Emmanuelle Quertain wins top Young Belgian Art Prize

Brussels-based artist Emmanuelle Quertain won the grand prize in the Young Belgian Art Prize competition at a ceremony in Bozar last week. Known as the Crowet Prize, it is worth €25,000. All entries nominated for the prize have been on show in Bozar since late June.

Quertain won for her intimate oil paintings on aluminium (pictured), which, the jury said, “form a counterbalance to the overwhelming stream of images delivered by contemporary mass media”.

The competition’s Bozar Prize, worth €12,500, went to Brussels artist Hana Miletić, who read work from her poetry collection every day of the exhibition and also recorded a live album with Brussels rap collective La Frénétick.

The Langui Prize, also worth €12,500 was won by Brussels-born Emmanuel Van der Auwera for his video installation of young people watching snuff movies. “The questions he poses regarding our contemporary image culture, internet ideology and the power of images are extremely relevant,” said the jury.

Finally, the ING Public Prize, worth €6,250, was awarded to Flemish artist Floris Vanhoof, whose multimedia installations blur the borders between projected images and light. The Young Belgian Art Prize exhibition at Bozar ended on Sunday.