Kunstverein Zink

The Zink Art Award

© Rosa Knecht

From left to right: Suzuka Hisamatsu, Lucia Schwemer, Jesaja Aljoscha Trummer, Marcia Schmidt, Gregor Divinzenz, Daniela Kuich, Luise Knecht

°

There is something beautiful about a prize.

A room.
A stage.
A name.
A little money.
A little applause.
Someone who has decided that someone else matters.

The Zink Art Award is an award for artists.

Artists work. Artists wait. Artists apply. Artists are selected. Artists are invited. Artists are
grateful. Artists are sometimes asked to be grateful in writing.

This is not necessarily a bad thing.

In fact, it is rather beautiful.

We like prizes. We like the ceremony of them. We like the particular pleasure of watching
value become visible: an envelope, a cheque, a trophy, a photograph. We like the moment in
which a person becomes a winner and, briefly, no longer has to explain why they are making
the work they are making.

There is a certain ease to being chosen.

The Zink Art Award takes place somewhere between the wall, the school, the institution, the
gallery, the friend, the friend of the friend, the person who knows the person, and the person
who will eventually become the person everyone knows.

There is nothing wrong with wanting to win. We would like to win. We would like the money.
We would like the photograph. We would like our names on the wall. We would like someone
to tell us that the work was worth it. There is nothing particularly shameful about wanting to
matter.

For one evening, the machinery will look like celebration. The institution will look generous.
The hierarchy will look almost graceful. Everyone will be important. Everyone will be a
winner.

For one evening, the machinery will look like celebration. The institution will look generous.
The hierarchy will look almost graceful. Everyone will be important. Everyone will be a
winner.
And underneath it all, the old snakes will keep moving through the walls, under the floor,
between the rooms, around our ankles. We will step over them politely. We will call them
systems. We will call them opportunities. We will call them community. We will call them
whatever makes it possible to keep running.

So Run.

The prize will be handed over. The hand will meet the hand. The camera will flash. The
applause will rise and fall. And then the room will empty.

The flowers will brown. The money will become something else. The photograph will
disappear into a phone. The wall will take another body, another name, another exhibition,
another winner.
Someone will be chosen who has not yet been chosen. Someone will be forgotten who was
once impossible to forget.
Winning doesn’t last.

Neither does losing.

The room doesn’t last. The wall doesn’t last. The institution doesn’t last. Neither do we.

So take the award.

Take the money.

Take the applause.

Let yourself believe it.

Just for tonight.

Nothing lasts forever.

°

by Gregor Divinzenz

Foto: Rosa Knecht

The Zink Art Award

In the framework of Parallel Vienna 2026, Kunstverein Zink will have awarded its annual first Zink Art Award to an outstanding artistic position.
Over a multi-week process, a selection of emerging submissions have been reviewed by an expert jury,
from which The Zink Art Award in collaboration with the University of Applied Arts Vienna will have been awarded to the winner.

The Jury

Prior to The Zink Art Award a jury of seven experts came together on the premises of the University of Applied Arts
to review the pre-selected art works that had been submitted in a closed call.

Members of the Jury were
Gijsbert Cassati (Head of the Departement of sensory standards),
Suzuka Hisamatsu (Director of Future Developments),
Luise Knecht (Chairwoman of the board of Directors),
Daniela Kuich (CEO),
Marcia Schmidt (Presidium of The Collection),
Lucia Schwemer (CFO)
and Jesaja Aljoscha Trummer (Chief Managing Advisor to the Board of Executives).

Our Collection

Since Kunstverein Zink was established,
collecting contemporary art has been an essential part of our mission.
We not only support young talent from Vienna and beyond,
but also preserve and archive a record of our times through our collection.
In our The Zink Art Foyer,
selected works from our collection are displayed to the public to encourage dialogue and inspiration.

The Jury

Marcia Schmidt
(Presidium of the Collection)

marciaschmidt@posteo.de

Gijsbert Cassati
(Head of the Departement of sensory standards)

alaboutjunior@gmail.com

@melaninbluemchen

Luise Knecht
(Chairwoman of the board of Directors)

knechtluise@gmail.com

luiseknecht.at

@luiseknecht

Daniela Kuich
(CEO)

daniela.kuich@gmail.com

@resitant_

Suzuka Hisamatsu
(Director of Future Developments)

suzukasan611@gmail.com

@suzukahisamatsu

Jesaja Aljoscha Trummer
(Chief Managing Advisor
to the Board of Executives)

jesaja.trummer@gmail.com

jesajaaljoschatrummer.studio

@jesaja.trummer

Lucia Schwemer
(CFO)

l.schwemer@online.de

@rev0lutze

About Us

Kunstverein Zink was founded in 2023 following a seminar in the Painting Department at the University of Applied Arts Vienna. Afterwards, a group of students decided to continue running the space that had been created there as a self-organised off-space. For three years, the members organised exhibitions, concerts, book launches and other events at Hintzerstraße 10, before they had to give up the space in February 2026.

Since then, Zink has continued in a different form. Without a fixed exhibition venue, they are developing new formats and explore how self-organised artistic practice can endure without a physical space. Most recently, the exhibition *Another Possible Argumentation for an Aesthetical Attachment Theory* was on display as part of the Independent Space Index Festival in Vienna.

Contact

zinkvienna@gmail.com

@zink_vienna