Beldan Sezen receives the Artist Book Prize 2022 by the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel

PRESS RELEASE

Wolfenbüttel, March 10, 2022

Beldan Sezen receives the Artist Book Prize 2022

The artist and author Beldan Sezen was awarded this year's artist book prize by the Herzog August Library in Wolfenbüttel and the Curt Mast Jägermeister Foundation for her walk-in book project. In addition to the endowment of €6,000, the prizewinner also has the opportunity to work in the library for up to a month and to produce an artist's book inspired by the holdings of the HAB.

Beldan Sezen will address voluntary and involuntary isolation. Their project outline states: “Confined spaces can be voluntary and are often involuntary. Imprisonment and isolation as a form of punishment. Isolation as a form of withdrawal - either as a space for reflection and learning or as a space in which one should live as the "other" among many." An examination of Anton Wilhelm Amo, who at the beginning of the 18th th century he came to the court of the Dukes of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel as a child and is considered the first European philosopher of African descent. For the implementation, the artist is planning a walk-in book based on her concept of “solitary confinement” – the transformation of a flat book into a cubic space.

Beldan Sezen appeals to a wide audience with its concise graphic expression. She represents openness and diversity, is able to draw attention to social and political issues and wants to use her art to give space and voice to the unsaid. With her project, she will explore the dialectics of personal/political, outside/inside, surface/depth, illustration/abstraction.

The Artist's Book Prize 2022 of the HAB and the Curt Mast Jägermeister Foundation will be awarded to the artist Beldan Sezen (New York/Amsterdam) on Wednesday, 14 September 2022, at 6 pm in the Augusteerhalle of the Bibliotheca Augusta in Wolfenbüttel. The laudatory speech will be given by Jule Hillgärtner, Director of the Braunschweig Art Association.

For more information, visit www.hab.de or contact the HAB by phone at 05331/808-203.

You can watch the award ceremony on YouTube: https://youtu.be/UJjb1AFY9Cg