Following the presentation of the finalists’ work and the jury’s deliberation, it was Luxembourgish artist Jil Lahr (born in 1990, lives and works in Hamburg) who was awarded the Luxembourg Encouragement for Artists Prize (Leap) prize 2025. This award is organised every two years to support artists with a connection to Luxembourg. Following a call for entries, an international jury selects four finalists whose work is then presented to the public at an exhibition.

The exhibition is usually organised by Les Rotondes, but this year the Konschthal took over that role, as the former establishment is undergoing renovations. Thus, Esch is the place to go to discover the work of Mike Bourscheid, Rosafa Elshan, Jil Lars and Lynn Schneidweller, this year’s finalists.

Neighbourhood grocery and speakeasy

The winner, Jil Lahr, won over the jury with an installation entitled “Inherent Vagueness.” It’s a replica of a neighbourhood grocery shop, with shelves filled with everyday products. But on closer inspection, they all look fake, both fascinating and repulsive. The codes become confused. The fake is so close to the real that it becomes disturbing. “It’s a kind of negative joy,” explains the artist, who describes her proposal as a dystopian shop. Objects produced by the artist rub shoulders with ready-mades found in shops. A dialogue is woven between these objects, which are both commonplace and unlikely (crunchy apples, fake fingernails, soda bottles filled with fluorescent liquid, etc.), blurring associations, provoking false interpretations and creating new meanings in fragmented stories. But what’s also very funny is that the artist is playing with space, creating a kind of speakeasy behind this unlikely mini-market. After crossing a cardboard wall through a small, almost impassable door, visitors discover a backstage area reserved for meeting people, playing games and getting drunk. In fact, the artist activates this place temporarily and offers a drink after playing Russian roulette to see what type of beverage each visitor will be served.

The other finalists

The exhibition is also an opportunity to discover the work of the other three finalists. Mike Bourscheid (born in 1984, lives and works in Luxembourg and Brussels) has chosen to focus on the character of the huntsman in the Snow White fairytale and to explore what could be his story. He imagines him falling in love with a bear and, to seduce it, dons a skin similar to that of the animal. His remains are on show in the exhibition, but are also occasionally activated by performances led by the artist. All around, an array of objects recalls the decorum of castles: stained glass windows, coats of arms, spears hanging from the walls… all recognisable objects but disguised by the artist to make them fit his world.

Lynn Scheidweiler (born in 1994, lives and works in Luxembourg and Berlin) has created a dream bank. She invites visitors to entrust her with their dreams, which she then translates into images or objects, some of which she obtains using AI. In this way, visitors can discover a Morris column with a picture of a kitten in front of an explosion, or watches in unlikely colours. It’s also possible to go down a slide that leads to a gigantic furry pony, hanging on the wall, whose head is a letterbox where you can leave your dreams.

Rozafa Elshan (born in 1994, lives and works in Brussels), for her part, chose to present a large, delicate frieze, an installation of heterogeneous objects bringing together black and white photos, bits of string, drawings… each element can be read both independently and as part of a whole, without any chronology or set route, but by creating semantic back-and-forths. It questions both presence and erasure, the imprint of time, what remains and what dissolves, while creating a tension between horizontality and verticality. “This installation was conceived specifically for this space and allowed me to set up intensities,” explains the artist. “I wanted this work to be deliberately calm, with multiple possible readings.”

This exhibition follows a month-long residency that the finalists had at the Bridderhaus to prepare their works. The members of the jury were Marie de Gaulejac (3 bis f), Christian Mosar (Konschthal Esch), Pierre-Olivier Rollin (BPS22), Gilles Weidig (collector) and Antje Weitzel (Künstlerhaus Bethanien). The winning artist receives an endowment of €12,500 and all the finalists also benefit from a publication produced as part of the prize.

The exhibition is open until 27 April 2025.

This article in French.