MUDEC hosts contemporary artists awarded by Deutsche Bank

The MUDEC (Museo delle Culture) in Milan hosts the exhibition of the award winners from 8 September to 23 October 2022 Artists of the Year 2021 of Deutsche Bankinternational recognition that the bank dedicates tocontemporary art and that for the first time, on the occasion of its tenth anniversary, it was awarded to three artists: Maxwell Alexandre (Brazil), Conny Maier (Germany), e Zhang Xu Zhan (Taiwan).

After opening at PalaisPopulaire in Berlin, the space of Deutsche Bank in Berlin dedicated to art and culture, at the MUDEC three emerging artists, among the most interesting on the international scene, who have distinguished themselves for creativity and significant value of the own work.

Starting from this collective exhibition, a free entryMUDEC opens up even more to contemporary languages ​​and themes with an artistic and cultural schedule of international scope, also accompanied by collateral events with thematic guided tours, educational workshops, meetings and round tables, realized thanks to the contribution of Deutsche Bank Italia Foundation.

“Opening contemporary art to an ever wider audience is the first objective of the Deutsche Bank group in this field, and for this reason in Italy we wanted to mobilize all our resources, including the Foundation, to give life to a broad cultural project breath, which will accompany the exhibition for its entire duration ”he declared Roberto ParazziniChief Country Officer of Deutsche Bank in Italy, said

Until 23 October it will therefore be possible to admire the works of the Brazilian Maxwell Alexandre, born in Rio de Janeiro in 1990, focused on racism and police violence, but also on community and spirituality. They are inspired by the same life as him: the artist grew up in the largest favela in Rio de Janeiro, Rocinha. His series Forbes Under 30 of the cycle 500 Year Party explore the imagery of the Brazilian media. The artist repeatedly repainted the cover of the Brazilian edition of the magazine Forbes of 2019, which had named him among the 90 most successful thirty-year-olds in his country, changing the shades of the skin of the protagonists. A serial reflection on systemic racism, on the elite and the Brazilian class.

With Conny Maier, born in Berlin, the bank awarded the prize for the first time to a German artist, one of the most interesting on the country’s art scene. In her works, Maier combines a neo-expressive and comic style with a keen sense of color and composition. Her impressive work cycles focus onexistential interrelation between humans and nature, personified in a variety of animals.

Finally, in his animated films, sculptures and video installations, the artist Zhang Xu Zhan, born in Taipei in 1988, has created a fantastic cosmos populated by mythical creatures, singing animals, plants and spirits of nature and dominated by ancient rituals: an apocalyptic and at the same time fairytale world that investigates universal themes such as death, transience and the search for the community. The artist, interested in the themes of spirituality, folklore and anthropology, transfers his personal tradition to the world of contemporary art, being part of a family that for over a century has dedicated itself to the production and trade of figurines of traditional paper.

Contemporary art in Deutsche Bank

Deutsche Bank has been committed to promoting contemporary art for over 40 years and since 2010 has been awarding this award to emerging artists who work primarily with paper or photography. In particular, photography is in fact at the center of the works that make up the Deutsche Bank Collectionborn in the mid-seventies, today an internationally renowned corporate collection.

The winner of the “Artist of The Year” award is chosen on the recommendation of Global Art Advisory Council of the bank, consisting of internationally renowned curators such as Victoria Noorthoorn, Hou Hanru and Udo Kittelmann. Instead of awarding a cash prize, Deutsche Bank supports its Artists of the Year by helping to make them known to the general public, producing a solo exhibition and catalog, and purchasing some of their works for the collection.

Since 2018, the artists’ solo exhibition opens at the PalaisPopulaire, the Deutsche Bank space in Berlin dedicated to art and culture, and is subsequently set up in other international institutions.

After Wangechi Mutu (2010), Yto Barrada (2011), Roman Ondàk (2012), Imran Qureshi (2013), Victor Mann (2014), Koki Tanaka (2015), Basim Magdy (2016), Kemang Wa Lehulere (2017), Caline Aoun (2018-2019), Maxwell Alexandre, Conny Maier and Zhang Xu Zhan awarded in the two-year period 2020-2021 to celebrate the tenth anniversary of the “Artist of the Year” award, the winner for 2022 is the Chinese artist Lu Yang.