The jury nominated Valdis Čakars, Santa Hirsch and Ivars Šteinbergs for their work in the critique of various fields of art for the Normunds Naumanis Award of the Year.
As LETA was informed by the Naumanis Society, the winners of the Art of the Year Awards and the Young Critic or Critics’ Promotion Award will be announced on January 11, 2021. Due to restrictions, the traditional “NN night” ceremony will not take place, so the association will hold virtual talks with the nominees.
The winner of the Annual Award named after Naumanis will receive a cash scholarship of 1,500 euros, supported by the technology company “Tilde”, while the winner of the New Critic or Critics’ Promotion Award will receive a cash prize of 500 euros, supported by SIA “Kurekss”.
In the opinion of the jury, Chakare is able to harmoniously combine fundamental academic knowledge, erudition with expressive style. Separated from any passions and moods of the theater’s professional environment, she makes her reviews an elegant example of a uniform form and content, the jury points out.
“In her texts, Chakare surely surfs the waves of irony, sarcasm, black humor, paradox and absurdity, pleasing the reader. She has a rare ability to be sharp and ruthless, while maintaining delicacy and a certain aristocratic distance,” the jury emphasized.
Nominating visual arts critic Hirsha, the jury noted that her critics have a certain fairness, but they are genuinely interested in the art process. Hirsch always gives the reader a reason to react personally and get involved in the evaluation, looking for another or broader point of view.
According to the jury, this year was special for the poet and cooler Steinberg for several reasons. At the end of the year, his first collection of poems “Strops” was published, but throughout the year Steinberg was one of the most prolific writers of poetry reviews.
“It can be seen that such a systematic immersion in the poetry process has allowed Steinberg to see more and more interesting connections over time, and the reader can trust Steinberg’s judgment of what currently exists in poetry,” said the jury, noting that Steinberg’s critic unites both practitioners. the vision of both the poet and the observant theorist, so reviews usually contain a lot of detailed and comprehensibly formulated information about various nuances of poetry, which an inexperienced reader would probably go unnoticed.
The Naumanis Annual Award in Art Criticism was established in 2015 by the Naumanis Society. The decision on this year’s nominees was made by a jury formed by the society, consisting of the chairman of the jury, philosopher and writer Ilmārs Šlāpins, director of the National Film Center Dita Rietuma, editor-in-chief of Neputns Laima Slava, theater critic Undīne Adamaite, artistic producer of Sinfonietta Rīga, Baiba Kurpniece, literary critic Anda Baklāne, publicist Valdis Ābols and Chairman of the Board of Naumanis Society Sarmīte Ēlerte.
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