Iman Issa (born 1979 in Cairo) has received the 13th Ernst Rietschel Art Prize for Sculpture. The history of museums and collections is a focus of her work, in which she deals with the locations, the works and their displays, whereby the respective context influences perception. Her objects, which are mostly reduced to clear and precise forms, are often combined with texts that open up surprising perspectives. As part of her exhibition, Issa will present her work at two locations in the Albertinum.

In the sculpture hall on the ground floor, four works from the ongoing series "Proxies, with a Life of Their Own" can be seen, which consists of a collection of sculptural-abstract self-portraits that also depict portraits of other personalities. All self-portraits are based on a basic form that is varied in many facets. The formally reduced sculptures are to be understood as representatives of great thinkers, whose accompanying texts characterize the people depicted and give them their individuality. This interaction invites viewers to perceive the abstract works as individuals and to engage with their biographies.

Issa's second work was created especially for the exhibition and gave it the name "The Game". Ten photographs are presented in the exhibition depot on the first floor. Visitors can choose a caption for each of the photos from several suggestions, but only one of them is the correct one - who is able to recognize it? There are connections not only between these individual texts, because the artist also dealt with the other museum texts and captions, the paintings and pictures as well as the objects in the display cases and created references to historical and current events. Issa also swapped captions on works of art, replacing some and leaving others in their original place. Playing with the changeability of titles leads to a change of perspective in the audience, which changes the perception of the individual works.

The Ernst Rietschel Art Prize for Sculpture is awarded by the Dresden State Art Collections (SKD) together with the Antonius Youth and Cultural Promotion Association, which donates the prize money. The jury emphasized that Iman Issa is considered one of the most important artists living in Germany and that her work deals with the political aesthetics of different present times.

Text:Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Dresden