VNGart Prize 2024: Two students of the HGB Leipzig honoured

On Friday, 15 November, the VNG Foundation, together with the Friends of the Academy of Fine Arts Leipzig (HGB Leipzig), awarded a newly created art prize for the first time. The VNGart Prizes, which are each worth EUR 3,000, were awarded at the first ever prize giving ceremony to the up-and-coming young artists Anna Perepechai and Yana Zschiedrich, who both study at the HGB Leipzig. This year, the students explored the theme of transformation for the art competition. A jury of recognised art experts from the region, chaired by Dr. Jens Katzek, member of the board of the Friends of the HGB Leipzig, was impressed by the works of two 2024 prize winners.

“VNG is currently in the midst of a transformation process to green gases such as hydrogen and biogas. As a company that has been deeply rooted in Eastern Germany for more than 66 years, we want to play an active role in shaping the energy transition and structural change in the region. At the same time, we are very interested in the social and artistic debate aroused by this phase of upheaval and transformation. We are therefore all the more pleased that we at VNG, together with the Friends of the HGB Leipzig, have been able to initiate an art competition for the first time that is creatively dedicated to the topic of transformation,” said Bernhard Kaltefleiter, member of the VNG Foundation’s Executive Board.

“Art is the expression of transformation. Its lifeblood is daring to try new things and questioning the status quo. That is why I considered right from the outset that the idea of a collaboration between the Friends of the HGB Leipzig and VNG, a company that is undergoing a fundamental transformation, was something both very special and very natural. The diploma and masters students of the HGB Leipzig who have been honoured with the award contribute to the public actively engaging with the topic of transformation,” says Dr. Jens Katzek from the HGB Circle of Friends.

The award winners & their works

Anna Perepechai (*1989 in Poltava) grew up in the Ukraine. She currently lives and studies in Leipzig. Before studying at the HGB Leipzig, Perepechai studied journalism, visual design and photography in Kiev, Weimar and Montreal. She impressed the expert jury with a 27-page photo series. In her work, she thematises the post-Soviet legacy and expresses her experience with various photographic techniques. Each individual page in the series was placed in the earth and, through vibration and chemical processes, an individual photograph was created, the contours of which take on seismographic characteristics. In this way, the artist addresses processes of massive change, upheaval and transformation. In particular, she focuses on Ukraine and the collective memory of Ukrainian society, which has been shaped by the collapse of the Soviet Union and the war that has been raging since 2014.

Yana Zschiedrich (*1987 in Ludwigshafen am Rhein) lives and works in Leipzig. In her work, which was awarded the VNGart Prize, the masters student takes a technical and artistic approach to the combination of architecture, art and ecology. As part of the Hybris Research Initiative, she is working on converting waste into plastics and building materials. Mealworms serve her as sculptural tools, transforming with their secretions Styrodur into an environment friendly material. The reliefs created by Yana Zschiedrich serve as a basis or feedstock. The worms eat their way through these reliefs and – given light, heat, nutrients and time – produce the desired raw material. A chemical binder is added to the worm secretion, creating a material that has similar properties to concrete but is sustainable and reusable. It is also possible to mould the base material into various components using 3D printing. The mealworms are protagonists, transforming industrial waste products into recycled materials and thus symbolising nature’s ability to constantly renew life cycles and regenerate raw materials.