The founders of H+H Travel Grant Hans-E Møller-Hansen and Per Haansbæk would have preferred to give a speech at the presentation of the award, if there had been an audience. But the audience was not there. Instead, you get the speech in writing here:
H+H Travel Award
We have been asked why we have instituted this travel award and what our aims are.
Our motivation
For artists, both young and old, there can be a long way from their first works to the polished interiors of galleries and art museums.
But we suspect that there is not quite so far to the Artists’ Easter Exhibition here in Kunsthal Aarhus as there is to ARoS Aarhus Art Museum, for example.
Therefore, this demonstration of encouragement.
What are our intentions?
As we are not overburdened with art historical knowledge, we can only act on the basis of ’like or dislike’.
An approach that also characterises what we hang on our own walls.
With this travel grant we want to promote artistic directions that align with our taste and which at some stage may end up on those walls. Pure egoism, in other words.
We have visited KP, here in Kunsthal Aarhus, over the last couple of years.
And we have agreed that many of the selected works seem to be based on specific ideas rather than displaying well-executed craftsmanship or being decorative. Creativity is not simply a question of ideas, but also of the artist choosing and discarding among them.
Therefore we have decided on a small, but definitive number of stipulations to the work we chose:
They work should be
Well-executed
Original
Decorative
and hopefully, provocative
We are delighted to award this year’s H+H Travel Award of DKK 10,000 to
Christian Daugaard
who we believe meets all our criteria.
Congratulations to Christian Daugaard!
New art award on KP
With H+H Travel Grant, a new art award linked to KP has been established.
The award is a travel grant of DKK 10,000 and was founded by Per Haansbæk og Hans-E Møller-Hansen, with the aim of giving talented artists the opportunity to seek inspiration internationally.
It is the founders who, among the accepted art works at this year's KP, select the award-winning art work.
The following criteria are used:
Good craftsmanship
Original
decorative
provocative
Awarded on opening day
H+H Travel Grant is awarded to the artist behind the work at the vernissage.
H+H Travel Grant is awarded for 3 years
The H&H Travel Grant is provisionally awarded for 3 years starting in 2021.
Should the founders of the award not find a suitable work, this year's grant will go ahead and be added to next year's grant.