his conscience, not only in his films but also as a participant in the political debate in the People's Republic of China, where he has called for the release of political prisoners and for democracy. Tian Zhuang Zhuang was banned from film-making in China following the release of 'The Blue Kite' (1993), a film commenting on recent Chinese history and politics. He continued, however, to devote his efforts to the Chinese film industry and during the past years has helped in the realisation of productions by other film-makers, particularly younger ones. He has recently been given the opportunity to start on a new project of his own.
Nazek Saba Yared (1928, Jerusalem, now based in Beirut, Lebanon) is an academic, literary critic, essayist, novelist and human rights activist. She is concerned with human relations, seeking to stimulate a better understanding of other people and other societies. Her literary and academic work reflect this concern. Culture and art are essential in the rebuilding of a country emerging from a terrible civil war (1975-1992). It is in this light that one should see Nazek Saba Yared's commitment to the Baalbeck Festival in Lebanon, which reopened in 1997. She works wholeheartedly and with unflagging energy in order to help her country regain its place on the international cultural map. Through communication between people and cultures, Nazek Saba Yared has streched out her arms and created new perspectives for Lebanese culture, a new vision for the future of its people.
The Prince Claus Fund regards it as a privilege and a pleasure to acknowledge the achievements of these laureates. It is our sincere hope that the receipt of a Prince Claus Award will make a difference to each of them.
The 1998 Prince Claus Awards Committee
Adriaan van der Staay
Charles Correa
Emile Fallaux
Mai Ghoussoub
Gaston Kaboré
Gerardo Mosquera
