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Alfred Toepfer Stiftung F.V.S. - KAIROS-Preis

What We Do

KAIROS Prize

The KAIROS Prize has been awarded since 2007 to European artists and scholars from the fields of visual and performing arts, music, architecture, design, film, photography, literature and journalism. Both individual artistic achievements and the achievements of those who make culture in Europe possible and give it decisive impetus are honoured: Producers, artistic directors, publishers, festival directors and other initiators.

Named after the god of the "right moment" in Greek mythology, the prize is both recognition and encouragement: it is awarded to artists and cultural facilitators who work and have an impact in their fields in a pioneering, avant-garde and groundbreaking way, without having already reached the zenith of their creativity.

The KAIROS Prize is not intended as an award for a completed life's work, but as an impulse for further work.
Prof. Dr. Christoph Stölzl

With a prize money of € 75,000, the prize is one of the most highly endowed cultural prizes in Europe. Its concept combines the numerous previous cultural prizes awarded by the Foundation over many years and at the same time reflects the changed social, political and cultural conditions in today's Europe.

An independent board of trustees decides on the awarding of the prize. It is not possible to apply for the prize.

KAIROS Board of Trustees since July 2022

Zandile Darko, actress, theatre-maker, choreographer
Dr. Christian Demand, publisher of the magazine MERKUR
Anja Fix, deputy director of the ZDF main editorial office for culture and editorial director of 3sat-Kulturzeit
Dr. Lisa Kosok, former director of various museums, retired professor of cultural heritage and museum studies
Freo Majer, founder and artistic director of the mentorship programme "Forecast
Heike Catherina Mertens, cultural manager
Prof. Dr Martin Zierold, Head of the Institute for Culture and Media Management, Hamburg University of Music and Theatre

Laureate 2024: Salomé Jashi

Georgian documentary filmmaker Salomé Jashi, born in Tbilisi in 1981, follows the absurdities, distortions and hypocrisies of post-socialist Georgia with her camera eye. With great sensitivity and calm, she gives people and events space in her films and allows us as the audience the time and freedom of thought to interpret the filmed events. Jashi often focuses on the relics and lifeless shells from the immediate history, whose power rituals and empty promises she exposes. In her internationally recognized documentaries, historical narratives are questioned, unheard voices are made audible and new perspectives are made visible. The filmmaker follows the protagonists of her films with alertness and curiosity, and thus succeeds in capturing new perspectives and surprising twists and turns. She creates beguilingly strong, impressive images and listens carefully to what people say, just as she listens patiently to animals and landscapes.

Georgian documentary filmmaker Salomé Jashi, born in Tbilisi in 1981, follows the absurdities, distortions and hypocrisies of post-socialist Georgia with her camera eye. With great sensitivity and calm, she gives people and events space in her films and allows us as the audience the time and freedom of thought to interpret the filmed events. Jashi often focuses on the relics and lifeless shells from the immediate history, whose power rituals and empty promises she exposes. In her internationally recognized documentaries, historical narratives are questioned, unheard voices are made audible and new perspectives are made visible. The filmmaker follows the protagonists of her films with alertness and curiosity, and thus succeeds in capturing new perspectives and surprising twists and turns. She creates beguilingly strong, impressive images and listens carefully to what people say, just as she listens patiently to animals and landscapes.

Salomé Jashi studied documentary film at Royal Holloway, University of London and is a member of the European Film Academy as well as co-founder and chair of the Documentary Association Georgia and produces her films through Sakdoc Film. Her film Taming the Garden premiered in the 2021 Sundance Film Festival Documentary Competition and Berlinale Forum and was nominated for the European Film Award.

Salomé Jashi studied documentary film at Royal Holloway, University of London and is a member of the European Film Academy as well as co-founder and chair of the Documentary Association Georgia and produces her films through Sakdoc Film. Her film Taming the Garden premiered in the 2021 Sundance Film Festival Documentary Competition and Berlinale Forum and was nominated for the European Film Award.

As bold and politically charged as her films are, they are always humorous and a pleasure to watch both aesthetically and narratively. Her work can be enjoyable, but it is not surprising that not everyone likes it. In her native Georgia, she regularly causes offense by confronting the vanities of the politically powerful with an unerring gaze and consistent storytelling. Salomé Jashi says and shows what is. "With a view to Europe and the strengthening of national interests and historical forgetfulness, the KAIROS Prize 2024 also honors Salomé Jashi and her work for respectfully telling and looking at the history(ies) of others and for enduring contradictory attitudes. Here, art opens up new worlds, spaces for encounters and builds bridges, not least between East and West," says the KAIROS jury, explaining the choice of the prizewinner

As bold and politically charged as her films are, they are always humorous and a pleasure to watch both aesthetically and narratively. Her work can be enjoyable, but it is not surprising that not everyone likes it. In her native Georgia, she regularly causes offense by confronting the vanities of the politically powerful with an unerring gaze and consistent storytelling. Salomé Jashi says and shows what is. "With a view to Europe and the strengthening of national interests and historical forgetfulness, the KAIROS Prize 2024 also honors Salomé Jashi and her work for respectfully telling and looking at the history(ies) of others and for enduring contradictory attitudes. Here, art opens up new worlds, spaces for encounters and builds bridges, not least between East and West," says the KAIROS jury, explaining the choice of the prizewinner

On May 5, Salomé Jashi was awarded the KAIROS Prize 2024 at the Deutsches Schauspielhaus in Hamburg.

Previous award winners

Contact

Uta Gielke Deputy Head of the Programme Department, Head of Programme Culture

+49 40 33 402 – 14gielke@toepfer-stiftung.de