Aimia / AGO Photography Prize 2015 – the winner

The winner of The 2015 Aimia | AGO Photography Prize was awarded to American artist Dave Jordano at a special event held this evening at the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO). Selected entirely by public vote, Jordano receives C$50,000 in addition to a six-week, fully funded residency in Canada.

Four extraordinary international artists was shortlisted for the 2015 Aimia / AGO Photography Prize, Canada’s most significant prize for photography. Co-presented by Aimia, a Canadian based global leader in data-driven marketing and loyalty analytics company, and the Art Gallery of Ontario (AGO), the Prize awards C$50,000 to one winner, who is chosen by public vote. The four finalists will each be awarded a six-week artist residency in Canada and will present their work in an exhibition opening September 9, 2015, at the AGO. Voting began in person at the AGO upon the exhibition’s opening and on the Prize’s website on September 15, 2015 and continued till November 30, 2015. The winner, was announced on December 1, 2015.

The 2015 winner is:

Dave Jordano, Lynn, Heidelberg Street, Eastside, Detroit, 2010. Courtesy the artist.

Dave Jordano (USA)

Dave Jordano (1948, Detroit, Michigan) received a BFA in photography from the College for Creative Studies in 1974. As an emerging fine art photographer, he was awarded an honorable mention in the Houston Center for Photography’s Long Term Fellowship Project in 2003, and he received the Curator’s Choice Award the following year. In 2006, 2008 and 2013 he was a three-time top twenty finalist in Photolucida’s “Critical Mass” national book award in Portland, Oregon. In 2012 and 2014 he was a finalist in LensCulture’s International Exposure Awards. He was also selected for inclusion in One Hundred Portfolios, a compilation featuring the work of 100 leading photographers from around the world and sponsored by Wright State University, Dayton, OH. A major exhibition of his work from his “Articles of Faith” project was held at the Chicago Cultural Center in 2009.

The 2015 finalists were: 

Annette Kelm, Untitled, 2013. c-print. 65 x 80 cm. Courtesy the artist.

Annette Kelm (Germany)

Annette Kelm (1975, Stuttgart, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. Her work has been presented in solo and group exhibitions at international institutions, including Kölnischer Kunstverein, Cologne (2014); MoMA, New York (2013); Presentation House Gallery, Vancouver (2012); Städel Museum, Frankfurt am Main (2012); KW – Institute for Contemporary Art, Berlin (2009); Kunsthalle Zurich (2009); and Witte de With, Rotterdam (2008). Her art works are in important art collections such as Guggenheim Museum and MoMa, New York; Centre Pompidou, Paris; Kulturstiftung des Bundes, Germany; Tate Modern, London; and Lenbachhaus, Munich. Annette Kelm participated in the 12th Istanbul Biennial in 2012 and in the 54th Venice Biennale in 2011.

Owen Kydd, Cherry, 2015, Video on square digital display with media player. Courtesy the artist

Owen Kydd (Canada)

Owen Kydd (Calgary, Canada) attained a bachelor’s degree in film and art from Simon Fraser University in Vancouver and a master’s degree from UCLA in Los Angeles. Kydd has exhibited work at the Vancouver Art Gallery, the Oakville Galleries, Los Angeles County Museum of Art, the Art Gallery of Western Australia, FOAM Museum Amsterdam, and the Daegue Photo Biennale in Korea, among others.

Hito Steyerl, How Not to be Seen: A Fucking Didactic Educational .MOV File (still), 2013. HD video, single screen in architectural environment. Image Courtesy of the artist and Andrew Kreps Gallery, New York.

Hito Steyerl (Germany)

Hito Steyerl (1966, Germany) lives and works in Berlin. Steyerl’s prolific filmmaking and writing occupies a discursive position between the fields of art, philosophy and politics, constituting a deep exploration of late capitalism’s social, cultural and financial imaginaries. Her films and lectures have increasingly addressed the presentational context of art, while her writing has circulated widely through publication in both academic and art journals, often online. Steyerl has had solo exhibitions all over the world, among them Artists Space, New York; Institute of Modern Art, Brisbane, Australia (2015); Van Abbemuseum, Eidenhoven, The Netherlands; ICA, London, UK; Künstlerhaus Stuttgart, Germany (2014); Museum of Contemporary Art Chicago (2013); the Art Institute of Chicago; E-flux, New York City, USA (2012); Chisenhale Gallery, London, UK (2010); Neuer Berliner Kunstverein, Berlin, Germany (2009); and Moderna Museet, Stockholm, Sweden (2008).

A jury of three experts selected the four finalists from a long list of 27 artists who each showed extraordinary potential.

For more information please check 2015 Aimia | AGO Photography Prize.

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