25 January 2024

Akademie der Künste awards Berlin Art Prize – Jubilee Endowment 1848/1948
2024 Berlin Art Prize – Grand Prize to Simone Fattal
Awards ceremony on 18 March 2024

Damascus-born artist Simone Fattal is to receive the Großer Kunstpreis Berlin 2024 (Berlin Art Prize – Grand Prize). On behalf of the State of Berlin, the Akademie der Künste awards the prize, endowed with 15,000 euros, on an annual basis and in rotation among its six sections. The prize will be presented on Monday, 18 March 2024 at the Akademie der Künste, Pariser Platz.

The jury for the Grand Prize consisted of Monica Bonvicini, Karin Sander and Wolfgang Tillmans. Tillmans wrote the following about the award recipient:
“Simone Fattal once reflected, ‘Everybody has to undertake their own travels toward knowledge, and then make a choice.’ Fattal has not only undertaken her journey but has invited us all to join her in this exploration of human equilibrium and the balance between the tangible and the imaginable. Her practice is a testament to the enduring power of storytelling and the ability of creativity to advocate for humanity and community. What sets Fattal apart is a profound humanism, an urgent call to address the present through history, and history through the present.”

Simone Fattal, was born in 1942 in Damascus and raised in Lebanon. As a student and artist she explored the world, initially studying at the École des Lettres in Beirut and at the Sorbonne in Paris, before working in California, Marrakesh, Doha, London and Zurich. Today she lives and works in Paris.

In addition to the Berlin Art Prize – Grand Prize, the six Berlin Art Prizes, endowed with 5,000 euros each, will also be awarded. The prizes go to Leyla Yenirce (Visual Arts Section), the architects SUMMACUMFEMMER (Architecture Section), composer and musician Syrphe/Cedrik Fermont (Music Section), the author Carolin Callies (Literature Section), the theatre and film actor Lilith Stangenberg (Performing Arts Section) as well as the Georgian documentary filmmaker Salomé Jashi (Film and Media Arts Section).

The Berlin Art Prize – Jubilee Endowment 1848/1948 was established by the Berlin Senate in 1948 to commemorate the March Revolution of 1848. It has been awarded by the Akademie der Künste on behalf of the State of Berlin since 1971. Grand Art Prize recipients of recent years have included Joachim Trier (2023), Richard Peduzzi (2022), Annett Gröschner (2021), Younghi Pagh-Paan (2020) and Renée Gailhoustet (2019).