The Nordic and Baltic Young Artist Award 2024 has revealed its winners, highlighting the region’s most promising emerging artists and providing them with invaluable visibility among international curators and art professionals. This unique competition offers graduates of leading Nordic and Baltic art academies a platform to showcase their work globally, fostering new opportunities and collaborations.
The Grand Prix, accompanied by a €2000 prize, was awarded to Mara Marie Kirchberg (Estonian Academy of Arts) for her transdisciplinary work exploring the fragility of hybrid systems through sculptures, installations, and performance. Johanna Saikkonen (Uniarts, Helsinki) received the Young Painter Award (€1000) for her powerful oil paintings that delve into themes of egocentricity and self-deception. The Public Choice Award, decided through online voting with over 1380 votes, was given to Kirke Kuiv (Pallas, Tartu), whose experimental photography examines the human experience and emotional complexity. Kirke also received the Fotografiska Award.
Participating in the competition offers young artists exposure to a broader international audience and opportunities for collaboration. Select winning artworks will be exhibited in 2025 at the Art Academy of Latvia Pilot Gallery and ArtDepoo Gallery in Estonia.
Mara Marie Kirchberg (Estonian Academy of Arts) works as a transdisciplinary artist exploring the materiality of flesh, boundary objects, and hybrid systems. Her installations merge dysfunctional car parts with sanitary equipment to create biomorphic forms, reflecting life’s fragility and the tension between functionality and collapse. Kirchberg has received notable recognition, including the 2023 Young Sculptor Award and Eduard Wiiralt Scholarship.
Johanna Saikkonen (Uniarts, Helsinki) is an oil painter whose works delve into themes of egocentricity and self-deception through raw depictions of human bodies. Her art juxtaposes the idealized self with the core of human existence, raising questions about self-perception and honesty.
Kirke Kuiv (Pallas, Tartu) specializes in experimental and analogue photography, focusing on human emotions and the fear of loss. Using pinhole photography, she captures deeply personal narratives that invite viewers to reflect on the complexity of inner worlds.
The competition featured graduates from Uniarts Helsinki, Turku University of Applied Sciences, Estonian Academy of Arts, Pallas University of Applied Sciences, Art Academy of Latvia, Vilnius Academy of Arts, and for the first time, Konstfack, University of Arts, Crafts and Design. It highlights graduation exhibitions while helping young artists gain international visibility as they begin their careers.
Winners were selected by an international jury composed of esteemed professors, curators, and artists: Andris Vītoliņš (Art Academy of Latvia, Latvia), Ieva Skauronė (Vilnius Academy of Arts, Lithuania), Harri Monni (Uniarts Helsinki, Finland), Anni Anttonen (Uniarts Helsinki, Finland), Margus Meinart (Pallas University of Applied Sciences, Estonia), Kaisa Maasik (Estonian Academy of Arts, Estonia), Taina Erävaara (Turku University of Applied Sciences, Finland), Anne Klontz (Konstfack, Sweden), Per Nilsson (Umeå Academy of Fine Arts, Sweden), Maarja Loorents (Fotografiska Tallinn, Estonia), Deborah Duerr (Galleri Duerr, Sweden), Ugnė Bužinskaitė (Noewe Foundation, Lithuania) and Andra Orn curator and founder of the Nordic Baltic contemporary art platform NOBA.ac.
The Public Choice Award winner was determined by an online voting, with over 1380 votes cast, winning work received 323 votes.
Learn more and view the artworks at NOBA.ac.
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