SIMACEK
ART AWARD
WINNERS 2022
Hiu Tung Ching
Lisa Sifkovits
Mascha Illich
Chin Tsao
Jakob Krinzinger
Jens Höffken
Mariella Lehner
Veronika Günther
JURY
Veronika Dirnhofer, Anna Jermolaewa, Hans Schabus, Peter Kogler, Ursula Simacek, Raimund Deininger
AWARD-CEREMONY
Wednesday, Februar 15, 2023 - MAK - Museum für Applied Arts Vienna
MASCHA
ILLICH
The recurring themes in my work revolve around the multifaceted aspects of searching for and constructing identity, particularly in response to the demands of modern society—professional self-realisation, gender positioning, and social and cultural integration.
My Eastern European background is reflected in a fascination with raw urbanity, increasingly expressed through the use of sculptural materials such as metal and concrete. The architectural impressions, as well as the roughness and neglect of Soviet construction, inform my restless, intuitive, and fragmented working process.
In contrast, the discipline and rationality of Western culture call for a stricter sense of self-criticism and restraint. The interplay of these diverse professional and cultural influences fundamentally shapes my artistic practice.
- Mascha Illich (*1978, Kyiv, Ukraine)
nominated by Anna Jermolaewa
Image courtesy © Mascha Illich
CHIN
TSAO
Chin Tsao, 曹晶 (*1989, Taipei, Taiwan) is an artist whose practice spans sculpture, installation, music, performance, and new media. She completed her MFA at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
Her diploma project The Land of Promise was awarded the Kunsthalle Wien Prize in 2021. The work engages with a highly digitised culture, using personal narrative as a means to reconstruct technoid realities. In her sculptural practice, she explores the reinterpretation of historical aesthetics in order to transform meanings of material reality and cultural memory.
Her works have been exhibited at Nevven Gallery (SE), Galería Katakomby (CZ), viennacontemporary Art Fair 2020 (AT), and Parallel Vienna 2019 (AT), among others.
nominated by Hans Schabus
Image courtesy © Chin Tsao
LISA
SIKOVITS
Lisa Sifkovits (*born 1993) lives and works in Vienna. Since 2018, she has been studying in the Sculpture and Space class at the University of Applied Arts Vienna.
In her artistic practice, Lisa Sifkovits engages with socially constructed norms and systems, as well as the constraints that accompany them. She employs a childlike visual language in which textile elements and wooden constructions play a central role. Her works possess an inherent fragility, which is contrasted and supported by rough and robust materials.
nominated by Hans Schabus
Image courtesy © Lisa Sifkovits
JAKOB
KRINZINGER
The concept of doing nothing - and the question of whether it can truly exist - is a recurring theme in my artistic practice. In my observation, “nothingness” is often mistaken for things that lack obvious meaning, function, or purpose.
These simple, everyday elements, both objects and actions, hold a particular fascination for me. My work often begins with basic needs and daily rituals. The reconfiguration and restructuring of natural, organic, and synthetic materials form a central part of my artistic approach. Through this process, I seek to reveal tensions and, symbolically, to articulate my understanding of the relationship between humans and nature.
- Jakob Krinzinger (*1994, Vienna, Austria)
nominated by Veronika Dirnhofer
Image courtesy © Jakob Krinzinger
JENS
HÖFFKEN
Jens Höffken produces short films and text-based works for exhibition contexts. His essay films are regularly shown at festivals.
He studied Fine Arts and Cultural Studies in Lyon, Strasbourg, and Linz. Prior to his studies, Höffken worked at an advertising agency and wrote cultural criticism. He has also worked as an assistant director at various theatres and presented his own performances on stage. His recent works include essayistic films and text objects, primarily engaging with literary themes. Since 2014, his films have been distributed, among others, by Sixpackfilm (Vienna).
nominated by Anna Jermolaewa
Image courtesy © Jens Höffken
HIU
TUNG CHING
The essential components of my works consist of industrial parts (metal, plastic, etc.) that can easily be found in German hardware stores. These components or ready-made elements, along with their inherent functionality, create the impression of a subtle, almost automated mechanism that appears to integrate into an industrial production line. However, this is an illusion - a real illusion. The dynamics of these processes construct a surreal projection in the mind, while the physical reality is that the materials function purely on an aesthetic level, without fulfilling any actual industrial purpose.
nominated by Peter Kogler
Image courtesy © Hiu Tung Ching
VERONIKA
GÜNTHER
Analogous to the stream of consciousness in literature, the drawings of Veronika Günther (*1981, Hohenpolding, Germany) incorporate images from everyday life alongside motifs from literature, film, and other mass media, as well as memories and fragments of dreams. Personal and public material intertwine to form associative narratives with a cinematic quality. She primarily draws from memory, which naturally reduces the motifs to their essential elements. The materials and speed of execution allow no corrections, resulting in distortions of perspective and anatomy that introduce an unpredictable element of visual humor and poetry into the scenes.
Her works, which at times verge on the grotesque, revolve around themes such as gender relations, manifestations of masculinity, as well as chance, loss, and death. To date, she has produced over 8,000 mostly small-format drawings, which are also published in the form of artist books, films, and on Instagram. Veronika Günther lives and works in Munich.
nominated by Peter Kogler
Image courtesy © Veronika Günther
MARIELLA
LEHNER
Mariella Lehner (*1992, Lower Austria, Austria) is a visual artist whose practice spans drawing, painting, printmaking, and sculpture. At the core of her work is the relationship between humans and their environment, which manifests in explorations of themes such as feminism, environmental issues, and international conflict and solidarity. Through an imagery that is both uncanny and dreamlike, as well as titles that often allude to the political origins of the works, viewers are invited to explore the complexity of contemporary social issues and to question their own perspectives.
nominated by Veronika Dirnhofer
Image courtesy © Mariella Lehner
LIMITED EDITIONS
All award winners develop an exclusive graphic edition for the SIMACEK GROUP as part of the award. The works are produced in a format of 50 × 65 cm, in an edition of 20 + 5 artist’s proofs, and are realised as silkscreen or digital prints.
WINNER EDITIONS
Nominated Artists
2022
by Anna Jermolaewa
Experimental Art Class, University of Art and Design Linz
Jens Höffken
Ruth Größwang
Bernadette Laimbauer
Mascha Illich
Alexandra Kahl
Laura Weiss
by Veronika Dirnhofer
Institute of Fine Arts, Academy of Fine Arts Vienna
Sophia Davislim
Mariella Lehner
Daniel Leiter
Sarah Fripon
Jakob Krinzinger
Alina Sokolova
by Peter Kogler
Class of Graphic Arts, Academy of Fine Arts Munich
Hiu Tung Ching
Arno Synaeve
Milen Till
Ludwig Dressler
Veronika Günther
Julia Walk
by Hans Schabus
Sculpture and Space, University of Applied Arts Vienna
Benedikt Scheitnagl
Felizitas Moroder
Lisa Sifkovits
Chin Tsao
Julian Siffert
Sophia Latysheva
Chronic
2025
2023
2022
Courtesy: © Chorong Moon, precessed, 2025
Courtesy: © Nanna Kaiser, Skinned sky utopian try, 2023
Courtesy: © Hiu Tung Ching, Untitled, 2021
