8 September 2016
Konrad Wolf Prize 2016 awarded to Nicola Hümpel / Nico and the Navigators on 13 September
On 13 September, the Akademie der Künste is awarding the Konrad Wolf Prize 2016 to Nicola Hümpel, director and co-founder of Nico and the Navigators. The laudatory address is by Nele Hertling who, together with Barrie Kosky and Reinhild Hoffmann, was on the jury awarding this year’s prize. The ceremony is followed by a discussion of the particular aesthetics developed by Nico and the Navigators with prize-winner Nicola Hümpel, Nele Hertling, actress Corinna Harfouch, Jossi Wieler, artistic director of the Staatsoper Stuttgart, Jochen Noch, director of Munich’s Otto-Falckenberg-Schule, and Charles Adrian Gillott, a member of Nico and the Navigators for many years.
In their statement on awarding this year’s prize, the jury noted: “Since they were formed, Nico and the Navigators have been exploring the absurdities and abysses of people’s behaviour, rituals and habits. They create bizarre and quirky images where, in individual body language, the corporeality of the Navigators becomes the narrative. In many different ways, actors, dancers, singers, musicians, architects and visual artists join forces from different countries, each contributing their own experiences.”
Nicola Hümpel, born in Lübeck in 1967, studied at the University of the Fine Arts of Hamburg (HFBK). In 1998, together with Oliver Proske, she founded Nico and the Navigators in Berlin. From 1999 to 2005, as artist in residence at the Sophiensaele in Berlin, she worked together with her ensemble to develop the Menschenbilder series. In 2000, with Eggs on Earth, Nico and the Navigators achieved their international breakthrough. In 2006, they presented Wo Du nicht bist, with compositions by Franz Schubert, marking their first musical theatre production. Today, many productions developed by Nico and the Navigators have been shown worldwide. Funded by the Berlin Senate since 2007, the ensemble has worked with numerous theatres and opera houses. Nicola Hümpel also teaches the method of “guided improvisation”, which she developed with her ensemble, at various drama institutions. In 2011, Nicola Hümpel and Oliver Proske were the recipients of the George Tabori Prize. In 2013, the Theater der Zeit press published Nicola Hümpel's illustrated book An der Erde hängt der Mensch und an ihm der Himmel. In April 2016, in cooperation with Nico and the Navigators, Nicola Hümpel produced Reigen by Philippe Boesmans at the Oper Stuttgart.
The Konrad Wolf Prize, named after the film director and long-standing President of the East German Akademie der Künste, is awarded annually for outstanding artistic achievements in the fields of the performing arts as well as film and media art. Recent winners of the prize, which is endowed with €5,000, include Christoph Schlingensief/ Opera Village in Burkina Faso (2015), Jürgen Holtz (2014), OSTKREUZ photo agency (2013) and Meg Stuart (2012).
Event Details
Konrad Wolf Prize 2016 awarded to Nicola Hümpel / Nico and the Navigators
Awards ceremony
Tuesday 13 September 2016, 7 pm
Akademie der Künste, Hanseatenweg 10, 10557 Berlin
Free admission
Press tickets can be reserved at presse@adk.de